|
Post by javachipgirl on Sept 6, 2014 20:02:31 GMT -5
Hi
I've always wanted to learn about where my great-grandfather is from. His name is Yee (葉) Chongyen. He was born on August 18, 1895. From what I know from my grandmother is that he was from Hoy San. She told me that long time ago there was a war and my great grandfather boarded a ship when he was a teenager to leave Hoy San to go to the Philippines. I don't know much and I really want to know if he had siblings or where his village is from. Any information of where I can start would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by Doug 周 on Sept 6, 2014 20:45:46 GMT -5
javachipgirl You need to show us your homework. Share the results of your interviews with your elders and research your family heirlooms for Chinese characters which might indicate your elder’s given names and ancestral village. Hoy San is a large area and it needs to be narrowed down. Interview your extended family of great grand uncles and great grand aunts. Post images of Chinese characters for the Forum members to translate. Look at this How to Start Your Chinese Family Heritage Research click site for more hints.
|
|
|
Post by philiptancl on Sept 6, 2014 22:17:09 GMT -5
Hi Javachipgirl,
Besides finding out what were inscribed on your great grandfather’s gravestone, do search out any written papers or written records that your grandfather had left behind for his descendants. I have come across three of my friends here showing me such documents without realizing it contains details of their ancestral places in China and names of their ancestors. Two of such sheet of papers was in Chinese characters and they had used the information contained therein to return to their ancestral village. They came back with their ancestor records as well. For one I had translated his relevant ancestry for him into his pedigree chart and print it out as a scroll. The other just came back recently and I am in the midst of doing his. The third just showed me the document written in Romanized form a few days ago. I just told her to check out her ancestors’ graves to ascertain the Chinese characters of her ancestors’ names. I could translate the province, county and section of her ancestral place. The Chinese characters of the Romanized ancestral village name just need to be determined and hopefully could be found on the gravestones.
In your search, see whether you can locate any old correspondences your grandfather had with people in your ancestral place. Where your grandfather did first resided in Philippines? It is likely others there were from the same ancestral village. If they are of the same surname, they could be from the same surname clan as well.
|
|