Marriage name

[leo84]

I'm studying immigration papers of a male Chinese ancestor who refers to his given name and his "marriage name." In this case, these are two mostly different names.

Is that a custom?

[chak]

Yes, it's quite common - check out member twoupman's website. He does a good job of explaining the many different names we may encounter:
www.houseofchinn.com/ChineseNames.html

[Doug 周]

There are so many different names our male ancestors used. Generally it was taboo to call someone by their birth given name unless you are very close family. Even then they are called by their title instead (big brother, little sister). See Chinese kinship terms- detailed table^click

Record as many names as possible and store them in an easily accessible location (a computer program or even Microsoft Notepad configured for unicode). This was how we confirmed my paternal grandfather's family tree booklet (jiapu). I found his married name (Zi) entry on the edge of an old photo.

Another source for name information Chinese-Canadian Genealogy - Chinese Names - Traditions and Characteristics^click

My father-in-law has instructed me to use his chosen 'Hao' name if I ever find his jiapu for updating.

This is so contrary to current Western culture where a great deal of effort is used to pick a child's birth name

Doug

[leo84]

Thank you. That is helpful information. I've found 7 or 8 variations of this one person's name. It makes it challenging to sort out who is who 100 years later.

[Doug 周]

Your ancestor must have been a famous person to have so many noms de guerre

[leo84]

haha. Probably not famous exactly. I've been researching my great grandfather who was a Chinese herbalist/doctor in Walla Walla and Portland, OR. It's a bit hard to get information on him and family memory seems to be sparse or people just don't like to talk about less-than-happy times.

But, I found a lot of information on his employer, C. Gee Wo (who is known for sponsoring the Chinese exhibit at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair), who he claimed was his uncle, but I have my doubts. There seems to have been some fictive kinship going on, so I'm not sure.

My G Grandfather, according to my Grandmother, and everybody else, was born in San Francisco but the records were lost in the fire. Now when I look at the census records it seems that he sometimes reported his birthplace as Calif. and sometimes as China. Now, I read that some Chinese made use of the SF fire to get around the Chinese Exclusion Act. That might explain some of the weirdness around ever changing names too, but I don't know.

So, right now, it seems I know less than when I started. Chinese genealogy is not easy. At least not in the US to an English speaker.

[Doug 周]

So, right now, it seems I know less than when I started. Chinese genealogy is not easy. At least not in the US to an English speaker.

I have to respectfully disagree with leo84. Chinese genealogy is like all other North American ethnic genealogy research. Each ethnic group has their nuances. Join any local genealogy society and you will see break-off groups emphasizing Afro-American, Irish, Jewish, German, Latin American, etc, genealogy studies. This particular forum helps others understand the nuances of Overseas-Chinese family heritage research.

Already you understood the SF “fire sale” the Chinese used after the earthquake. You touched upon the multiple name conundrum. You are alerted to the alleged kinships; this will focus your understanding of the narratives from your relatives from the US National Archives.

You are fortunate that your G Grandfather was employed by a large enough company who sponsored an exhibit in the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair; that fact makes tracing records and news articles easier. Similarly, my Grandfather was employed by the National Dollar Store and managed a store in Ogden, UT. I have been in contact with the grandson of this prominent employer and discovered there might be historical archival photos and artifacts; another out-of-state destination on my 'ToDo' list. That grandson forwarded me an interview of his grandfather's chauffeur. I found an oral history by the employer's daughter archived at UC Berkley. I plan to visit Ogden, UT to research the local paper’s archives for information about my Grandfather business.

Knowing your G Grandfather worked in Walla Walla and Portland, have you gone to those localities and looked at the newspaper archives? Despite the ease of the Internet, most American based genealogical research is done on-premise at the newspaper archives, courthouses, libraries, genealogical societies, and local business archives. The information on the Internet is only the tip of the information iceberg.

You mentioned that your living relatives are reluctant to discuss the past. You are fortunate that you still have the opportunity to communicate with them. Please don't let their reluctance stop your from archiving information. Consider using the techniques in this Wiki: How to Start Your Chinese Family Heritage Research^click to tease more information. Your family is your greatest and most reliable source of information about your heritage. Just remember to write or record everything, and note your sources (your memory will not be kind to you years later)

Finally, this statement by a recent poster:

Feb 16, 2011 11:47:53 GMT -5 Steve Fong said:

....I had already researched mine and my wife's European heritage but was only able to get back maybe 7 or 8 generations. I had always considered my Chinese line to be 'too hard to do' with possibly few or no records available. How wrong I was! ….

My mantra has always been that Chinese family heritage studies is like any other non Chinese genealogy in North America. 'Hang in' there. Based on what you wrote, you have already come a long ways. When you are ready to extend your search back across the Pacific into China, you will discover techniques in this forum and wiki to help you further your research.

Sincerely,
Doug

[leo84]

I appreciate your thoughtful reply. I have made some progress, more than I would have thought possible a couple years ago. The Chinese Exclusion Act documents had a lot of information. I was also able to glean quite a bit from the Oregonian newspaper archives that are available on-line. You've given me a few ideas of where I can go next, but it will all involve travel and printed paper/microfiche and all that. You can't convince me that doing Chinese genealogy is as easy as it is for most Euro-American lineages, but I do think it is well worth the extra effort and something that takes a lot of time and effort is that much more rewarding in the end.

My grandmother passed away a few years ago and there aren't too many people left from the generation that was close to the people I'm trying to learn about. I am finding out that much of what I was told growing up may not be true, but I regret that I cannot check it out with the people who lived through it anymore because they're no longer with us (nor can I share what I have found out).

But one thing that is very clear from both my family oral history and what I am finding in the archives, Chinese in Oregon and throughout the US had very difficult time dealing unfair and persecutory laws and attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but were persevering in the face of these problems. Still, my grandmother for one held on to a lot of wounds from the past. Digging up old information helps me better understand why she felt the way she did. But some of the things that happened back then are difficult.

[Doug 周]

For those lurking on this forum trying to learn how to do Chinese genealogy research:

My experience with NARA was great as a resource for family heritage research. You can see these instructions from a NARA archivist on how to get information about your relatives: THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT SAN FRANCISCO^click

However, as a genealogy resource, the data left a lot to be desired. There is a financial incentive to confabulate and overstate as many siblings as possible. This provided potential ‘paper son’ certificates to sell at a profit later. The US government spent a lot of effort researching the names of villages, and transcribing the interviews in order to catch fraudulent statements. As a source of raw genealogy data, MY OWN family’s information from NARA was of little use. This took re-interviewing your best source of genealogy data, your family, to reconcile the differences between NARA and family oral history.

What the NARA papers provided was a glimpse at the personalities of my grandparents. I could not have conversations with the grandparents, because of their early passing, language barriers, my immaturity, etc. From the transcribed narratives of their answering questions under duress, and I saw how they handled the stress as they parried with the interviewers. Like leo84 said:

But one thing that is very clear from both my family oral history and what I am finding in the archives, Chinese in Oregon and throughout the US had very difficult time dealing unfair and persecutory laws and attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but were persevering in the face of these problems

For that reason alone, I would highly recommend obtaining your family’s NARA records.

Because one of the emphasis of the interrogators was to query about the location of household items and the layout of the village, and because I could not trust the information provided by my relatives, I was inspired to read Helen’s recommendation Village Life in China^click by Arthur H. Smith. This led to a better understanding about life in China from which my grandparents left at the turn of the century.

As an aside, the efforts the government employed to enforce the 1882 Exclusion Act provided not only these transcribed narratives, but the raw data for the Village Database^click. These valuable research sources do not however condone the anti-Chinese sentiments and hardships placed on our relatives. This is a nuance about Chinese-American heritage research.

One of the basic tenets of genealogy is to gather as much information as possible and then come to a conclusion. Much like leo84 is gathering more and more information, and is trying to come to some conclusion about his heritage, so should be the task of all genealogist and family heritage researchers. It is very important to gather as much information from as many sources as possible, and then make a measured judgement about what happened to your family. An example of this is the excellent research by Deborah. See her thread about a question on her grandfather’s citizenship^click.

Finally, I cannot reemphasize the importance of recording your sources. The reason is that your particular research in genealogy, although thorough, will always be reevaluated by your descendants and future researchers. Unless you can provide sources, they will want to repeat your research to verify your information. You do not want all your work to be considered gossip and hearsay.

IMHO
Doug