Stuck on my Wan (溫) family

[peripatus2000]

Hello all,

I am putting this inquiry out here in the hopes that someone might be able to assist.

To cut to the chase, I want to find the family Jiapu or clan Zupu which records my great grandfather Wan Shiu Hong (溫兆康), and therefore find his family tree and lineage.


My great grandfather Wan Shiu Hong (溫兆康) was a Hakka from Danshui, Huiyang, Guangdong (淡水墟, 惠陽縣, 廣東省). He migrated to New Guinea in 1911, with his wife, and settled in the town of Rabaul, and subsequently had 12 children. The name of his parents are unknown, however he did have three other brothers, Wan Pun Kwai, Wan Shiu Kwan, unknown name brother, and a sister Wan Ching Sui. His brother Wan Shiu Kwan appears to have also been known by the name Wan Tak Wo (溫德和). They had a cousin called Wan Shiu Kam. Both Wan Shiu Hong and Wan Shiu Kwan (alias Tak Wo) are buried in the Chinese Christian Cemetery in Kowloon. Surprisingly, in the same cemetery, I also found a grave recently for a "Mrs Wan nee Lee" on which was inscribed "erected by her grandson Shiu Hong". No other relatives have been identified.

As far as I can ascertain, the early family movements were from Danshui to the New Territories, and thenceforth to Hong Kong.

I engaged a professional researcher a few years ago who visited Danshui and found ONE single Wan family in the hamlet of 新圍仔. Unfortunately this Wan family had only a partial Jiapu that was partially destroyed during the cultural revolution, and the remnants contained no hint of my Wan relations - and the Wan family in that place had no further clues as to where I should search. As Wan did not seem to be a common name in the Danshui area, it made me think that my Wan family may have come from further afield in the province n recent times.

I would be interested to know if anyone has any ideas on how I can potentially advance the research into my Wan family, and potentially find Zupu/Jiapu with my great grandfather and his family in it.

Cheers

Adam

[Henry]

Adam,

I believe that there are many clan genealogies that are available in Hong Kong, online & archived in various libraries & organizations.

I suggest you check out the following links to see if you can find some Wan genealogies:

www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Hong_Kong_Archives_and_Libraries

www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Hong_Kong_Online_Genealogy_Records

www.myheritage.com/research/category-Hong-Kong/hong-kong-genealogy-vital-records

www.archives.org.hk/en/


Henry

[youhua]

Hi Adam,

I just now took a look at your post. I am a 温 whose ancestry comes from Toisan. However, a couple of years ago while I was at the Guangzhou Library, I came across a three volume 温 clan genealogy that comes from the Meizhou, Wuhua area of Guangdong, which is a Hakka area. I took a quick look to see if I could find your ancestors. I did find one page that refers to your village of Danshui, in Huiyang. Unfortunately, I did not find any of the names you mentioned, not even a spouse by the name of Lee. I did see one name with the same generation name, the name of 兆粦, listed in generation 22. It also mentions the name of one person in the 24th generation by the name of 庸才 who immigrated to Hong Kong. I took a screenshot of the page and have attached it to this post. If you cannot read it, send your email and I will forward it to you that way.

Tony

Attachments:

[Doug 周]

Sept 27, 2019 15:15:57 GMT -5 youhua said:

...However, a couple of years ago while I was at the Guangzhou Library,...

Tony,
You are the first English speaking person I know who has interacted with the Guangzhou Library. Whereas the Shanghai Library has an extensive genealogical collection, and I have explored the card catalog online, you can only access the collection by physically being at the library. It is nothing like FamilySearch.org
Can you please share your experience accessing and using the Guangzhou Library in regards to genealogy?
~doug

[youhua]

Hi Doug,

I was staying in Guangzhou at the time and so my experience was physically being at the library. They have a genealogy section on the 9th Floor. In fact, I believe there has been some low key interaction with FamilySearch. They have used the name to describe their area:





The area is not as extensive as the Shanghai Library genealogy room, but I believe they do have about 1,500 sets of genealogies. They have an attendant present to help you. When I first approached him, I gave him a surname and location to search. They do a computer search to see if they have anything in their holdings that matched. Not finding anything, the next thing they did was to sit me at a terminal and called up the Chinese Collection of Genealogies on FamilySearch.org for me to peruse. I explained I have already searched there. The next step was that they opened up the 10 volume set of the Shanghai Library General Catalog of Chinese Genealogies. I was amused because we use the same tools at the Family History Library in SLC.

For me, the most productive thing I did was just to browse through their shelves. That is where I spotted the three volume genealogy on the 温 clan. Their collection is kept behind locked, glass doors, so I had to get a librarian to let me look at the books. There was contact information in the preface of the set I was looking at, so I contacted them and I now have my personal set.

So to summarize, I have had worthwhile visits to the Guangzhou Library, but it is because of the opportunity it gives to search or browse through their holdings. Unfortunately, you have to physically be there to take advantage of what they have.

Tony

[Doug 周]

Tony,

Thanks for the detailed response. Have you also gone to the Shanghai Library and browsed or accessed their genealogy library? I would love to know your impressions.

I agree, that just being able to browse the stacks is a great way to discover the contents of a collection. Unfortunately I have no Chinese language skills to do so.

~doug

[peripatus2000]

Hello Tony,

My Apologies for taking a few weeks to get back to you, I had only just checked this thread now and saw your reply.

I can ready it well enough so thank you for sending me a copy of page. Your finding intrigues me because this is new evidence of further Wan families exisiting in and around the Danshui area. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, I cannot see that any of the content page on Danshui refers to my Wan family, but this page could still provide clues as to where to find my particular line. Do you know how I could get a translation of this page into English? And is it possible for you to send me the reference details for that three volume 温 clan genealogy?

Your message comes at a good time because I had just about run out of ideas on how to search for my Wan family. I really appreciate you sending this to me, thank you very much! Do you have any further suggestions on how to follow this up?

Cheers


Adam