Need help to understand an inherited Lee Family Tree Book

[chinkhor]

My maternal great-grandfather left behind a copy of "Lee Family Tree Book".

The first 50 pages can be viewed here - 1drv.ms/1ng9Xo0

The remaining 150 pages are yet to be scanned.

I need some help to understand it with the aim of eventually adding my late great-grandfather to the book.

Here's a picture of his grave stone - 1drv.ms/1ngaW7D

Thanks for any suggestions that you may have or contact me cgkhor at gmail.com

[laohuaqiao]

This genealogy book is for the descendants of Li Yi 李佁，aka Daoquan 道全，youngest of 3 sons of Li Dong 李栋, aka Rentang 任堂， progenitor of the Li/Lee clan in Taishan.

The first 2 lines (right vertical lines) on the 2nd page of the book is the family generation poem.
高第开基，广衍云礽，伟叶始丰，树绩永彰，家国宏猷

It looks like the book includes many branches and subbranches of the descendants of Li Yi, so the entire book may contain the complete genealogy tree, up until the latest revision. Your great grandfather's tombstone indicated he came from Xinhui Danzao Xiang 新会 丹灶乡， which means one of the subbranches migrated to Xinhui at some point.

[chinkhor]

Thanks so much for your help. It's truly fascinating to know that we are descendants of Li Yi, youngest son of Li Dong.

And we even have a generation poem. Wow!

No one today remembers anything about my great-grandfather who died a century ago in Menglembu, a small town near Ipoh, Malaysia.

It makes me wonder what sort of man he was in order to possess such a precious document.

Can someone help me locate my ancestral village - Xinhui Danzao Xiang 新会 丹灶乡?

[laohuaqiao]

In the past, a county was divided into districts called xiang. A xiang could have dozens or even hundreds of rural villages. Within a xiang, there would be marketplaces xu 圩, where village folk would come on market days to purchase food and things not available in the villages.

Danzao Xiang was part of Xinhui County.

Today, county - xiang system is no longer used. There is still a Danzao Xu 丹灶圩. That your great grandfather came from Danzao Xiang means he came from a village within the region surrounding Danzao Xu. We don't have a village name. There is a Danzao village, but that may or may not be your ggf's village.

Location of Danzao Xu: coordinates "22.6348, 113.0573" in ditu.google.cn . Danzao village is about 500m directly south of that.

There is someone, with surname Lee/Li, who went online and claimed he is from Danzao 丹灶 Longma 龙马 village. So, there are definitely Lee/Li's in the area. Third post here: tieba.baidu.com/p/1093418197?pid=12488287088

Longma is about 1.5 km west of Danzao village, separated by a new residential development. You can find Longma village at "22.6275, 113.0424" in ditu.gogle.cn . If you should decide to visit the area, I'm sure the village folks in Longma would know all the villages in the area with Lee/Li surname.

[chinkhor]

Thanks for your most enlightening explanation. Now I have a much clearer idea about a county, a district (xiang, not in used anymore), a village and a marketplace (xu).

Your effort in providing Danzao Xu coordinate is very much appreciated. You have given us some confidence in searching for our ancestral village and we are excited to plan for a trip soon.

Could my great-grandmother be from a nearby village? This is her tombsone - 1drv.ms/1nnJyo8

Thanks again for your help.

[laohuaqiao]

Yes, she's also from Danzao xiang, the village is Longwang 龙旺, just north (a few hundred meters) of Danzao Xu, coordinates "22.6385, 113.0554"

BTW, Xinhui has become a district within Jiangmen City 江门市, Xinhui Qu, and the former Danzao xiang is now part of Pengjiang district/Qu of Jiangmen City, 蓬江区. The long distance bus terminal for Jiangmen City is very close, about 1 km, to Danzao Xu.

[Doug 周]

You are fortunate to have your jiapu. It looks like your bequeathed copy was hand transcribed. Did your family member locate on which page is great-great grandfather located? This would make it much easier for you to trace your particular the lineage.

The indexing of the jiapu is done by generation number from the progenitor. You should be able to read the generation numbers with a rudimentary knowledge of a few Chinese characters and the first 10 digits. I am assuming you have no Chinese literacy skills

From my personal dictionary gleaned from this Understanding Jiapu/Zupu for Chinese Illiterates thread ^click
世 is the character for generation.
Chinese Numbers
零 〇 0
壹 一 1
貳 二 2
叁 三 3
肆 四 4
伍 五 5
陸 六 6
柒 七 7
捌 八 8
玖 九 9
拾 十 10

I would recommend digitizing your priceless document rather than just translating or romanizing. Then you can transfer the digitized words into a MS Word, Text, or PDF file. You can then bookmark, make notes, and share it with family and researchers. You can hire someone or use the tools mentioned in the Software section ^click .

You can always machine translate the document if it is digitized. Most of the information are proper-given names, and will not translate well anyway. The prose sections will need a person to translate, since they may be in classical Chinese ^click&goto#6 and most Forum members have trouble using machine translation of Chinese prose. Also check this wiki: JIAPU 家譜 ^click

[chinkhor]

Thanks for all the helpful links.  You guys are simply awesome.

I'll certainly take up your suggestion to digitize, share and build upon this jiapu which is indeed a priceless document to inherit and an invaluable resource to many.

We have not been able to locate my great-grandfather in the family tree yet.

Until my next trip back to Kuala Lumpur to scan the remaining half of the jiapu, let me share what I do have for now:

Pages 1 - 50 : 1drv.ms/1mEmsIK

Pages 50 -100: 1drv.ms/1im7IP0

Pages 100 to end: about 150 pages to be scanned

Last few pages scanned: 1drv.ms/1mDYL7U

Can anyone help to interpret the dates when my great-grandparents passed away?

Great-grandfather tombstone:  1drv.ms/1ngaW7D

Great-grandmother tombstone: 1drv.ms/1nnJyo8

[liuyao]

Your ggf's tombstone has one date (presumably the date of death): 癸丑年二月??, which uses a system of cycle of 60 years. 癸丑＝1913, or 1973, or 2033... I can't help but mention that this system is found in oracle bones (3000 years ago) and bronze inscriptions (2500 years ago).

Your ggm is easier to decipher: it reads 民國十八年十二月, or Republic (era) ten eight (=eighteenth) year ten two (twelfth) month. The first year of the Republic era is 1912, making the 18th year 1929.

[andytan]

Hey chinkhor,

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if you still have those scanned images of your Lee family tree?

I am related to the Lee Family through my maternal grandmother's mother but we don't have a family tree; just the name of my maternal grandmother's mother. And I'd like to see if her name is in your family tree.

Best Regards,
Andy Tan

[chinkhor]

Hi Andy

I will post the scanned images of my Lee family ancestral tree.

The tree stopped at the time my great great grandfather took a copy
of China. So the last several generations to now is not in there.

But don’t be disappointed as somewhere further up the tree our branches will merge and we do share a common ancestry from there on.

My Lee family tree book is interesting as it goes as far back to Lee Dong and his third son which covers 700 years. A lot of it is still a huge mystery to me.

Will try my best to update this thread soon.

Warm regards
Khor Chin Guan

[andytan]

Hey chinkhlor,

It's good to hear back from you. I was worried this thread was dead given the fact this thread was from May 4, 2014.

I don't know anything about my Lee ancestors so I don't have a Lee Chinese kinship registry/family tree like you do.

If you can upload the photos onto Google Photos Album and send me the link via my email [e-mail] or private message via this website, that'll be great.

Best Regards,
Andy Tan

[kate]

Hi chinkhor,

I am also searching for records about my Lee/Li ancestors from Taishan. If it isn't too much trouble for you, I would also love to receive a copy of the digitized family tree book. My email is [e-mail] if you are able to pass along a copy.

Thank you!

[wang]

In China, Li has many family branches.Generally, they have different generation names. You should provide the names of the three generations of ancestors to determine which branch. Only in this way can the corresponding genealogy be found.

[andytan]

I only know one name of my Lee ancestor but it's my maternal grandmother's mother.