|
|
Post by rowan on Apr 21, 2019 6:00:51 GMT -5
I recently started looking into my family tree. My grandma is called: Huang Tia Xia and the characters on her gravestone are: 黃天霞 She has never spoken about her past to her kids or me. Her parents are Chinese and their names are: Luc Mi Huang (father) and Tje Yong Tjang (mother) the characters of their names are unknown. Her parents came to Indonesia (reason unknown) where my grandma was born. My Grandma Huang Tiān Xia was born on the 11th of December 1923. What we know is that they went back to China but my grandma decided to go back to Indonesia without her parents. Around 1946 she went to Thailand to live with her aunt (name unknown). She met her first husband: Gerrardus Franciscus Jacobs. He was born on the 7th of June 1913 in Bandung (Java). They got married on the 7th of February 1946 in Kanchanaburi (Siam). They welcomed their first child in Denpasar (Bali). A while later they bought a house in Meester Cornelis (Jakarta). They started a family and three other kids were born. On the 12th of October 1950 she, her man and four kids left from Tandjong Priok (Jakarta) to The Netherlands on ship Atlantis. On the 10th of november they arrived in The Netherlands. My grandma passed away on 6 march 2006 in Dordrecht (The Netherlands) I would like to get more information about my grandma in Indonesia and about her parents in China. We don't know if they got any other kids besides my grandma. Contact me under this message or e-mail me: rowanwapperom@hotmail.com First photo: my grandma Huang Tia Xia, her husband Gerrardus Franciscus Jacobs and their three kids Second photo: my grandma and her kids in front of their house in Meester Cornelis    |
|
|
|
Post by Henry on Apr 21, 2019 9:10:12 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Apr 22, 2019 9:02:03 GMT -5
Hi Henry,
No, not that I am aware of... I indeed found the passenger list, her name on there is Tien Hay Wang and she called herself that here in The Netherlands.
But the characters on her gravestone are Huang Tian Xia, which makes the search difficult.
Thankyou for the links, I will check it out
Kind regards,
Rowan
|
|
|
|
Post by Henry on Apr 22, 2019 12:01:50 GMT -5
rowan,
The difference between her names on the passenger list may be slightly different because of how her name was pronounced & recorded and she may have gone with the name she was given from the passenger list.
Are there any other Chinese characters on the gravestone - if so, cam you post a clear photo ?
Since you have the names of your great grand-parents - please see if you can find any documentation on them, because this would lead you to the maternal ancestral village, which may have a village genealogy book that documents your family history & lineage and a place you can actually visit if you go to China.
Henry
|
|
|
|
Post by jeremychin on Apr 22, 2019 12:54:14 GMT -5
Hi Rowan,
Huang Tia Xia is the mandarin pronunciation of your grandmother's name.
Wang Tien Hay is closer to the Cantonese or Siyi pronunciation which makes sense as to why she would use that pronunciation.
Since Luc Mi and Tje Yong were the last of your ancestors to have lived in China, those are your best leads. They seemed to have traveled a bunch, so those passenger lists will be key as Henry stated. Also make sure that you are using different spellings of the names when you do your searches. Just like you have Wang vs Huang, also use different spellings like Wong, or Luk vs. Luc, Mei vs. Mi, etc. That was invaluable when looking for records of my ancestors.
- Jeremy
|
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Apr 23, 2019 2:07:59 GMT -5
Henry This is her gravestone, it says: Huang Tian Xia her grave (if I'm correct) I'm trying to locate her parents, without any luck so far. Thanks for the tip Jeremy, I will try to do that! Thankyou both for helping.
|
|
|
|
Post by Henry on Apr 23, 2019 10:24:14 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Aug 2, 2019 14:41:46 GMT -5
Can someone translate this? I can't figure out the characters in the corners.  |
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Aug 2, 2019 14:47:35 GMT -5
I also have some new information regarding my grandmother.
I spoke to the daughter of my grandmothers bestfriend. My grandmother once told her that she didn't go to Thailand on free will, she told her that she was 'abducted'.
I'm afraid she might have been used as a ''comfort woman''. The daughter also told me that my grandmother never wanted to go back to Indonesia. When questions were asked, my grandmother would get a little angry and refused to talk about her past. So I think that she must have been through something traumatic.
|
|
|
|
Post by lachinatown on Aug 2, 2019 20:21:54 GMT -5
It says "You are a gold flower with much gold."
Corner characters (upper left, clockwise) Good, East, North, West.
|
|
|
|
Post by gckimm on Aug 3, 2019 11:50:12 GMT -5
Hi:
Does the name "Amber" or the other name (illegible to me) at the top of the page mean anything to you? Could they be the names of family members? This note dated January 7, 1972, appears to be written and signed by your grandmother. It could be that she was writing down the Chinese names of two individuals, possibly the people whose names are at the top of the page. One could be named 金花 (Gold Flower), the other 多金 (Much Gold). This is just a guess.
Many Chinese in Indonesia have roots in Fujian (formerly known as Fukien) Province and have names that reflect the dialect that is spoken there, known as Hokkien. The popular Chinese surname that is Huang in Mandarin (黃) is commonly found in Indonesia as Oei or Wie or some variation of those surnames. Because your grandmother used "Wang" as a surname, that is an indication that her family--or at least her father's side--may have been from somewhere other than Fujian Province. But that is about as far as we can go without further evidence.
You will need more clues about your grandmother's family. Be patient and keep searching. You never know when a clue will turn up. Just as in former times the journey of a Chinese to a new home in a new country could be difficult and take a long time, the journey of discovering one's roots can also be difficult and take a long time.
Greg
|
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Aug 3, 2019 12:56:46 GMT -5
Hi!
Yes, Amber is the daughter of my grandmothers bestfriend. Unfortunately, my grandmother's bestfriend passed away in 2013. But I spoke to Amber and she send me the poem (the picture). She didn't have much information about my grandmother as well, only that she was a lovely women but often 'closed'. My grandmother did not want to talk about her past at all.
On the 28th of September I am going to a 'Indonesian Roots Expert day' here in the Netherlands. There will be workshops and also experts who can help people with their search. One of them is the Chinese Heritage Center, so hopefully they can help me further. And I also hope that there are some archive pieces her in the Netherlands, because Indonesia was ofcourse a colony of the Netherlands back in the days.
Thanks for the tips!
|
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Sept 29, 2019 6:58:59 GMT -5
I've found a Japanese internment card from the first husband of my grandma. Can someone help me with translating the Chinese characters?  |
|
|
|
Post by rowan on Oct 3, 2019 12:59:59 GMT -5
Can someone please translate the above picture. If you click on the picture, the image will be more readable  . (It's Japanese I think) Also, the Chinese Indonesian Heritage Center (in the Netherlands) recommended that I should contact the place where my grandma was born for a birth certificate. In my case, it's the place Medan in Indonesia. Does anyone have experience in getting a birth certificate via the use of e-mail? Is it possible? |
|
|
|
Post by jeremychin on Oct 4, 2019 10:53:39 GMT -5
Hi Rowan, You are correct, this document is in Japanese. I do not know Japanese at all (not sure who is on here as this is a Chinese forum), but this is what I can glean from my knowledge of Chinese characters and translation. 爪哇= Java 泰= Thai (Thailand?) 蘭= Short for 阿蘭陀, 和蘭, 和蘭陀: Holland, the Netherlands, Dutch The years listed for the dates are during the reign of the Showa (昭和) Emperor. So the first date is August, 15th during the 17th year of the reign of the Showa emperor, which I believe would make it 1943. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shōwa_(1926–1989)These are the characters on the last page. Something relating to his capture and imprisonment and being transferred to another camp in 1946. I am seeing a reference to the #2 branch of the Thai POW camp. 泰俘虜収容所第2分所へ移管久乐 昭和20年8月30日バンコック二於聠合國軍二引渡ス This might be of help as it is a similar case: www.openarch.nl/ghn:819aa222-d4de-4c81-b3e7-c9b1df3f3bc5Hope this helps a little. This is a really interesting document, and I now really want to know more about the history here! (I'm assuming WWII) - Jeremy |
|
. (It's Japanese I think)