Headstone translation?

[Angel]

Good morning.  I was hoping someone could translate my great grandfather's headstone.  I've only just begun to research this part of our family and have been running into a lack of records and a language barrier.  We have very few records for him and they show differing names and dates.  I've seen his name as "Lew Him", "Charles Leo", and "LewHim GeeOn Leo".  He is said to have been born somewhere in Canton, China on 2 Nov 1884 (or 03 Nov 1889 or even sometime between 1896-1899) and he died in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas on 21 Sep 1972.  I would love to know his true name and its' characters.  Than I can start the search for when he entered the US (possibly via Mexico), what part of China he hailed from, and for more of his family.  Thank you!

-Angel


 

[tyuti1668]

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/thread/1918/
From Enping, Guangdong. NO village name mentioned.

[laohuaqiao]

Angel,
Your great grandfather was born on the 2nd day of the 11th month of lunar calendar in 10th year of the Reign of Emperor Guangxu, which works out to December 18, 1884. On the tombstone the name is a little ambiguous, he was addressed as 劉添伯 （ Liu Tian Bo in Mandarin and Liu/Lew Him Bak in local Siyi dialect). I said little ambiguous because the word 伯 also means uncle, so someone could have been addressing him as Uncle Lew Him or his actual name was Lew Him Bak.

And I said in Siyi dialect, he came from Yan Ping (Cantonese dialect) or Enping (Mandarin), which is part of Siyi in Guangdong. Unfortunately, Yan Ping/Enping is a good size county, his village name was no given, going further would be tough without further information.

Good luck with your search!

[Angel]

Thank you!  It's too bad there's no village listed, but really any new bit of info makes me happy.  This all makes me curious as to where the Leo  & Gee On names came from.  4 straight generations of Lew Him's male descendants have used Geeon as their middle name & Leo as their last.  I've ordered his SS application, so perhaps there will be some useful info.  And his obituary mentioned that he was active in the Chinese Baptist Church, Chinese Free Mission Lodge, & Hop Sing Association.  Maybe I'll turn up something from one of those.

I got the photo of his headstone from a volunteer on FindAGrave.com & he as kind enough to also take photos of several of the surrounding stones, just in case they might be connected.  Most had different family names - Louie Heung, Dong Chong Kung, Louie Shu, Leung How Ng, Ng Toy Shee, Moy S. Hong, Wong Yim Lai, Chung Tong, Fong Din Chow, Young See, Fong Bok Hew, & Russell Woo.  They could be related somehow, but who can say?

But two did seem to have at least somewhat related names:  Louie Him (d. 08 Jul 1949) & Wee Lew (10 May 1884 - 03 Feb 1970).  What do you think?


I appreciate all your help.  I'm obviously useless when it comes to Chinese translation.  But if you ever need say, photos or a document look up from a Chicago area cemetery/library or Ancestry.com,  I'd be happy to try & return the favor.  Thanks again. 
 

[laohuaqiao]

Leo was probably Americanized name for Lew or Liu. Chinese men used to have many names, each for different purposes, GeeOn could have been one of them.

Who handled your great grandfather's funeral? Someone must have provided the information that he came from Enping.

Where were the photos of the last 2 tombstones taken? Chicago or San Antonio? The deceased came from a neighboring county Taishan, not Enping. Wee Lew did share the same surname as your ggf.

[Angel]

The headstones & markers are all from Mission Burial Park South in San Antonio, Texas.  It was kind of a shot in the dark for any of them to be closely connected.  But you never know!  I'm noticing that a lot of these stones seem to be for older gentleman & the informants on their death certificates may not have been close relatives.  They often seem to just say born in China or unknown.  And most of them have unknown for the decedent's parent's names.  Interesting...

 

The undertaker for my GGF (& a few of the surrounding people) was Roy Akers Funeral Chapels.  They seem to have been popular in that area.  I'll be sure to look them up & see if they kept their older records.  I wonder if they make note of who bought the stone or plot.  Hopefully he had family around him.  His death certificate listed him as a widower, but he was divorced from my great grandmother much earlier in his life and my grandfather (his only child that I know of) was raised away from him by her family.  I guess I'm hoping he remarried & possibly even had more children.  Well, time (& research & luck) will tell!

[laohuaqiao]

Angel,
A few thoughts,
1. your ggf's birthday, date in Chinese calendar, given on the tombstone is very specific, so it was provided by someone with that knowledge;
2. depending on at what age he came to the US, if it was after his late teens, he probably had a wife in China before leaving, his parents would have made sure of that;
3. Chinese in the US, those with legal residence status, traveled back and forth to China in the 1920s and 1930s; if he was already divorced from your ggm then, he could have returned to China and brought back his children from China or even had a 2nd wife and brought all his children;
4. his death certificate should have the name of the person who arranged/paid his funeral;
5 any census records indicating where he lived in San Antonio and who was living in the same household?

While trying to search for Chinese associations in San Antonio, I came across this interesting article:
www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pjc01

After reaching a peak of 836 in 1900, the Chinese population in Texas began to decline as a delayed reaction to the congressional enactment in 1882 of the Chinese exclusion law, which for the next six decades barred practically all further immigration from China. The decline would have been more precipitous than it was but for one of the rare occasions when the exclusion law was set aside. In 1917, when Gen. John J. Pershing returned to the United States from Mexico, after his fruitless pursuit of Francisco (Pancho) Villa, he was permitted to bring with him 527 Mexican Chinese who had assisted his troops during the invasion. Most of these "Pershing Chinese" settled in San Antonio and thereafter replaced those in El Paso as the largest Chinese community in Texas. Even with this infusion, the statewide Chinese population in 1930 was only 703, of whom 321 (46 percent) were in Bexar County.

Could your ggf be one of the Pershing Chinese? He could have also gone to Mexico first and walked/swam across the Texas border by himself, to get around the Chinese Exclusion Acts (my ggf did that around the late 1910s or early 1920s).

With only 321 in Bexar County, San Antonio in 1930 it was a very small Chinese community; everyone must have known each other. Yes, you should try to contact the church, Hop Sing or any association existing back then.

BTW, if I didn't make this clear before, the surname is Lew.

[FayChee]

Hi,
I know you have his death certificate, but I found this on Ancestry.com..............

Fay Chee

[lachinatown]

That's interesting on Wee Lew.
different Chinese names 刘煒 per last paper.
刘光偉 per headstone.

[douglaslam]

As I often say; I am a spectator on this board. And now I am watching a communal effort unfold. Congratulations laohuaqiao, Fay Chee and lachinatown for the good work.

[Doug 周]

DL,

You are much more than a spectator. You are a major contributor sharing social and cultural experiences for family historians who have been born overseas. This is very appreciated.

DJ

[laohuaqiao]

The documents Fay Chee raised some questions:
Lew Him apparently lived in Briaridge Nursing Home during the last days of his life. There is a nursing home at that same address, would they still have records of him (Him )?

The death certificate said he was a US citizen. Did he become a citizen prior to the repeal of exclusion acts, which was nearly impossible, or after?

He lived in San Antonio for 49years, which means he arrived there in 1923. He was already 38/39 years old. Did he come from China by way of Mexico?

Who is/was Wong Ngong, the informant on the death certificate?

Based on information so far, I don't think Wee Lew and Lew Him are related. Wee Lew was from Taishan and Lew Him was from Enping, according to their tombstones. But then, info on tombstone sometimes are not accurate either.

The application form for Wee Lew is interesting, it mentioned a classification of Chinese refugees referred to in Public Resolution 29 of the 67th Congress, approved on November 23, 1921. Does anyone know what that resolution is?

[FayChee]

Laohuaqiao,

This is all I could find so far..........the typo errors were as they wrote it...


Public [joint] resolution 24-30, G7th Congress.
Chinese in United States. S. J. Res. 33, joint resolution permitting certain Chinese to
register under certain provisions and conditions. Approved Nov. 23, 1921. 1 p.
(Public resolution 29.)

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION COMMITTEE

Chinese in United States. Registration of Chinese, report to accompany S. J.
Res. 33 [permitting certain Chinese to register under certain provisions and
conditions] ; submitted by Mr. Johnson of AVashington. Nov. 16, 1921. 3 p.
(H. rp. 471.)

Registration of refTigee Chinese, hearings on S. .7. Res. 33, pei-mitting

Chinese to register under certain provisions and conditions, Nov. 8, 1921 ;
statements of A. Warner Parker [and] E. J. Heuning. 1921. ii+943-980 p.
(Serial 8.) t

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION COMMITTEE

Calendar. Legislative calendar, 67th Congress, Dec. 5, 1921; no. 1. [1921.]

8 p. large 8° %
Immigration. Operation of percentage immigration law for 5 months, hearings,

Nov. 10, 1921; statement of W. W. Husband. 1921. ii+981-1003 p. (Serial

9.) %
Xaturalization. Progress and processes of naturalization, hearings, Oct. 19-

Nov. 22, 1921. hearings on various bills relating to proposed amendments to

naturalization laws. 1921. il+1005-1214 p. (Serial 10.) t


Full text of "Monthly catalog of United States Government publications"

[laohuaqiao]

Thanks, Fay Chee, I found it under 67th Congress public law 29. It's in reference to what I posted earlier, Pershing's Chinese refugees.

Here's an article in California Law Review on it, skipping the legal discussion, it's another piece of Chinese American history I haven't heard of before:

www.californialawreview.org/assets/pdfs/101-4/03-Lim.pdf

Now we know Wee Lew was one of the Pershing's refugees, he was a cook for the army. Did Lew Him gain entry to Texas also as a refugee by way of Mexico? They were similar in age and entered Texas around the same period.

[juichen]

Hi,

i came across this post because I am researching my father's ancestral village in Kaiping, China.  He was one of Pershing's Chinese and became a business man in San Antonio, Texas.

Anyway, he was also buried in Mission Burial Park.

regards,
JuiChen