As to how I know if my genealogy is tied to Chen Weisheng. Actually, I can’t say 100%. Genealogy of any sort going take far is based on circumstantial evidence. The only other way to know if I had all who claim to be direct descendants of him to take a DNA test. But, here is an excerpt from my Genealogy report from My China Roots.
“We found three stone tablets in the Chen Clan Temple, which carried information about the history of
the temple (The Chen family temple was built during the reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong, 1735-1796,
and rebuilt during the reign of Qing Emperor Jiaqing, 1796-1820). The tablets also showed the name
of the first Chen ancestor in Xiaqiao Village: Chen Weisheng / 陈维生, also known as Chen
Weixin / 维新 and Cheng Xuan / 成轩; his wife was named Huang Gongwan / 黄恭婉. Chen
Weisheng came from Linnei, Xihu / 西湖林内 in downtown Zhangzhou (note that this is a different
Linnei from the one in Qiaotou), and moved to Xiaqiao around the end of the Yuan Dynasty, mid-14th
century.
- Your Chen Clan is a sub-clan of the Yingchuan Chen Clan….
After Chen Weixin settled in Xiaqiao, his descendants spread out to other places in Fujian, Taiwan,
and Guangdong;; your ancestors moved to Linnei in Qiaotou village.
- There used to be a stone flagpole in front of the temple to commemorate a Chen clan member who
was a wujuren. A wujurenwas a person who passed the provincial level Military Imperial
Examinations, typically a martial arts expert. In fact, Xiaqiao used to be known as a martial arts village,
and many villagers practised kung fu. The pedestal of the flagpole was more than 1m long and about
1m wide. Xiaqiao's history counts a total of two wujuren. Chen Laojiang and elderly Xiaqiao villagers
only knew the name of one of these two, which was Chen Denghua. As we know your ancestor Chen
Jitian was a wujuren, he must have been the other of the two. Also, the elderly Xiaqiao villagers were
sure that the flagpole was not built for Chen Denghua (who passed the exams 130 years ago), and
thus it will have been the case that the Xiaqiao flagpole was built in honor of your ancestor Chen
Jitian. Sadly, the flagpole was destroyed in 1958, during a very rough time in Chinese history, and the
rock of the pedestal was used to build a toilet.
- We went to Xiaqiao's graveyard;; all tombstones carried the characters for Xiaqiao (霞桥).
Unfortunately, there were no tombstones of relevance to your direct lineage: the older graves did not
have tombstones (anymore), and those with tombstones were all from the past 100 years.
- The Xiaqiao villagers stressed that the local government had decided to demolish your
Xiaqiao Chen Clan family temple in 2016. At the time of our visit, Xiaqiao villagers were discussing
the option of re-building the family temple in a different place.”
The basis is my Chen Clan comes from a village called Xiaqiao霞桥in Zhangzhou, Fujian. That village name is engraved in my grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather’s tombstones. While as I stated before my ancestry tablet lists Chen Jitian as the progenitor of my clan in Taiwan. He is from 7 generations earlier. I’m the 8th generation. He was a wujuren. 武舉人. As stated, my uncle has an ancestor painting of him wearing the full Qing Dynasty robe, etc. Per the genealogy report and talking to the villagers and village historian, there were only 2 Wujuren from Xiaqiao. One was identified Chen Denghua whom was not my 5x great grandfather (and he lived 130 years ago which does not fit the timeframe when the Family Temple was reconstructed. Thus, they believe the other one was my 5x great-grandfather Chen Jitian as mentioned in the report a flagpole was made in his honor at the Xiaqiao Chen Clan Family Temple as it fits the timeframe when he lived. As the report as, the Chen Clan Family Temple in Xiaqiao was rebuilt again rebuilt during the reign of Qing Emperor Jiaqing, 1796-1820)-which fits the timeframe when Chen Jitian lived.
My ancestry tablet also mentioned 2 other individuals before Chen Jitian. They mention Chen Chaogang陳朝綱 and Chen Chaoke/Tingyang 陳兆科/廷楊 as the “Tangzu” 唐祖 which means Chinese ancestor (the ones who live in China). So, in reality after Chen Weisheng and his 6 descendants listed in that ancestry tablet- I will suspect my Tangzu are there and some of his descendants including Chen Jitian. Of course.
Of course, you can see some of my posts on another thread back in 2015- I was posting progress reports when My China Roots were making giving them to me before producing the final report.
Here is one I posted on December 27, 2015 (see:
siyigenealogy.proboards.com/thread/752/common-ancestor-surname-chen?page=24&scrollTo=18731):“I shared some of my information in my immediate post to this one with Philip Tan and he looked up Chen Weixin (陳維新)- one of my ancestors in Fujian and progenitor of the Xiaqiao Chen Clan in Fujian per the Xiaqiao Chen Clan Director and did not find him in the descendant lines of Chen Zheng 陳政 and of Chen Yuanguang 陳元光. Instead, he found Chen Weixin (陳維新)to be 27th generation descendant of Chen Wen Zan (陳文贊). Chen Wen Zan (陳文贊) does have common ancestors with Chen Zheng 陳政 and of Chen Yuanguang 陳元光 and hence just under sub-branch of the Yingchuan Chen Branch.
See:
www.nanchens.com/csyy/csyy03/csyy03005.htm. The first generation here is Chen Wen Zan (陳文贊). While here in you just hit Ctrl-F and type 維新 to find that Chen Weixin (陳維新) is the 27th generation from Chen Wen Zan (陳文贊).
If you go to
www.nanchens.com/csyy/csyy1101.htm you can see how Chen Yuanguang (陳元光), Chen Yong (陳邕) and Chen Wen Zan (陳文贊) are related.
As I stated in my prior post, Chen Weixin (陳維新) of Xiaqiao, Zhangzhou, Fujian had descendants who later on moved to Lin Nei sub-village, Qiaozaitou Village, Zhangzhou, Fujian (where my ancestors moved to before moving onto Taiwan; as well as to Guangdong and to Taiwan.
But, again just waiting to see if we can find our Zupu which a distant relative of the Xiaqiao Chen Clan in Indonesia may have a copy.
Read more:
siyigenealogy.proboards.com/thread/752/common-ancestor-surname-chen?page=24&scrollTo=18731#ixzz54HGcAU5r”Philip Tan has been helpful and My China Roots even met up with Philip Tan in Malaysia. He found this regarding Chen Chaogang- so who knows. See:
siyigenealogy.proboards.com/thread/752/common-ancestor-surname-chen?page=21As for intermarriages with the Tanka, She, Miao, etc. no doubt about it I believe there were lots going on in Fujian and Guangdong. My autosomal DNA seems to agree with that- it shows me a mixture of "Northern Han" and "Southern Han" (which I believe includes Baiyue).