Just starting and need help

[Heidi Tice]

Posted on:Sat 17 Jan 2004 03:42:00 PM EST

I am one-fourth Chinese. (My father's mother is full-blooded Chinese). I just graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA. For two and a half years I worked at the Family History Center there in hopes that I would gain some knowledge on how to do my genealogy. I also studied four semesters of Mandarin Chinese to help me with the language. What I know will not suffice for what I need to do on my Chinese ancestry. I now have time to do my research, but I'm grasping at things I do not understand.

For now, I am trying to trace my ancestors who immigrated into Hawaii legally. I'm hoping that there are records for them. The information we have says that they came from Guangdong. Their names are Ah Wong Lyau and his wife Ah Chow Ching. We're assuming that the "illegal" ancestor (who married their daughter Yuk Moi Lyau) also came from that area. His name is Hong Kim Lau.

I'm hoping to someday go to China and do some research. But for now, I need to see how far I can get with what records are available on-line and on microfilm. But where do I look? I have most of their records once they got to the US. But I'm not sure how to look for information when they were in China.

Any information, suggestions, hints, ideas, etc. would be very much appreciated. I'm a novice looking at a scary journey. Please help! Thank you!

[wunbu]

Posted on: Mon 09 Feb 2004 10:37:20 PM EST

To look for information in China I'm afraid you'll need to know the name of the village and county they came from. The names should be in Chinese writing because a Chinese character could have multiply English spellings. The opposite is also true. An example is the surname Wong. In Chinese using the Cantonese dialect there are two surnames with same pronunciation. Guangdong is too broad an area to be useful.

[billhowe]

Heidi - I am going through the same process as you are. Last year I was fortunate enough to go to Beijing and HOng Kong but not to where my parents are from in Guangdong province. THis fall I am going back - leading a delegation of educators. Maybe you might want to come. For details go to my site at of luck in your journey... Bill

[twoupman]

In the old days, most of the Chinese who came to work in the canefields of Hawai'i originated from Zhongshan County which lies just north of Macau. They spoke two types of dialect, Cantonese (they were known as Punti) and Hakka. It is difficult to ascertain by the English spelling what Lyau is but Ching is Cantonese and is a fairly common surname in Hawai'i, it mean a journey among other things. Have you checked the INS for their records?

[Judy McCarthy]

Dear Heidi,

My greatgrandfather was named Ah Wong Lyau and was from Gai Tong Ha (Below the Chicken Pond) at the outskirts of Gai Tong (Chicken Pond) near Macao and emigrated to Hawaii in 1878. My maternal grandfather Ah Chung Lyau was one of their five children (five boys and two girls). They spoke Hakka. Looks like we may be related. My cousin Pam Lyau, 1474 Washington, San Francisco, CA 94109, was working on a family genealogy some years back. I am intrigued by your story. Please feel free to contact me at [e-mail] or Pam who I am certain would welcome the discovery of your branch.

--Judy

[katlum]

Dear Heidi,

I just got back from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and found a number of books there that may be useful once you have gotten the basic information. I am researching my maternal line and even though I was fortunate to have two rather complete family genealogy books in Chinese, I still found a number of books at the Library very useful for connecting the dots and collaborating the info. Please feel free to email me if you want to pick my brains on what the Library has.

Katherine

[Claire Chun]

Hi Heidi,

I am Judy's first cousin, Claire; her mother and my mother were sisters. We are having a Lyau family reunion the Fourth of July weekend 2005; it will be in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are interested in attending, please contact me asap. The surviving grandchildren of Ah Wong will be there if you'd like to ask questions about the family.

Feel free to contact me via e-mail at [e-mail]; the RSVP deadline is June 1.

--Claire

[Heidi Roben]

Nee How Mah sorry off the subject but I knew a Heidi Tice in Colorado any relation? Roben

[Heidi Tice]

Thank you to all for your replies. I'm sorry I'm just now getting to them. As it turned out, I moved home and got two successive full-time jobs and am enrolled in Drexel's online graduate program. I lost that time to do genealogy! But I'm still interested in everything each of you has said. I will investigate our records a little more to see if I am related to some of you who posted. That would be so exciting! And to others, thank you for your helpful suggestions. I will be sure to use them when my schooling is done, again. And to Roben, no I'm not from Colorado. Although I am looking in to possibly moving there.

[David Wong]

Vancouver's Public Library has a very good Chinese genealogy section. In fact, they hold family genealogy research events and sessions about twice a year.

Their website is very good ...more than that, it's quite excellent- with lots of great resources and tips. Although it's geared towards "Chinese Canadians", anyone who shares an interest in Chinese genealogy will find the information applicable and informative. Here's their website:
www.vpl.ca/ccg/Genealogy.html

I attended one of their workshops last year, and the room was filled to capacity. There you will learn how to find landing records, cemetary records, head tax certificates etc etc. Best of all, you meet other like minded people, where you can share and exchange ideas and info.