Help with Genealogy. (Lee Family from Taishan/Guangdong)

[snowdrop430]

Hi,
I am looking for tips and any information on my family. I am estranged from any of my Chinese relatives and will give all the information that I have. 
As far as I know, Kenneth Lee (Born ?? in ??) married Tse May Wong (from Hong Kong possibly?) some time in the 1940s possibly? Kenneth immigrated to Washington DC Chinatown, where he worked for possibly family (Stephen and Lilbey Lee) at "China Boy" (later becomes The Big Wong). They had a son named Thomas who was possibly born in DC, and married a woman named Hang Oi Louie, who was from the Taishan Province. She was born in the 1930s and immigrated to the US in the 1960s, according to stories, Tse May was living in Hong Kong at the time. I have a bunch of photos with labels that I got translated but I have no clue how these people are related to my family and have made an index of the names but it has yet to be helpful. Kenneth may have been part of the Chinese Merchants Association in DC but have yet to find any evidence of it. He may have lived in Tacoma Park, MD at some point in the 1960s. 
I would appreciate any help or leads that you could provide and I am sorry that I have so little information. 
I know Thomas died in 2003, and Hang Oi was born roughly 1931, but that is an estimate based on her stories of the Chinese-Japanese war. 

[Henry]

Snowdrop430,

Check the manuscript 19 40 & 1950 decennial census records.

Chinese Immigrants entering/leaving San Francisco or Honolulu 1881 - 1955 - approximately 136K - There are two Excel files that allow for electronic searches - if you make a match on the name - field 1 is the Case File Number, field 2 is the bin location where the case file is stored at the NARA facility in San Bruno - these are in my DropBox:

www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/cxhq1dsfzt2854tj5wsj5/h?dl=0&rlkey=sejp7ofxzesvs7orive2tpe7z

Post a photo of your ancestor's gravestone on the Forum that has Chinese characters that provide you with the basic information.

Henry

[gckimm]

Hi snowdrop430:

Would you mind posting the photo labels (in Chinese)? They might offer some clues.

I have searched Ancestry.com records for mention of your family members, but they are rather elusive. One possibility is that your relatives are in records under their Chinese names rather than their Western names.

Please let us know if you find anything else, especially with Chinese characters.

Greg

[snowdrop430]

Greg -
Hi, I have put them into a google drive, I put anything that had writing in Chinese characters:
drive.google.com/drive/folders/10Kas2OaolltFBctjHnNeBEuZUPeUbmHq?usp=share_link

Henry - 
I do not have access to their graves as I do not live in their area anymore, and I tried finding their graves on FindAGrave and other grave sites, but the cemetery has not been fully logged and so they have not been photographed or transcribed yet. I am also not completely sure that Kenneth and Tse May are buried there, I only know Thomas is. 

[gckimm]

Hi snowdrop430:

Thanks for access to the Google drive. I have looked over the photo inscriptions and have tried to make sense of the family connections based on the names and the kinship terms used. Are you interested in that information or do you already have that? Most of the photos seems to be of relatives of the women, Tse May and Hang Oi.

You mentioned that Tse May lived in Hong Kong. Do you know if she was buried there? On the LDS website Family Search, there are many records from cemeteries in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, they are not indexed and they only go up to a certain date; they do not include records from recent years. I also noticed that a couple of photos were taken near a church. If the family was religious, it is possible that they used one of the religious cemeteries in HK. If you know what their religion was, you could narrow down the cemetery possibilities.

Grave photos of your relatives would be helpful if you can get them.

Greg

[snowdrop430]

Greg -
I would love that information, I do not have that. Thank you so much!!
According to a relative I was able to contact, she is buried with Kenneth in Gates of Heaven Cemetery in Maryland. That’s the Cemetery I contacted already so hopefully they will get back to me soon.
Religion wise, they weren’t religious, and did whatever they had to in order to fit in the area.
Kenneth had a daughter named Sau Ying Wong, according to that relative.
Hope this helps,
Snowdrop

[gckimm]

Hi Snowdrop:

Do post those grave photos if you get them. As for the information on your relatives, it would probably be better for us to communicate outside the Forum, if you are OK with that. I will send you a private message with my e-mail address.

Greg