Chaag Kick - China/America/England

[sarah2]

Dear All,

We would like to find out more about the Chinese branch of our family but we have been hitting some brick walls.

My great great grandfather was 'Chaag Kick' later known as Charles Keik. (The family name was orginally pronounced as 'kick' until after my great grandfather's time - but it is now pronounced as 'keek'.)

We believe Chaag Kick was born around 1859 in Guangdong before immigrating to America. He became a ship steward and settled in Liverpool, England where he married Sarah Ann Cliff in 1885. He signed the marriage certificate 'Chaag Kick'. Sarah Cliff was a ship stewardess and we believe she sailed to America (possibly to Georgia and Alabama?)from Liverpool during the 1880s. We have tried to trace them both through crew lists, but have had no luck so far.

According to my late grandfather, Chaag worked in a ship chandlers with the name 'Ha Keik' on the front of the store.

We believe that Sarah and Chaag? were in Honolulu in December 1888 where their elder son Thomas was born according to the 1891 UK census. (We have been unable to trace a birth certificate for him so far) We are not sure why they were in Hawaii-but one story passed down the family is that Sarah visited China, so they could have been travelling to/from China.

My great grandfather (Charles Edward Keik) was born in England in 1892.

Chaag Kick who was now known as Charles Keik died in Liverpool in 1895.

I was able to visit the family grave in Birkenhead, England last year. The gravestone is worn and the inscription is in English - as are all the records that we have that relate to the family.
Sarah was called 'Momo' by her grandchildren.

Any information or thoughts about our family name and/or the next steps we should take with our research would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Sarah

[Henry]

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to the Forum.

Your family history is very interesting, however, in order for Forum members to help you - you need to provide the Chinese names of your ancestors. This information may be found in personal letters and documents, official immigration and registration documents, and possibly on the gravestones. Many Chinese gravestones have all the information needed to trace back to your ancestral village in China.

Please post any Chinese names and addresses on the Forum and our Chinese literate members can help. Instructions on posting images on the Forum:

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421


Henry

[sarah2]

Hi Henry,

Thanks for your reply. We do have a version of the surname 'Keik' in Chinese characters which a calligrapher in Hong Kong wrote for us. I could post this?

Unfortunately, no Chinese personal letters or documents have survived. I was hoping my great great grandfather would have signed his marriage certificate in Chinese, but he signed in English. There are no other family graves in England.

From what I understand, there were few restrictions on immigration in England (such as passports) until World War 1?
So the U.S immigration records may be the best bet.

Does anyone have any advice about U.S immigration records in the 1880s/90s?

Thanks

Sarah

[Henry]

Hi Sarah,

I suggest checking the US Decennial Census manuscript records for 1880 and 1890. I think they are available online from Ancestry.com. I imagine that the states of Georgia and Alabama each had Stae censues for years ending in 5. The decennial census was done in years ending in zero. The US immigration service and the national archives probably has informatrion that you can check. Good Luck.


Henry