Village Gate Translation Needed

[macfamilyhistory]

Hello - I’m trying to confirm my family’s ancestral village. I have this photo, taken by my great aunt on her return trip in 1988. Can anyone help with a translation of the village name or the characters down the sides? Thank you so much!

[jasonwu]

Hi there,

Looks like the village is 新會 梅閣 Mui Kok, Sunwui. The clan name should be 蔣 Cheung, and the village is comprised of many smaller hamlets (see VDB link here). Here's the Google Satellite Imagery of the area (link here).

The couplets on either side are a bit too small to make out for myself, but these are often poetic praises of the people, land, culture, history, etc. of the village. They are there for ornamental and auspicious reasons. If you want to know about the village and clan history, you should look for genealogies that pertain to Mui Kok. Here are 2 available online:

1932 蔣氏隆立祖家譜 Cheung Family Genealogy of Ancestor Lung Lap (link here)

1936 中山欖鎮第九坊蔣氏家譜 Cheung Genealogy of 9th Division, Lam Chun Town, Chungshan (lineage diverged from Mui Kok Village, link here)

-Jason

[macfamilyhistory]

Thanks, Jason! That’s the village name we’ve seen listed a couple times in various passenger manifests for my great-grandparents and the children who came with my great-grandmother. The clan name is also reasonably close to the last name my family uses in the United States - Chung.

I’ll look into the linked genealogies and explore around this forum for advice on using them as a resource.

[cdnheadtaxdata]

To: MacFamilyHistory:
There is a good chance that we can help to trace your grant grandfather's family genealogy if you know the name of the great grandparents and their children (in Chinese / English) .
The Chung spelling for 蔣 suggests arrival in New Westminster around the 1880s to 1900.
Later on the Chong spelling became more popular.

[macfamilyhistory]

The information we have on our Chinese ancestors is very limited, but we’re interested in learning more! My mother has several artifacts from their lives that we are interested in donating to a museum or otherwise preserving, most notably the clothes my great-grandmother wore on the boat to the United States.

Pak Wing Chung
Born July 23 1888 (per family history in Mui Kok, per US records in Merced, California; exact date is as listed on WWI draft card)
Comes to United States with his father (listed as nearest relative on 1922 arrivals manifest as “Jung Do Sau” living in “Sun Woi”) likely as a teenager to work; claims US citizenship a US birth after the San Francisco fire; appears on post fire arrivals manifests into Seattle and St. Albans, VT
Marries woman from the Dong clan in approx. 1907/1910 and continues to travel back and forth, some children born in China prior to her 1924 arrival in the US
Residences in the US in Cleveland, New Jersey and New York; working as a laundryman and a cook
Death 1972

You Fun Dong
Born 7 Oct 1889 in China
Marries 21 Mar 1907 (alt. 1910; 1907 date given by their son, 1910 based on age at first marriage on 1930 US Census)
Immigration to Seattle on the Princess Victoria arriving January 29, 1924
Death 1 Sep 1961

Their children:
Kwong Wah b. Before 1913, d. Before 2000 (possibly a paper son)
wife: Shee Chan
Nge Wey “Pearl” b. 1913, China d. 2012, New York City (possibly a sister of my ggm immigrating as a paper daughter)
Husband: Tom Sing Tom
Duc Gua Chung/Jung Duck Chung b. 1917, China, d. 2003 New Jersey
Wife: Hoe Git
Jung Git Chung b. 1922 (deceased)
Wife: Ma Fay Yung, married in China, she was likely born there
Nge Hou Chung b. 1925, Cleveland
Husband: Lin Lian Lew
**Jung Kwong “John” Chung b 1927, Cleveland, d 2010 Beaufort, SC
Wife: Queen Marian Johnson
Nge Ting Chung b. 1930, Cleveland, d 2014 New York
Husband: George Wang

**Jung Kwong “John” Chung is my grandfather, can provide additional information on him if useful, my mother (b 1956) had a family name (Com) and my brother and I (b 1980s) had family names (Ming, Mei Mei)

We have photographs of my great-great-grandfather and of my great-grandfather’s sister taken in 1937 in the village, as well as a few photographs we presume are relatives but which are labeled only in Chinese and a selection of photos from a trip my great aunt took to the village in the 1980s some of which are labeled and which provide some information about neighbors and possibility relatives still there; anecdotally some relatives were known to have moved to Malaysia after 1924 but I’m not sure which ones. If these photographs are helpful or anyone is willing to do us the kindness of translating their labels I will happily upload them somewhere.

[cdnheadtaxdata]

The 1933 hand copied version of the Moy Kowk Jiang Geneology (Chung,Chong,Chiang,Chiong,Jong,Jung,Deung) recorded a name of 道壽 which might correspond to your great-great-grandfather JUNG Do Sau 蔣道壽, generation 18 (image attached).
Assuming JUNG Do Sau is indeed 蔣道壽, whose son is named 亞南 (Ah Laam).
Ah Laam is the childhood name. His adult name could be Chung Pak Wing 蔣栢榮.
You might be able to confirm the names of JUNG Do Sau and Chung Pak Wing by their grave markers.

Generation 17:國宇(國裕) Kwok Yue
Generation 18:道壽 Jung Do Sau
Generation 19:栢榮 Chung Pak Wing
Generation 20:鄺華 Kwong Wah (paper son name)
Generation 20:麗眉? Chung Nge Wey
Generation 20:德鍾? Chung Duc Gua/Jung Duck Chung
Generation 20:傑鍾?Jung Git Chung
Generation 20:麗好? Chung Nge Hou
Generation 20:光鍾? Jung Kwong “John” Chung
Generation 20:麗庭?Chung Nge Ting
Generation 21:
Generation 22:蔣明 Chung Ming
Generation 22:蔣美美(?) Chung Mei Mei

I shall post the history of the Moy Kwok Jiang family is a couple of days when I get around to do so.
Best regards!

[cdnheadtaxdata]

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