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Post by harc3 on Apr 5, 2009 21:47:30 GMT -5
Going to the cemetery to find those 2 headstones I talked about. Am going armed with the characters for Cheung Dai village and the character for Sum. My sister is the only one that remembers where they are so she and I are going tomorrow. Hope they are still there.
Found the headstone. It was believed to be 2 but was 1. It is of a Loo Shee (in Chinese) and a second burial of a Sam Lowe Shee (in English) in the same plot. It does have the characters of the village on it. Found another of S D Chong (my great Uncle Sam Dart Chong) It too has the chacters of the village on it.
I will post the pics when I get home and hope someone can translate for me
Thanks
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Post by harc3 on Apr 7, 2009 19:17:49 GMT -5
OK----could someone please translate these 2 stones for me. I went to the cemetery armed with this First there was only 1 tombstone (not 2 as believed) IT is of (got name from cemetery book) LOO SHEE buried 1916 (the Chinese I believe). The same plot has another burial of a Sam Low Shee (English) buried 1957. It definitely has the Village characters. It was quite common to bury more than 1 person in a plot. They are buried on different levels. Another stone I found of my Great Uncle Sam Dart Chong buried 1946. Has the characters of the village AND of SUM(SHUM) I believe Thank you!!!
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 7, 2009 22:43:05 GMT -5
Congratulation harc3, all your hard work pays off.
From the right the first line of both tombstones confirms the location of your village Guangdong Zengcheng Zhangda Cun (in Mandarin)
The middle line, the first translates as 妣Deceased mother 沈門Shum family 盧氏Loo Shee (nee Loo) 安人 anren (literally a person at peace, title of respect for a married woman) 墳墓 tomb
Just a side comment, 安人 anren, formerly a title a person of lower rank use to address the wife of an official; also in Cantonese, title daughter-in-law use to address her mother-in-law.
The second line of second tombstone 先考deceased father 達昌沈Dart Chong Shum 公 gong (title of respect for a man) 墓 tomb
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Post by harc3 on Apr 7, 2009 23:14:21 GMT -5
OMG!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH Laohuaqiao
I think I found my Grandmother. I have a great feeling of emotion right now.
WOW!!!
Now I hope this upcoming call to China will help confirm all that I know and believe. I feel GREAT!!!!! Will let you all know how the call goes!!!!
Once again....THANKS TO ALL
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Post by helen on Apr 8, 2009 3:24:06 GMT -5
Great News Harc3.
Re Sam Low Shee - Could that be another lady/relative who moght be a "Shum Loo Shee". Seems strange that they would bury tou with a total stranger. - Maybe a sister in law/cousin?
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Post by harc3 on Apr 8, 2009 6:50:20 GMT -5
That one I still have to figure out.. But yes I think it is another family member named SHUM Loo Shee. sister-in-law?? I know 2 of the documents I have, name wife as LOO Shee.
So far find no death record of the one in 1957
Laohuaqiao I notice the left hand column of both are exactly the same.
What does that column say? thank you
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 8, 2009 7:45:41 GMT -5
The third line in both says "propitiously erected 1957" referring to the year the tombstones were installed, which I suppose may be different than year(s) the two deceased.
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Post by harc3 on Apr 8, 2009 8:55:00 GMT -5
Thanks again Laohuaqiao
So they were both erected in 1957....now then I am thinking that they tried putting the English name of SHUM Loo Shee on the head stone, as they did with S.D Chong who died 1946, except they spelled it wrong (but on their record they say there's 2 ppl buried...hmmm) because I cannot find ANY record of that person's death (Sam low shee (Shum Loo Shee) in any form of spelling
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Post by helen on Apr 9, 2009 16:08:40 GMT -5
Hi Harc3 - You may need to find your maternal side at the Loo Village of Dai Dung, Zengcheng. It is a very prospersous village - supples fresh water to the area. I know a lot of Loo families here in NZ. My husband's maternal grandmother's mother was a Loo.
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Post by harc3 on Apr 11, 2009 22:19:31 GMT -5
The initial phone call by our translator to our relatives in the village has been made. They are really excited to be able to speak with their Canadian family. The translator is trying to setup a time and also have another relative in Honk Kong part of the coversation. It is very very exciting. Will keep you all posted because without you all I would not be in position to speak with them.
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Post by harc3 on Apr 17, 2009 8:01:57 GMT -5
Well....Last night I got a call from my translator here and she gave me my relatives (in China)skype cantact name. She asked me if I wanted to speak with him as he was going to get his father. I said no because I want my whole family to be here for that first voice call. But I did text chat with my great nephew (the one with the computer). Was very exciting. Some difficulty as he can only kinda read and write english and I can't read or write Chinese. But looks like we may be make the voice call tonight. The amazing results of genealogy searching. The three people in the village are my sister-in-law, my nephew and my great nephew
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Post by Henry on Apr 17, 2009 11:18:54 GMT -5
Harc3,
You have come a long way from when you first started - congratulations.
You may want to consider using your webcam - so everybody can see each other while chatting. Also, Skype has an international $12.95 monthly rate for unlimited calls to 40 countries - including China and HKG.
Henry
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Post by helen on Apr 17, 2009 15:21:28 GMT -5
I am amazed at the speed to which Harc3 has been able to get this togther. I was out of sheer hard work that he eventually cracked the walnut.
It just goes to show that every bit of information put together in the right way will eventually buld up a grand picture. Can I ask how everybody keeps their information? I have kept most things in my email box, including my documents that I email to myself. However, it's no use being there because when I'm gone, it's gone.. unless my family have my smail address and password.
As an aside, my brother in law, whom I was going to get around to interviewing, was fine last Sunday, but by Thursday in hospital - and ended up with a triple bypass and a valve repair. Moral of the story - get the story now... not later.
I have started printing off my old emails, but it is a chore. Is there anyway I can save my emails in word? and then save to CD?
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Post by Henry on Apr 17, 2009 16:13:31 GMT -5
Helen,
It is good that you are printing your emails. I guess it depends on which email server you have - but, I am pretty sure you could cut from your emails and paste them into a Word file - this would be one way.
For the past couple years, I have been using 2 monitors for my computer because I have been writing my book: Tan Genealogy: Heritage and Lineage and it is very useful to have the 2 monitors because on one I have the book draft and on the other monitor, I have a couple files open that I can view information and cut and paste information.
I am finally finished with this 400 plus page book and it represents the sum total of what I have learned about Chinese genealogy in terms of the Tan clan and my family lineage in the past 4 years, etc. I must have thousands of emails - which I doubt anybody would want to try and even read - let alone try to make some sense out of them - hence, my book. This will make it quite easy for them to follow - providing they are interested enough to pick up the book to read it. I have written this book specifically for my family and my descendants - I think they might find it rather interesting. I am just amazed about all the information I was able to uncover.
I suggest that you seriously consider writing up a family history for your children and descendants, otherwise your last 5 years of research may be for naught.
Henry
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Post by helen on Apr 17, 2009 17:21:59 GMT -5
Hi Henry, So there's no simple solution then. I have my notes in hard copy - exercise books. I aske my sister in law's to write doen the Chinese names of all the family back in the villages - for my forthcoming trip. I had to scramble through my exercise books, and managed to locate the names that my late Mother in law wrote for me a few years back. So I'll continue to use pen and paper to record the information as I gather it..at least that will survive for anyone wanting the information at some time.
Sorry Harc3 - maybe we should take this discussion to a new thread.
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