kjhong
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Post by kjhong on Aug 31, 2014 17:42:23 GMT -5
franciscocn, Henry Siu and my grandfather were contemporaries. My grandfather was a US educated Electrical Engineer from a neighboring county in Guangdong. He graduated from Stanford in 1932. He also returned China and ended up in Kunming where he was enlisted by the US Army and Chiang Kai Shek to help build the Burma Road. He and his family ended up in Burma after the war.
I sent a note to an uncle and two aunts to see if the name Henry Siu rang a bell with them.
As for the tombstone: - The name in the center is Chen Men Huang Shi (陳門黃氏)in Mandarin, in Cantonese: Chan Moon/Muhn/Mon Wong Shee . Mrs. Men Huang CHEN. There might be a number of different alternate spellings in the census records. - The two left-hand columns are the dates of birth and death. - The right most column says: Guangdong Province, Zhongshan.... (廣東省中山...) the rest is hard to make out from the photo perhaps someone with with better Chinese and better knowledge of the place names in Zhongshan can help with the rest.
PS. What a fascinating story! [Just mention Flying Tigers and I'm hooked.] I love the bits of history that others have brought to this mystery.
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Post by philiptancl on Aug 31, 2014 19:45:28 GMT -5
The way as I would interpret “陳門黃氏” would be this: the lady married into the Chen/Chin/Chan (陳) family while her own surname would be Huang/Wong (黃).
The right most columns would be the ancestral village of the husband. One way to make the character more visible is to wet the characters with water before taking the photo.
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kjhong
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Post by kjhong on Aug 31, 2014 20:53:12 GMT -5
I defer to Philip on the interpretation of the name.
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 31, 2014 21:46:53 GMT -5
Ken, was your grandfather registered Electrical Engineer practicing in California?
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kjhong
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Post by kjhong on Aug 31, 2014 22:10:32 GMT -5
lachinatown, I don't know for certain, but I don't think my grandfather ever practiced electrical engineering in the US. He graduated in 1932 and there weren't any jobs for college-educated Chinese during the depression. So, he probably went straight back to China. My dad was born the next year.
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 31, 2014 22:46:17 GMT -5
The village is 中山 Zhongshan, 隆都 Long Dou, 崗背 Gangbei
BTW: Chan Wong See = 陳黃氏 Chen Huang Shi (Shi = Clan, family, mister). Therefore no first name for Mrs. Chan.
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Post by laohuaqiao on Sept 1, 2014 0:16:26 GMT -5
kjhong, Is this your paternal grandfather Tsang/Zeng who settled in Burma/Myanmar?
I have a friend, a Tsang/Zeng from Taishan and I'm pretty sure it's Doushan Shangge 斗山上阁, whose grandparents separately went to Burma around/during WWII and were married there. Her parents later came to the US and she's in New York now. I'm wondering if you know of other Tsangs/Zengs from Burma. I'll try to find out if she knows the name of her ancestral village.
Sorry for hijacking this thread.
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Post by philiptancl on Sept 1, 2014 5:28:41 GMT -5
Laohuaqiao, If Chinese character for Tsang/Zeng is written as 曾 and you are looking for that surname in Burma/Myanmar, refer to this webpage. It may give you a lead. www.chinatownology.com/long_shan_tang.htmlPhilip
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Post by douglaslam on Sept 1, 2014 7:20:33 GMT -5
I remember Henry Siu was brought up in another thread a couple of years ago. Yes, 崗背 is part of 隆都, we speak the same dialect.
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kjhong
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Post by kjhong on Sept 1, 2014 11:25:23 GMT -5
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Post by franciscocn on Sept 1, 2014 13:06:25 GMT -5
Thank kjhong for getting in touch with your relations in regards to Henry Siu. Hopefully they crossed paths. I am still waiting for access to the letters my grandmother-n-law has between Henry and his wife. She winters in Arizona and keeps the letters there. Distance makes things a little tough especially with limited info. about Henry. Thank you members for the gravestone translation.
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kjhong
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Post by kjhong on Sept 1, 2014 15:20:18 GMT -5
Unfortunately, no luck so far with my uncle and aunts. My youngest aunt, who was born in Kunming, was pretty young at the time and didn't have any recollection. And my eldest uncle who would have been a teen, didn't either.
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Post by franciscocn on Nov 29, 2014 21:37:13 GMT -5
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Post by douglaslam on Nov 30, 2014 7:44:17 GMT -5
I went past Henry Morse Siu's village Gangbei 崗背 a few times during my recent trip to China. For all I know, Gangbei is a Chan village. Where did Henry fit in, I have no idea.
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Post by franciscocn on Nov 30, 2014 22:08:52 GMT -5
This is also another website with information. The only thing is, I don't know how accurate it might be due to this information being in the courts for immigration. law.resource.org/pub/us/case/ca9/briefs/govuscourtsca9briefs1362/gov.uscourts.ca9.04103.b.03.pdfIf so, Wong Shee would be the name of Henry's grandmother. Who lived in Soo Moo Yin (spelling??). Where is this village located??? Also an Uncle by the name of Siu Gaw Gee. A brother, Siu Mooy Chew. An unknown Aunt who married Mar Dai, who had a son named Mar Sheung.
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