Village named MEY-TO (Hokkiens)

[hays]

Hi,

I need help !

I was researching my familytree and all the time (15 years) all I know is that our ancestor is originally coming from Tjiang Tjioe Hoe (Dutch spelling in old Dutch east Indies which means Zhangzhou). In the last information I have got from a familytree from a younger brother of my ancestor they have mentioned the village which where they come from.
It is named MEY-TO / THIO TOA / TJIANG TJIOE HOE / HOKKIAN. I have been asking around, and found out that THIO TOA is Changtai, but nobody knows about MEY-TO.

Can you tell me where it is ? or show me a changtai county map ? because I can't find a detail map from Changtai county which gave cities / towns smaller that Changtai itself.

May be one of you knows for someone there which I can write (in english, since I don't know chinese and also no Hokkiens)? I need to know the father of my ancestor since there might be an ancestral house of my family up there.

Thank you very much,
Steve Haryono
7th generation of THE BOEN - ZHENG WEN
Rotterdam

[Raymond]

Steve,

I can offer a little help, but not much because I cannot read or write Chinese either. I have a map of Fujian Province, but it is mostly written in Chinese......but the counties and major cities are written in English also. I can locate Zhangzhou City which is where your relative said that your family was from - - it is a major metro city in the order of size to Xiamen City. I can also locate Changtai County on the map which is not far from Xiamen City. There are a number of towns and maybe sub-heungs which are noted on the map in Chinese. Obviously, I would not know if Mey-To is one of the Chinese notations. Anyway, there is some hope that you may be able to locate your ancestral village. However, you should note that many coastal areas in Southern China are rapidly changing because of the recent industrial and commercial developments in China. Not to discourage you, but if your village was in the path of development, then your village as your forefathers knew it may not exist anymore. Additionally, you should contact a Hokkien association for information about Mey-To village. There should be Hokkien associations in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan since these countries have many people from Fujian Province who migrated there years ago. Just do an internet search on the words "Hokkien association society", and the many links that come up will guide you to various Hokkien associations. These associations should be able to help you some in your genealogical search. Best of luck to you!

Raymond

[twoupman]

Ray, Can you do a scan of the Zhangzhou-Changtai area and e-mail it to me, so I may try to find this Mey-to for Steve? My map does not show all the villages in Chinese. Thanks.

[Raymond]

Twoupman,

Sorry, I don't have a scanner. However, I believe Henry Tom has the same map, and he has a scanner. The map is published by Dong Long Publications in Kowloon, HK and by Shan Ju Publishing Co. in Taipei, Taiwan. Their website is http:/www.emap.com.tw Perhaps you have the same map as we do.

Raymond

[Woodson]

Henry,

Can you post the map to the forum so we can all benefit?

Many thanks.

[Henry]

FYI

Please click on link for expanded view of map

mysite.verizon.net/vzepzaui/Zhangzhou.JPG

[Henry]

FYI - a much older map - but, it does have some more detail. There is a "Mei-li" in the grid cell just NE of the cell containing Chang-tai.

Click on link to enlarge map

mysite.verizon.net/vzepzaui/Chang-tai.jpg

[hays]

Dear all,
Many thanks to you all especially Henry and Woodson to provide the map. Although the map is too small, I have to save it and enlarge until it can be read.

rgds,
steve

[Woodson]

hays said:

Dear all,
... Although the map is too small, I have to save it and enlarge until it can be read.

Steve,

Click on the link above the map and the map will display in a new window. Click on this map for an enlarged view.

[peacefuldove]

My maternal family line are hokkiens...has anyone heard of a place called Hui Ann? (direct pinyin from my uncle. he has no other recollections!..dont know how this would be written in chinese). Does anyone know the history of the migration of the hokkien people to Malaysia(Penang) or South east Asia, for eg which part of china they usually came from? i presume most of them are from fujian province- which is too large to analyse....can it be narrowed down further?

[twoupman]

Huian is located NE of Quanzhou and appears to be on an island. Since Quanzhou was a Treaty port I think people shipped out from there instead of further south in Xiamen. Hokkien people generally came from the south around Xiamen area, however, there was a smaller number from the Quanzhou area.

[peacefuldove]

thanks, as always, you have given me fresh leads to sniff about. thank you