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Post by abraham on Aug 6, 2018 2:10:51 GMT -5
Hello,
I recently had my grandfather handwrite the name of his village, but when using google maps, I came across three locations within Taishan (Toi Shan). I was wondering if anybody had ever heard of a village or a similar sounding village to this village name, and would be able to narrow down a specific village?
台山市斗山镇江美村
Village: 江美村 Thanks Abraham
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 6, 2018 9:11:28 GMT -5
Three locations in Taishan within the 斗山镇 town? Please show coordinates. Can you provide the handwritten name?
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Post by amy on Aug 8, 2018 16:37:58 GMT -5
If it helps, my family is from the 斗山镇 area, but we're from the 六村少但市地 district. On attached map, 斗山 is on lower right. But I don't see a 江美 on the map. There is a 江美 in the 三合 area northwest of 斗山. (see Googlemap attached)
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 8, 2018 18:14:59 GMT -5
Amy, can you provide a higher resolution of your district map? It is hard to read the small Chinese characters. Thanks.
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Post by amy on Aug 8, 2018 19:03:21 GMT -5
The file may not have uploaded at full res last time. Here it is again.
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 8, 2018 20:25:13 GMT -5
Thanks. The map is informative, but not to scale. I wonder what was the purpose. Just an illustration of the villages?
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Post by abraham on Aug 16, 2018 17:23:49 GMT -5
Hello Sorry for the delay. I had my grandfather handwrite the name of his village. Attached is the photo. I looked on Google Maps, with the same characters and found three results, one of which is nearby the ocean. However, upon asking him, he said he never lived near the ocean. Option #1 (Tangmeicun) (Closest to Ocean): 21.994393, 112.882032 Option #2 (Doushanzhen): 22.060533, 112.837914 Option #3 (Zhenjiang) (Closest to Taishan, Taicheng Subdistrict): 22.308473, 112.723648 I guess the question is now, how should I go forth in narrowing down the village? Any advice would be appreciated.Thank you!
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Post by jeremychin on Aug 18, 2018 12:54:13 GMT -5
What is your grandfather's surname? This is a very manual intensive route, but if you were to show your grandfather the village database, he might recognise some of the area or market place names.http://villagedb.friendsofroots.org/display.cgi?level=County&id=1. If he lived near the ocean, i might start with area 3?
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Post by amy on Aug 19, 2018 12:08:36 GMT -5
The map is in the front pages of the Chin genealogy book and designed to show location of the villages with respect to each other and to the larger towns/cities and landmarks in the area. So, it's not to scale (although it does try to show approximate relative size and shape of the relevant villages to one another)
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Post by wanderer on Aug 23, 2018 13:10:34 GMT -5
A few things you should do. First is to ask for more contextual details of the village. Ask your grandfather if there's anything the village is famous for (famous people, famous products, famous stories, etc.) Most villages have particular identifying traits that the older villagers will instantly recognize. Second is to match the village with your last name. Many villages are associated with only one or a few last names. So the village that matches your last name is a likely possibility.
Third is to try to locate the locate Taishan gazette and take a look at the actual administrative list of villages. There are people on this forum who might have it - I don't.
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Post by jeremychin on Aug 23, 2018 14:33:11 GMT -5
Amy,
Didn't you find a Taishan Gazette when you were in Cali at the Uni? That would be great for Hui Han Lie to have so he can scan it and use OCR on it. If it is a directory of all villages, then people can search if they know the characters when the online database comes up empty like this case...
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 26, 2018 10:41:20 GMT -5
abraham, Your search results are not useful. Google just picked couple of characters and suggested what you were looking for when you were really looking for 江美 Jiangmei. Instead Google offer 3 suggestions. First, you were given the location of township of 斗山 Doushan. Then you were given the location of 镇江 Zhenjiang. The last one is 唐美村 Tangmeicun, which only contain the characters 美村 Meicun. The handwritten note doesn't mention Doushan, so how do you know the Jiangmei village is in the Doushan township?
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Post by abraham on Aug 26, 2018 20:00:15 GMT -5
Hello All, My aunt visited my ancestral village 8 years ago. I recently asked her where the village is, she neither remembers where the village is nor does she know where the village is located to the nearest major landmark. She arrived at the village via a driver found by one of her relatives who lives in Guangzhou. On the contrary, she did take plenty of photos including the name of the village name sign! My family surname is 鄺 (Kuang). My aunt specified that some major village features include: a river passing next to the village and a large ancestral hall (largest house in the village) with a large concrete patio in front of the entrance. Well besides that being the obvious, I was told that at one time the other villagers were jealous of the large house so in an effort to make the family seem less rich, one of the family members hired a nun to make the house look like an orphanage.
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 26, 2018 20:29:03 GMT -5
abraham, Now very interesting, we are getting closer to the location. Most likely maps will not show the exact location. But I take back what I said about your google search result. I now believe #2 (on your screen shot map) is where the village is located, in that general area. Or your Option #3 (Zhenjiang) (Closest to Taishan, Taicheng Subdistrict): 22.308473, 112.723648 (your village is located below there I believe, since it is not shown on any map I have looked at) BTW: where did you come up with 斗山镇? Your village is located in the 三八 Sanba township.
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Post by jeremychin on Aug 27, 2018 11:40:19 GMT -5
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