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Post by skwdvm on May 25, 2006 21:35:12 GMT -5
Can anyone help me identify the two villages that my grandparents came from? My grandparents Wong came from Jung Seng, Dong Guan, Yu Tien village, Doong Fong branch. My other set of grandparents, the Woos, came from Kwang Tung Province, Toishan, Sai Sarm Bow, Wang Jo Cheung.
I have seen a map of Jung Seng, but unfortunately, I can't read Chinese. I have a general idea of where the village is, but I would like to get more specific.
Thank you!
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Post by twoupman on May 26, 2006 16:25:45 GMT -5
Have looked through the Database for the Woo village at www.c-c-c.org/villagedb/search.cgi and cannot find anything resembling your Sai Sarm Bow, Wang Jo Cheung in Toishan. As for the Wong village, there is something amiss with your Jung Seng and Dong Guan. The former is a district within the City of Guangzhou (Canton) and Dong Guan itself is an adjacent city (county). Can you identify roughly where you think the village is? Or perhaps post the map? |
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Post by skwdvm on May 29, 2006 19:14:54 GMT -5
My mother spoke to a relative this weekend who visited the Wong ancestral village. He said that village was located between Kowloon & Hong Kong. Banford said that it is so small, it probably would not be on a map. I haven't had any luck with the Woo ancestral village either. Unfortunately, I don't have any living relatives who have visited it. Thanks for your help. Maybe the Woo village is "too small" also. Could it be possible that it doesn't exist anymore or it has been renamed?  |
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Post by twoupman on May 29, 2006 20:31:20 GMT -5
Between Kowloon and Hong Kong? Kowloon is part of Hong Kong, SAR. Is the village in Jung Seng or Dong Guan? Can you at least narrow it down? Both these districts are north of Hong Kong. Henry Tom has maps that do show most small villages.
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Post by helen on May 30, 2006 4:08:19 GMT -5
Sharon - post your headstones up somewhere, and add the link so others can read the village names in Chines.
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Post by raymond on May 30, 2006 7:47:03 GMT -5
skwdvm, Your posts on the location of your Wong ancestral village is a bit contradicting. It cannot be located in Jung Seng/Dong Guan and also between Hong Kong and Kowloon. I presume that the Hong Kong/Kowloon locational query is the more accurate one since it is based on a recent conversation your mother had with a relative. In such case, twoupman is correct in his response that Kowloon is part of Hong Kong SAR. However, the word "Kowloon" can be ambiguous. Also, the word "Hong Kong" can be ambiguous unless specifically defined. If your relative had said that the Wong village is located between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon City, then this would make more sense locationally. Kowloon City is located in the New Territories (north of what was known as Old British Kowloon as delineated today by Boundary Street). Thus, in the olden days there were a number of villages in Old British Kowloon (now referred to as the Kowloon Peninsula). Today very few of these villages remain due largely to redevelopment. There is a web link that you should check out which lists the villages and former villages of Hong Kong in Chinese and in phonetic English: www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc2/list_of_villages_in_hong_kong I believe the list includes all the villages of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Anyway, it is worth a look-see on your part in your genealogical quest. With any luck, you may find your Wong village among the list, especially if your relative can verify the village name from old letters and official documents that may still exist. Good luck. Raymond |
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Post by skwdvm on May 30, 2006 22:59:12 GMT -5
I have taken Helen's advice and created a blog, so I can post the tombstone information to see if anyone has a different interpretation of the info. on the tombstones and of the names and locations of the villages. My URL is : gajungseng.blogspot.com. I am also going to check out the weblink sent by Raymond. Thanks to everyone for their insight. |
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Post by Woodson on May 31, 2006 0:01:54 GMT -5
It is true, a picture is worth a thousand words. Now we know the exact area, Zengcheng. It is east of Guangzhou and north of Dongguan.  |
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Post by skwdvm on May 31, 2006 7:17:55 GMT -5
Thank you very much for the map!
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Post by twoupman on May 31, 2006 9:57:04 GMT -5
The tombstone shows the name of the village as Yiuh Tihn (Yaotian) 瑤田. Yiuh Tihn is located in Jung Seng (Zengcheng) 曾城 which is the easternmost district of greater Guangzhou (Canton) City, and is just north of Dongguan. Unfortunately it is too small to be seen on the map posted above.
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Post by twoupman on May 31, 2006 10:01:58 GMT -5
Forgot to mention. To see the Chinese script, goto View>Auto-Detect>(Off). Then, goto View>Character Coding>Unicode(UTF-8).
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Post by skwdvm on May 31, 2006 15:52:42 GMT -5
Does any one know what "Yiuh Tihn" translated into? Someone asked me if it had to do with a pool?
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Post by Woodson on May 31, 2006 19:46:06 GMT -5
Does any one know what "Yiuh Tihn" translated into? Someone asked me if it had to do with a pool? Yiuh means beautiful jade and of course tihn is rice paddies or fields. My guess would be beautiful or fertile fields.  |
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Post by skwdvm on May 31, 2006 21:55:55 GMT -5
I reread the case file from NARA on my grandfather Fook Woo. He was interview Nov. 2, 1916 in Richmond, VA when a relative came to live with them. Family members were often called upon as witnesses when a family member entered the US or returned to China due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Anyway, his file states that they are from Wan Jew village, Sun Ning district, China. He was asked if Wan Jew village had another name. No. The section it is in was
Sai Chuck. Grandfather Woo was also asked where his wife was from. He said Bun Dee Yuen,
Sun Ning District. It was a small village where 100 families lived. The Woo ancestral village is probably too small to appear on the map also. Does anyone know what Wan Jew would translate into or Bun Dee Yuen? I appreciated the maps, too!
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Post by raymond on Jun 1, 2006 7:44:56 GMT -5
skwdvm, Your search for your maternal grandfather Woo's ancestral village may be over. I'd just checked the www.c-c-c.org village surname website for the Woo family clan name in Taishan, and I came across the following which may very well be your maternal grandfather Woo's ancestral village: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- County ̨ɽ Toishan (i.e., new name for "Sun Ning District") T¨¢i Sh¨¡n toi4 saan1 06691472 Area 3 Heung Î÷ÄϽàl Sai Nam Kong Heung X¨© N¨¢n Ji¨¡ng Xi¨¡ng sai1 naam4 gong1 hoeng1 6007-0589-3068-6763 Subheung Î÷–Åàl Sai Chak Heung (i.e., "Sai Chuck"?) X¨© Zh¨¤ Xi¨¡ng sai1 caak3 hoeng1 6007-2694-6763 Village hÖÞ Wan Chau (i.e., "Wan Jew"?) Hu¨¢n Zh¨u waan4 zau1 3883-3166 Surname(s) ºú Woo H¨² wu4 5170 As for the location of your paternal grandfather Wong's ancestral village, I am still puzzled as to why your relative identified the location as between Hong Kong and Kowloon. It appears that the actual location in most of the postings points to the "Jung Seng" area. Raymond |
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