Need help researching Lee 李 family (China to NY)

[txqueen9]

I have been trying to trace my dad's paternal line for many years but just can't go any further. My gr-grandfather's name was Lee Goon (aka Charlie/Charley), born 1861, came to US in 1876. His Chinese Exclusion Act case file lists his nephew (Lee Quon) and his nephew's son (Lee Show Hor). By researching them, I found immigration/passenger records that list Lee Show Hor's place of birth as Sunning, Kwangtung. I'm assuming that Lee Goon was likely from the same area. And that's as far as I can go. I know that's not much to go on, but I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to move forward. 

Thanks so much!

Tracy

[andytan]

Taishan (Chinese: 台山) was formerly known as Xinning/Sunning and was named Taishan County in 1914.

[Henry]

Hi Tracy,

Do the case files have the Chinese characters for the name of the Lee ancestral village? If any of your ancestors are buried in the US, do they have Chinese characters on their gravestones - usually indicating the ancestral village name.

The identification & location of the ancestral village is important because this is where you can find the village genealogy book, listing the names of your ancestors.

Aside from the village genealogy book, in 2018, the Taishan Lee Association published a 7 volume Lee clan genealogy bookset (7,000 + pages) covering about 500 Lee villages in Taishan county.

Henry

[andytan]

Hi Henry. Would you by any chance know how to obtain said 7 volume Lee Clan Genealogy book?

[Henry]

Hi Andy,

Taishan Lee/Li Genealogy Bookset 2018

Lee/Li Clan Journal Publication Office in Taicheng

台山敬修文化促进会《敬修月报》社办公室

台城草朗街28号





1,000 RMB cost

7 volumes ( 7,300 pages )

shipping by boat $75 USD - 2 months - 30 pounds

The cost to have a person go & buy a set, pack & ship it would be about $325 USD

Henry

[txqueen9]

Thanks for your responses.

Henry, unfortunately the only thing I have in Chinese is Lee Goon's signature from his travel documents in 1900.


I know the cemetery where Lee Goon is buried in NY but haven't been able to find a gravestone online or go there myself, so I'm not sure if there is anything on it that might help.

On a few passenger lists, there are wives listed for Lee Quon and Lee Show Hor, and I have Goon's mother's name from his death certificate, so my next step will be to compare the locations for all of these names with Lee and see where they overlap. (Gin, Yee, and Thom) Hopefully, that will narrow down the possible villages.

I will probably order the books you recommended. After spending the last 25 years trying to trace this line, waiting 2 months for the books is not much of an inconvenience. I don't know a lick of Chinese, so it'll be fun scouring through 7,000 pages.

Just out of curiosity, did most people in China keep detailed family trees, even the poorer classes? I've found that in alot of the European countries, it's much more difficult to find any records for the working class than for landowners and community leaders.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

Tracy

[jeremychin]

Hi Tracy,

What cemetery is Lee Goon in? I'm in NYC and very familiar with the cemeteries here. Might they be buried in Evergreen or Cypress Hill in Brooklyn?

- Jeremy

[txqueen9]

Hi, Jeremy.  Lee Goon is buried in Cypress Hill Cemetery. My husband called there and a woman there was very helpful in searching for his grave. After some digging, she discovered that his grave is listed as "Goon", without any other name. His wife Annie was buried at Calvary Cemetery and we do have a photo of her grave. We've requested a photo of the Goon site through findagrave.com.  
www.findagrave.com/memorial/220704449/goon_charlie-lee?createdMemorial=Yes

We're in Texas, but hopefully once the virus has passed, we will take a trip to NY to see all these family places ourselves. Looks like it'll be quite a while though.

Thanks so much!

Tracy

[Henry]

Hi Tracy,

I suggest holding off on trying buying the Taishan Lee Genealogy book-set. Unless you know a local person in Taishan to buy the set for you - it is a rather difficult task. Also, according to my Chinese literate friend, he has informed me that trying to navigate the embedded indices for the various lineages in this Lee book-set is quite difficult even for him, who is an expert.

My suggestion is to wait until you can find the name & location of your ancestral village, which may have a copy of the village genealogy book, which will probably have more detail in terms of the annotations to the lineages. The large compilations of Lee lineages in the book-set will not include much of the details found in the local village genealogy book.

Unfortunately, the emperors of China & government have never collected or compiled family registers for common people. The village genealogy book is the ultimate source. During the Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976), the Red Guard destroyed almost all the Chinese genealogy books in China. Fortunately, the Cantonese people of Guangdong province are a belligerent bunch - they hid their genealogy books - which allow people with origins in Guangdong province the very unique opportunity to trace back their family lineages back - thousands of years.

The NARA case files in San Bruno, CA for Lee Quon and Lee Snow Hor may have the name of your ancestral village. Please email me at "[e-mail]" and I will provide you with some sources to check this out. This NARA facility is currently closed to the public, however, I believe, if you call with the Case ID & Bin location, they can pull the documents and make copies to send to you.

Henry