Grandfather left Macau for the Philippines.

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

Hello, My Chinese grandfather left Macao for the Philippines when he was only 10 years old (around 1917-1920) to find work until he grew up met my Filipina grandmother.

I am trying to my best to find traces such as old documents & photos from elders that may provide leads. We don't have much details except he uses "Leo Suening" in my father's baptismal certificate. Birth date is November 2, 1907.

Let's assume "Leo" is just his given name, I want to know whether "Suening" is a conjunction of "Suen" common in Cantonese speaking region & "Ing" (Ng)

Attached are some collections of his photos here.



Leo Suening with eldest son Miguel (year 1946)

[Doug 周]

You will need a lot more information to trace your roots than what you offered in your three simultaneous posts. If this is truly all you have, then please follow the instructions on this pdf: Richard T. Chu’s Reconstituting Histories of Filipino Families with Chinese Ancestry: Methodology, Sources, and Relevance^click . Emphasize trying to get Chinese characters. The process usually takes 6 months to a year of research.

Feb 11, 2019 3:47:10 GMT -5 劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening said:

...but their children may are still perhaps can respond to this post….

This is a self help site monitored by a few English language enthusiasts who try to advise people how to explore their Chinese ancestry. Since this is not a social media site, once the majority of Forum users obtain their information, they move on and rarely revisit the site. Consider exploring Facebook for groups of your surname.

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

thanks a lot Doug. I'll read the given document.

What do you think of the DNA matching route to find relatives?

I promised to stay to and provide as much information to other.

[Doug 周]

I am not really admonishing people for leaving. This is just the nature of genealogy and this site. We always look for participants.

The biggest problem with DNA for Chinese heritage is lack of sample size. China is presumed to have a large official DNA database to find kidnapped children, but that database is unavailable. Even in the USA, law enforcement had to go to a private hobby-type database to open up cold crime cases. Otherwise the sample size comes from westerners of Chinese descent.

It is best to obtain and archive the DNA of elders, and hope your grandchildren will be able to use the information in the future. Also consider getting a Y-DNA and M-DNA sample of the proper elders based on Mendelian rules. The commercial inexpensive DNA companies don't do the Y and M samples because it is not in their business model. They subsidize the DNA test to get a genetic database to make designer drugs and potentially make lots of pharmaceutical money.

IMHO

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

Hi, just an update I got my yDNA results and surname match of '劉' or Liu/Lau/Lew.

Question: those surnames are the same as 'Leo'? In my dad's birth records, grandfather uses the name Leo Suening.  

I'm still trying to figure out his given name from the paper trails if you have any advice please let me know.  thank you a lot.

[jen]

Hi, where did you do your DNA test? I can check if we're connected somehow

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

Hi, Ancestry, Gedmatch & FTDNA.

thanks

[gckimm]

Hi:

You will need to find some documentation in the Chinese language to verify your grandfather's true surname, as well as any other information about your roots.

Because your grandfather was from Macau, which borders Guangdong Province, it is likely that your grandfather was of Cantonese origin, like most of the Chinese in Macau even today. In standard Cantonese, the surname 劉 is pronounced "lau." However, in Mandarin the pronunciation is "liu." If you say the word "Leo" quickly, you can tell that it sounds like this Mandarin pronunciation. But again, there is really no way to verify the correct character without something written in Chinese. Here is another reason why you need some Chinese documentation: there is another Chinese surname, which is pronounced "liu" or "lew" in Cantonese: 廖.

In former days, Chinese immigrants all over the world spelled their names in many different ways, which may or may not have accurately corresponded to the way those name were actually pronounced by the people who bore those names.

Good luck with your research.

Greg

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

Hi Greg,

As I mentioned I did my y-DNA test and results leads me to this person - www.findagrave.com/memorial/128622344/Him-Lew & another Sing Lew (or Liu - 劉), b. bef. 1879.

He said he was from Macau that's the narrative in the whole family but when he arrived in the Philippines (1920) he was only 10 years old looking for work.

Since Macau was a busy trading hub for the Portuguese it's possible he's not really from Macau and his parent's only moved there for the opportunity.

Are there really Lau/Liu/Lew origin existed using the 'Leo' surname?

thank you

[gckimm]

Hi:

Here is a photo of a headstone in a cemetery in southern California. Chinese surnames can be found with just about any kind of spelling. This headstone happens to be for someone with the surname 廖.

Greg

[劉/Leo/Liu/Lew/Lau/Suening]

thank you Greg