Another headstone translation request

[rchan]

I am hoping that someone can help me translate my great-grandfather's headstone. I was told that there is a town name but not the village. Can someone also help translate the birth year and when he died? Thank you so much!

[lachinatown]

Doesn't look like it has.

[Deleted]

Information that I can determine:

Birthdate:公生于丙午年 is 1846 or 1906
No context for the date of 民国七年 is 1918, 9th month 14th day
Name (Taboo): 源昆 Yuen Kwan
Name (Zi): 毓 Yu (Last Character Obscured)

There is no specific birthplace listed.

-Matthew

[cdnheadtaxdata]

Assuming the last name is Chan: 陳
The County is: 增邑=增城縣 Zengcheng, north of Dong Guan 東莞縣 and East of Canton City 廣州市.
Given your great grandfather passed away in 1918 民國七年,
His birth year would have to be 丙午 1846 as noted by Matthew earlier.
This means your great grandfather lived to a ripe-full age of 72.
He name is 陳源昆, 字 毓源, meaning his married name which appears in the family genealogy record is 毓源,

Hope it helps.

[rchan]

Thank you all for your help on translating the information on my great-grandfather's headstone. Our last name is 曾,

so I have a question for cdnheadtaxdata

"His name is 陳源昆, 字 毓源, meaning his married name which appears in the family genealogy record is 毓源,"

So that means that I should be seeking under the name of 曾毓源 in official records, yes? It is confusing and I am having trouble understanding why two names, but I hear that it is common back then.

Thanks again!

[cdnheadtaxdata]

Hi Rchan:

The County is: 增邑=增城縣 Zengcheng, north of Dong Guan 東莞縣 and East of Canton City 廣州市.
Given your great grandfather passed away in 1918 民國七年,
His birth year would have to be 丙午 1846 as noted by Matthew earlier.
This means your great grandfather lived to a ripe-full age of 72.
He name is 曾源昆, 字 毓源, meaning his married name which appears in the family genealogy record is 毓源,

Base on available information, your great grandfather would go by the name 曾源昆 in school, business dealings, and official records for his adult life.
In other words, you will likely have greater success in searching for his records under 曾源昆.
To trace your ancestry, you would however look for 毓源 in the family genealogy.

The character 字, in the context of genealogy record, means "giving birth" or "raising descendants".
Traditionally when a male got married, he is given a 字 name in accordance with the character sequence in the family couplet.

 A search in the internet turns out the following information which might coincidentally match the genealogy couplet for your great grandfather's lineage:
 清康熙六十一年（1722年），曾姓第63派（“派”与“传”、“代”、“世”同义）起使用清圣祖仁帝所赐的3句、15字名派：
 宏闻贞尚衍，兴毓传继广，昭宪庆繁祥。

Translated: in 1722 AD, Emperor Kangxi conferred a 15 character verse for the Zeng genealogy.
Given this honour, it is probable that Zeng families would adopt this sequence for married males starting in 1722 AD.
Most genealogy records would average 5 generation names in 100 years (now-a-days it would average 3 to 4 generations per 100 years as people get married much later).
Thus starting from 1722 for 宏, 1742 for 聞, 1762 for 貞, 1782 for 尚, 1802 for 衍, 1822 for 興, 1842 for 毓.
Born in 1846, your great grandfather's generation name 字  毓源 would indeed match his generation sequence, assuming of course the family did indeed adopt the Emperor's verse.

For more information, please check out this link (where I got the above data from):
baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9B%BE%E6%B0%8F%E6%97%8F%E8%B0%B1#4

Regards,
cdnheadtaxdata

[rchan]

Hi cdnheadtaxdata,


Thank you very much for the explanation. I really appreciate it. 

[cdnheadtaxdata]

Hi Rchan:

The Canadian Head Tax Data for 增城縣 Zengcheng from 1885 - 1949:
      Name        Port of Landing   Date of Registration   Head Tax Pd    Age   Village        County      Occupation  Last Port
Jung M(?)        victoria             20-04-1886              $ 50  female     19   sha tau      Tsang shing    daughter   san francico
Jung Jen Yee    victoria             19-07-1886              $0.50              29  To Tsai Leung Tsang shing 'shoemaker victoria kong
jung kong         victoria            24-05-1900              $  50               26   dong chow  chang shing  labourer     hong kong
chung yang boo victoria            08-05-1906              $500               31   dong chow  ching shu    farmer        hong kong
jung yuk kee     victoria            15-10-1907              $500               36   dong chow  ching shin   labourer      hong kong
jung bing quan   victoria            17-06-1910              $500               42   dong chow   ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jung yong jam   victoria             29-12-1910              $500               25   dong chow   joing shin   labourer     hong kong
jung yee mit     victoria             29-09-1911              $500               42   kep hoy       ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jong hing quong victoria             01-06-1912             $500               28   dong chon    ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jong wai           victoria             01-06-1912             $500               27   dong chow   ching shin   labourer     hong kong

Perhaps yuk 毓 & hing 興 represent the genealogy names of your family, thus might cast some light on the village of origin as Dong Chow.
jung yuk kee 曾毓基?
jong hing quong 曾興廣?

Perhaps follow 曾 members can help.

cdnheadtaxdata

[rchan]

Apr 8, 2018 4:07:50 GMT -5 cdnheadtaxdata said:

Hi Rchan:

The Canadian Head Tax Data for 增城縣 Zengcheng from 1885 - 1949:
      Name        Port of Landing   Date of Registration   Head Tax Pd    Age   Village        County      Occupation  Last Port
Jung M(?)        victoria             20-04-1886              $ 50  female     19   sha tau      Tsang shing    daughter   san francico
Jung Jen Yee    victoria             19-07-1886              $0.50              29  To Tsai Leung Tsang shing 'shoemaker victoria kong
jung kong         victoria            24-05-1900              $  50               26   dong chow  chang shing  labourer     hong kong
chung yang boo victoria            08-05-1906              $500               31   dong chow  ching shu    farmer        hong kong
jung yuk kee     victoria            15-10-1907              $500               36   dong chow  ching shin   labourer      hong kong
jung bing quan   victoria            17-06-1910              $500               42   dong chow   ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jung yong jam   victoria             29-12-1910              $500               25   dong chow   joing shin   labourer     hong kong
jung yee mit     victoria             29-09-1911              $500               42   kep hoy       ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jong hing quong victoria             01-06-1912             $500               28   dong chon    ching shin  labourer      hong kong
jong wai           victoria             01-06-1912             $500               27   dong chow   ching shin   labourer     hong kong

Perhaps yuk 毓 & hing 興 represent the genealogy names of your family, thus might cast some light on the village of origin as Dong Chow.
jung yuk kee 曾毓基?
jong hing quong 曾興廣?

Perhaps follow 曾 members can help.

cdnheadtaxdata

Thank you very much for the information. I’m going to search some more.

[rchan]

Hello, 

I am still continuing my search for my paternal great-grandfather's ancestral village. Last year, I posted a photo of his tombstone but the last three characters (zi) were obscured. I have another photo and I am hoping that someone on this forum can read the characters. Can anyone make out what the characters are?

Thank you so much.

[gckimm]

Hi:

As previously mentioned, the 字 is 毓源. The two characters below that are 之墓, meaning "grave of." They are a little difficult to read because of the red paint and because they are rather squeezed on to the bottom of the headstone. The full translation of the inscription would be "Grave of the illustrious deceased father whose 諱 was Yuen Gwun 源昆 and whose 字 was Yook Yuen 毓源."

Greg

[rchan]

Hi Gary,

Thank you so very much! I had several people who could read Chinese to take a look at the photo and no one could make out the characters, including my cousin who took the photo!