jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on Apr 9, 2020 8:59:04 GMT -5
My mother, Chan Sok Chin was born in Quangzhou (Canton) in 1919. Her father's name was Chan Chin, farmer. That is all I know. Attached is a photo of her family, her mother is the one sitting in the front. My mother is the 1st one standing on the right. The other people I believe are her relatives. I do not know their names. The photo was taken in Quangzhou in the 1950's. Does anyone reconize any of these people? I have also attached her name written in Chinese. My mother married a Scottish man (my father) and moved to Australia, where she died. I would love to know more about her family in Quangzhou!
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andytan
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Post by andytan on Apr 9, 2020 10:05:37 GMT -5
Hey Jess,
My family is also from the 陳 (Chen/Chin/Chan) Clan near where your family was from so I guess we're probably distant relatives.
Do you have any other photos and the Chinese names of your distant relatives?
Also, can you circle which person in the photo is your mother and your maternal grandmother?
Best Regards, Andy Tan
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jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on Apr 9, 2020 10:29:44 GMT -5
That is the only photo I have of my mother's family. I do not have any other names. I have circled my mother and my maternal grandmother in the photo. Hope you can help!
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jess
Member
Posts: 12
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Post by jess on Apr 9, 2020 10:50:17 GMT -5
Andy, could you please email me, my email address is
jessblackley@yahoo.com
Thank you
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andytan
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If you'd like to reach me, please feel free to send me an email via tomguojie@gmail.com
Posts: 85
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Post by andytan on Apr 9, 2020 10:55:29 GMT -5
I just sent you a email. Let me know when you receive it.
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Post by helen on Apr 10, 2020 6:48:57 GMT -5
Guangzhou is a big place. Why did she come to Australia? Did she come direct from China - or from Hong Kong? Could she speak English? What dialect did she speak? Her Chan is the same as my Chan last name. Did she belong to any Chinese societies in Sydney? What did she do for a living? Did she have Chinese friends? So many questions that need answers - so we can try to see where she may have been from.
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jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on Apr 10, 2020 8:14:01 GMT -5
CHAN SOK CHIN (1919-2001)
My mother met my dad in Shanghai. At that time, my dad was a detective-sergeant with the Shanghai Municipal Police. I have an extensive research on them but I cannot find anything on my mother prior to her meeting my dad.
In 1942, my dad was arrested by the Japanese & interned in a political prisoner camp at 372 Haiphong Road, Shanghai. They were married there in the prison camp in 1943.
After the war, in 1945, my dad was released and they went to live in Hong Kong. The validity of the 1943 marriage was doubtful as the marriage was performed in a Japanese prison camp so they were married again in Hong Kong in 1946. My sisters and I were all born in Hong Kong. When my dad retired, we moved to Australia.
My mother did not work early in life but after moving to Australia, she owned several restaurants. She spoke Cantonese and very little English in the beginning. She could not read or write and said that was because when her father sent her to Shanghai to get an education, she did not attend school and instead she had a good time.
She did not belong to any Chinese societies. Most of her Chinese contacts have passed away and the only remaining knows nothing about her heritage.
I wish I could find out more about her family. She spoke very little of them and I wish I had paid more attention to her at those times. When she died in 2001, no one in family knew what her mother's name was so we had to put mother's name "unknown" on her death certificate. We knew her father’s name was Chan Chin, that was written on her marriage certificate and that he was a farmer.
I remember I accompanied my mother on one of her trips back to Hong Kong. It was in 1967 and on the way back to Australia, we stopped off in Bangkok to visit her older sister. That is all I remembered, no names or faces. So I probably have cousins living in Thailand, don’t know where.
None of my sisters have Chinese names except for my youngest sister, along with her Scottish name, my mother named her “Ah Ming”. I don’t know if there is anything significant in the name Ah Ming.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Post by genekl on May 8, 2020 4:15:54 GMT -5
Your slight misspelling of Guangzhou and relatives in Bangkok made me think there is a small chance she might have come from Quanzhou in Fujian province or Chaozhou in Guangdong. The majority of Chinese in Thailand are from those parts.
Many Chinese don't appreciate the women's lineage. My mother's welcoming relatives have been a blessing since there is almost no contact with my paternal line in China. Wish you all the best in your quest.
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Post by gckimm on May 10, 2020 1:02:08 GMT -5
Hi jess:
It looks like your quest to find out more about your mother's background may be a long one. You will need to search for more clues about her past. Especially helpful would be anything in Chinese: family letters, documents, etc. Because of China's traditional patriarchal society, a woman's ancestry is particularly difficult to trace. There is little information about women, even in genealogical records. Keep looking. One of these days, you might find something or someone helpful to your search.
Your mother's name appears to confirm Cantonese origin. There is no standard way of romanizing Cantonese and Chinese people for whom English was a second language (if that) often came up with names that did not quite correspond to the actual pronunciation. Seeing the characters for your mother's name, I would romanize it as Chan Sook Jing. I suspect that your mother or someone else said that she came from "Canton." The problem is that in former times, almost all Chinese immigrants and their family members would say that they came from "Canton" but not many of them meant the city that is now generally called Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong Province (also formerly called Canton). For Chinese immigrants, "Canton" was just a simple shorthand way of referring to "the area around Canton"--which was the area from which most Cantonese immigrants came. Your mother, like most immigrants of Cantonese origin, probably came from a small village in one of several counties in the Pearl River Delta.
Best wishes for your success in the future. If you find some other clues, we would be happy to help you.
Greg
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jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on May 15, 2020 7:36:25 GMT -5
Quangzhou is new to me, I have always known it as Canton. Not really sure about Thailand as my mother's sister was the only one of her family living in Thailand. My mother came from a large family with many brothers and sisters so I know I have a lot of cousins in China.
My mother's marriage certificate stated that she was born in Canton and that her father's name was Chan Chin, farmer. My mother would visit Canton regularly, when we in lived in HongKong and she also made the trip to China from Australia quite a few times. Her last visit to China was in 1989 during the Tiananmin massacre, it scared her so much, she never went back there again. She died in 2001. Thank you for your response!
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andytan
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Posts: 85
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Post by andytan on May 15, 2020 7:38:37 GMT -5
Hey Jess,
Have you ever tried doing a DNA test like 23andme to see if you have any extended biological relatives who could help with your genealogy research?
Best, Andy Tan
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jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on May 15, 2020 7:44:48 GMT -5
I am waiting for 23andme ro have a sale on their DNA kits. The Mitrochronial tests are so expensive.
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andytan
Member
If you'd like to reach me, please feel free to send me an email via tomguojie@gmail.com
Posts: 85
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Post by andytan on May 15, 2020 8:01:28 GMT -5
If you have an educational email that is still active, you can purchase one from their educational store - ancestry + traits for $79 and ancestry + traits + health for $99, but I would suggest getting the $79 one because the other is just a waste of money based on surveys taken by other people.
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jess
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Posts: 12
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Post by jess on May 15, 2020 9:06:36 GMT -5
Would you suggest I do an ancestry DNA test that would give me my Mitrochrondial Hapgroup (23and me) or do a full Mitrochrondial DNA test (FTDNA)?
I do not belong to ant educational group. I am 70 years old and would like to learn about my Chinese ancestry before it is too late. Thank you!
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andytan
Member
If you'd like to reach me, please feel free to send me an email via tomguojie@gmail.com
Posts: 85
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Post by andytan on May 21, 2020 20:00:42 GMT -5
Sorry about the late reply. I did not receive a notification from Siyigenealogy.
I did multiple 23andme DNA tests for my paternal and maternal side, and what I know is that 23andme shows the maternal haplogroup and paternal haplogroup, so I would suggest going with whatever their current cheapest kit is.
I don't know much about other DNA companies so I cannot comment on that.
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