Looking for info on James Appoo / Ah Poo

[jthatcher]

I am currently researching my Chinese Ancestor, who's English name was James Appoo (also known as James Ah Poo), and was also referred to once as Chen Appoo.

He came (most likely) from the Toishan county in the See Yup district of China to Bendigo in Victoria Australia during the gold rush of the 1850's (most of the Chinese in Australia seemed to come from this area).

He was an interpreter in the local Bendigo community, and married a young French girl (Elizabeth Herault) and settled down there until he died in 1898.

They had 10 children - and later some of the decendants changed their name to "Lee".

Unfortunately I dont have his name written in Chinese characters - so its very hard to be able to trace what family or villiage he came from - apart from the clue that he may have been a "Chen" and also that he may have be part of the "Huy Sing" or "Tsing Ching" tribe or clan?

Does anyone out there have any ideas where I can try and find out more about whate villiage or family he may have come from in the Toishan county?

[Henry]

jthatcher,

Welcome to the Forum,

Does the gravestone of your Chinese ancestor have Chinese characters inscribed ? - if so, please take a digital photo and post it here on the Forum. Usually, the name, and place of birth is recorded on the gravestone and we have Forum members that can read the Chinese. Check this link for instructions about how to post an image:

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421


Henry

[jthatcher]

Hello,

Thanks for the response.

Unfortunately - his grave doesnt have a headstone. It would have been a good source to find his birth place.

The only other hope I have is that his name and village may have been recorded on the memorial tablets in the Joss house in South Melbourne.

These tablets are currently being indexed - but the process seems to be taking a very long time!

If anyone has any other ideas on how I can trace him back to China - I would be very interested to hear from you.

cheers,

John

[Henry]

Hi John,

There are several people on this Forum that are quite knowledgeable about Australian resources for tracking down information on Chinese that have come to Australia:

Ahgin, Geoff, Helen, and others.

Meanwhile, here is some sources for background and they may provide you with some ideas about tracking down more information on your Chinese ancestor:

www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/docs/chinesehistory.pdf

Also, the local library probably has this reference book with an excellent article on the Chinese in Australia:

The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its people and Their Origins edited by James Jupp - pages 197 - 225

Journal of Chinese Australia : www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/jca/index.html


Henry

[helen]

The Ming Yeung Library and Joan Jack OAM Research Centre holds a collection of manuscripts including immigration, cemetery, rates records, family trees, and various research papers. The museum also curates an archive of over 21,000 newspaper articles covering Chinese history in Australia from the 1850's to the present.

A Pagoda
The museum has compiled an index of Chinese Family names which are associated with objects and photographs in the collections.

Friends (Peng You) of the Museum membership entitles free access to research in the Ming Yeung Library and Joan Jack OAM Research Centre. For more information on the library and research centre or becoming a Friend of the Museum phone the museum on 03 5441 504 or email [e-mail]

www.goldendragonmuseum.org/library.html

Chen Appoo is mentioned here

www.goldendragonmuseum.org/gdm_chinese_family_surnames.pdf

[twoupman]

John,

The transliterations of the Chinese names are at best quite poor as Western ears are not attuned to hearing Chinese pronunciations and the English language is not particularly suited to match these sounds.

Here is the clue where you Chinese ancestor may have come from based on Huy Sing which is an approximate Cantonese transliteration for Wui Sihng/Huicheng (Mandarin) 會城 in San Wui/Xinhui 新會 County and not Toih Saan/Taishan County of Sei Yap/Siyi 四邑. As for Tsing Ching it appears to be the name of a village inside Wui Shing Township會城鎮 but I have not found anything to match it. I believe Tsing may be the same as Sing 城 but have not been able to figure out Ching yet.

As for Chen Appoo it indicates your ancestor was a 陳 which can also be transliterated as Chin/Chinn in the Siyi dialect. Chen is also a very close approximation of the Siyi dialect but it is usually depicted for Mandarin pronunciation. If you wish to learn more about this surname go to my website houseofchinn.com. Appoo is made up of two syllables, A or Ah is just an add-on for easier pronunciation of the single syllable personal name Poo which can be any number of possible characters.

Hope the above is of help to you.

[geoff]

Hello John,

I'm researching from Sydney, my paternal chinese gggfather at Mount Egerton (146km south of Bendigo) who was a gold miner & businessman in 1870's. I found this info on his application for 1902 cert of domicile issued in Sydney. Have you searched the National Archives of Australia naa.gov.au for naturalization, cert of domicile, cert of exempting from dictation test, war service records? I found his occupations at Mt Egerton on local council rate notice.


Chinese Museum in Cohen Place, just off Little Bourke St Melb, Public Records Office of Vic, Melb Grammar school archives have assisted me with info.

What other sources have you used in Vic?

[geoff]

Helo John,

I've used Sands & McDougall Melbourne directories to track maternal ggfather's tea business, from 1867 to 1891 at 2 locations in Little Bourke St.

Have you used Melb Sands Melb diectories for city addresses?

[jthatcher]

Hi All,

Thank you all very much for your responses - much appreciated!

I have actually done quite a bit of research about my ancestor James Appoo here in Australia already.

I have his Naturalization papers, and I am member of the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo, and have many newspaper articles that mention him and his family.

The problem is I have been stuck now for quite a while in making the jump from Australia to China - because I dont have the village he came from.

I found the tribe names - "Huy Sing" or "Tsing Ching" mentioned in a Bendigo newspaper article about a court case that he was involved with:

"The court was a flood of Chinese cases yesterday. Case of theft by Ah Lun from James Ah Poo, the Chinese Interpreter. The case was heated. The court was divided into two factions or representatives of different tribes, Huy Sing and Tsing Ching. The case was ultimately dismissed."

From that article - I assume he was from one of the tribes mentioned - but as "twoupman" says above - we are relying on what the reporter heard during the case.

We also understand that being an interpreter on the goldfields was quite an important position - and thus each group or tribe was constatntly trying to get "their man" appointed to represent their interests.

The interesting thing was that he appeared to be able to speak English before he came over from China - which would have given him a distict advantage. I wonder where her would have learnt it from before he came over? English missionaries perhaps?

Thanks twoupman for your helpful suggestions re these tribe names - it would be very exciting if they did indeed point to a particular villiage - that would be the first breakthrough I have found for tracing him to China.

Are you able to point me in any directions to determine if there actually was a Tsing Ching villiage inside Wui Shing?

regards,

John

[helen]

Tsing Ching - probably Jung Seng (Now Zeng Cheng) / the name Chen may also be Chan