cs90
Member
Posts: 4 
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Post by cs90 on Mar 5, 2018 16:59:11 GMT -5
Good afternoon everyone. I need your help. I would like to know more about my (Hakka?) Chinese great grandfather (where he came from, any potential ancestors) and perhaps locate living relatives using the limited info that I have. Hopefully it's not too much of a challenge. Name: The English surname many relatives share is "Lee Chin." I presume, then, that the Chinese surname would be Li 李. His living son believes the name was "Lee Chin King" but is unsure. Dates: Born approx 1896 in Guangdong province in a small village near Shenzhen. Died Dec 1966. Family: One Jamaican woman (my great grandmother) and one Chinese woman from Hong Kong via an arranged marriage in 1930 (she was 16). There are living direct children, but I have only contacted one thus far. Travel/Migration: - He went first to Trinidad with an older brother "Lee Sang Hing" in the early 1920s. From there, they went to Jamaica.
- Eventually, after marrying the Chinese woman, he went back to China with the Chinese woman and left some children behind in Jamaica and Canada.
- On one particular trip back from China, he or relatives went from Hong Kong to Vancouver (by boat), to NY (via rail), and then to Jamaica.
Any ideas, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated. If anyone is able to do some digging, please let me know.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 17:25:28 GMT -5
Hi cs90,
Welcome to the forum!
The best place to start, as with anything genealogy, is documents that may reveal information about your great-grandfather. Chinese characters are much more concrete than transliteration.
Do you know anything more of the small village near shenzhen?
I'm sure other members of the forum can give you a more comprehensive answer. As for your great-grandfather, I would guess at hazard his name to be 李錦景。
-Matthew
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Post by ginagaladriel on Mar 5, 2018 17:26:02 GMT -5
cs90
The surname Lee can be written several ways, we can't trust the romanization of the surname because people wrote it as they heard it in the past, per example in Panama, I have two relative groups with the surname Lee :
呂 (which pronunciation in Mandarin is Lǚ, but in Panama their surname was latinized/romanized to Lee
李 (which pronunciation in Mandarin is Lǐ, but in Panama is written and pronounced Lee
Therefore I would suggest to find a letter, photos (e..g. of headstone) or any document that you can find where your great grandfather's name was written (having the character is an direct/easier way to find out the correct family history).
Since you have some migration information I would suggest you to start finding the travel manifestos, in case they give a better name of the city of origin; and more.
Also search for obituaries, since he died in 1966, it is possible that it is still available somewhere in the internet or in a library.
Best of Luck in your search, it's not easy, but not impossible!
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Post by Doug 周 on Mar 6, 2018 6:32:57 GMT -5
In Chinese genealogy, you must confirm the surname first, usually via your oral history. Also, emphasize via your oral history, searching the family heirlooms and correspondences, or gravestones, for the Chinese characters of your ancestral village. Phonetic spellings of Chinese words will not be helpful if you want to link your family back to China. Finally, after gathering this information, ping rhew . He has compiled the gravestone information of the Hakka cemeteries in Jamaica. Most of his villages are from the Shenzhen region iirc. You might find his website of cemetery information by searching his recent posts. Else you can private message him. |
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Post by cdnheadtaxdata on Mar 19, 2018 4:12:46 GMT -5
If you have the dates of your great grandfather's trip from HK to Vancouver, then to NY before embarking to Jamaica, the Canadian Head Tax Record might nail down some details.
There are not too many Chinese arriving to or traveling through Canada after the Chinese Exclusion Act took effect in 1923.
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cs90
Member
Posts: 4
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Post by cs90 on Apr 17, 2018 21:52:16 GMT -5
Hello everyone, just following up!
I've come across a living daughter in Guangzhou with the surname Li (still don't have the characters yet). But she will have all information on her father and his parents. She also knows where the family village is. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak English very well. I sent her a letter yesterday via mail; hopefully she will respond soon (if not, I'll call her.)
Would anyone be willing to translate letters back and forth for me?
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Post by Doug 周 on Apr 18, 2018 9:08:21 GMT -5
Consider WeChat. Virtually every mainlander uses WeChat. Once you activate your account, search for her via her phone number. Otherwise, she will give you her user id.
There is a translation function on WeChat.
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rhew
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Post by rhew on Jun 7, 2018 0:31:04 GMT -5
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cs90
Member
Posts: 4
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Post by cs90 on Jun 12, 2018 21:55:10 GMT -5
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Post by gckimm on Jun 13, 2018 21:42:05 GMT -5
Hi: Below is my translation of the letter. I hope it is helpful to you. --Greg
Hello. I received your letter asking me to give some information about your family tree. I’m sorry to disappoint you, as I know very little.
My name is Dorothy Li. I am the younger half-sister of your maternal grandmother. We shared the same father but had different mothers. My father was Li Jinqing 李晋卿 and my mother was Yang Youmei 杨友妹 [“Ma” is an error in Romanization]. My mother raised eight children, five girls and three boys. Six are still living. Three are outside the country and the other three are in China: my eldest sister, Mary Liu, now retired and living in Shaoguan, Guangdong 广东省韶关市; my second eldest sister, Monica Wang, retired and living in Shenzhen, Guangdong 广东省深圳市; and Dorothy Li. From Hong Kong I returned to Guangzhou 广州 to attend school. After graduation, I worked in Guangzhou until I retired and now I live in Guangzhou.
You asked about our ancestral place. It is Nankeng Village, Huiyang County, Guangdong Province, China中国广东省惠阳县南坑村.
I don’t know the names of my grandfather and grandmother. After my father went to Jamaica and settled there, they died one after another. There are no relatives in our native village.
When we were young, our parents sent us to Hong Kong to be cared for by our maternal grandmother. For this reason, we don’t know anything about what went on in our village. Since Churchill and Hazel grew up at our parents’ side, it’s possible that they know more than I do. Maybe it would be better if you came and visited them!
Sorry I can’t tell you more about the situation.
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cs90
Member
Posts: 4
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Post by cs90 on Oct 22, 2020 10:04:14 GMT -5
 I just got this letter back from China. Could someone please translate for me? Thank you! |
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Post by Henry on Oct 22, 2020 15:34:16 GMT -5
cs90 This is the Google map location of your ancestral village: www.google.com/maps/place/Nankeng,+Huiyang+District,+Huizhou,+Guangdong+Province,+China/@22.8087006,114.2476212,15z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x340461df1ebb2a63:0xb7577cae73d4ff08!2sHuiyang+District,+Huizhou,+Guangdong+Province,+China!3b1!8m2!3d22.789101!4d114.456539!3m4!1s0x34047bccac15fc45:0xffcdd64d11d495eb!8m2!3d22.8087033!4d114.2564178?hl=en The location of your ancestral village is important because, this is probably where your village relatives live. If you ask Dorothy Li, via WeChat ( messages can be reverted to either Chinese or English ) to call the village chief to check if there is a copy of the village genealogy book, with your Li family lineage. Since Dorothy Li now lives in Guangzhou, she can travel to Nankeng village to meet the village chief & village relatives and try to get a copy of your Li family lineage. Henry |
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Post by gckimm on Oct 24, 2020 12:15:18 GMT -5
Hi again, cs90. Here is my translation of your latest letter from China. Best wishes. --Greg
Hello! I’m Dorothy Li. Don’t worry; I’m fine here in China. This time the virus situation is not affecting us.
My 2nd elder sister, Monica Wang, has one son and one daughter. They’re all well and live in Shenzhen. Because they’ve just moved into a new home, I don’t have their address, just a phone number: 0755-83343151. Call if we have matters to discuss.
My father, Li Jinqing, was Hakka. He built a good house in Nankeng and let some relatives take care of it when he returned to Jamaica. We don’t have any old things left from there. The house is now abandoned.
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