[ { "id": 211407, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 123, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "Table 1: Genealogy of the Chan Family\n\nChan Tak Youg (Violet's great grandfather)\n\nChan Jok Jun\n\nGeorge, Harry, Henry\n\nChan Jok Chiu (b. 1845) m (1) Au (Violet's grandparents)\n\n(2) Leong\n\nYung Kam in Yim (First Paternal Aunt)\n\nGeorge Goon Hop (adopted) m (1) Auyoung\n\n(2) Liu\n\n \n Gladys Yung Hoy m Lan Kwai\n \n \n Claudia in George Murphy\n David, Michael\n \n \n Calvin m Barbara\n Jennifer, Jason, Jeffrey\n \n \n Kwock Wah m Mona Lew\n Paula, Donna, Marcha, David, Jonathan\n \n \n Lorna (adopted) m\n Lawrence, Paul, Yolanda, Twila-dawn, Keith, Robin\n \n\nChan Ping Wing (First Paternal Uncle) m Ching (Concubine: \"Small Aunt\")\n\nChan Po Ling m (1) Auyoung\n\n(2) Kan (Concubine: Kam)\n\n \n Linda, Judy, Lillian, Robert, Chi Fai, Anthony, m Dorothy (5 daughters)\n \n \n Rosita, m Robert Ting (1 child)\n \n\nChan Ping I (Second Paternal Uncle) m Auyoung\n\nToby in Louise Dung\n\n \n Melody m Johnson Chen, Carol m John Lee, Sonja in Tai Min Wan, Jade m Eddy Lin, Lloyd m Deborah, Lena m Jeffrey Lu\n \n\nHelen m Tong\n\nCharles (children)\n\nGeorgette m Lu Bing Leong (daughter) Moo Yun\n\nTing Cheong (2 sons, 2 daughters)\n\nMoo Sau\n\nChan Ping Yip m Jong (Violet's parents)\n\nRuth\n\nViolet m John Lew m\n\nMe Yuk\n\n \n Helen m (1) Edmund Tin Wai Tong\n \n \n Edmund Yee Sing m (1) Susan Loui\n Kevin\n \n \n (2) Gertrude Kristiansen\n Syrilyn, Clayton\n \n \n (2) Tso-yu Fu\n Lynnette Wen-chu\n \n \n Russell m (1) Lila Kung\n Dora m Tso-chien Shen\n \n \n Eugene m Nancy Chun\n Wendell, Celia\n \n \n (2) Susan Carter\n Russell\n \n \n Gilbert m Christine Liao\n Warren, Tabitha\n \n\ndaughter m Leong Ting Bau (Second Paternal Aunt)\n\nYung Yik m Auyoung (Third Paternal Aunt)\n\nSuk Jun, m So (4 sons, 3 daughters)\n\nSuk Num, (3 daughters, 1 son), Suk Chiu, (2 sons, 2 daughters) Chan Ping Lim (d. 1903) (Fourth Paternal Uncle)\n\nChan Jok Sau\n\nL-6 sons (including Dai Mec, Ngit Chiu and Dai Geng)\n\nChan Jok Sui\n\nNgit Chiu (adopted) d 1924 in Honolulu\n\nChan Jok King\n\nJu Dai, Dai Geng (adopted)\n\n99", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211421, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 137, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "113\n\nat MIT, he travelled around the country to observe and learn more before returning to the University of Washington, where, after another year of study, he received a M.S. degree in 1925, specializing in Aquaculture. He returned to China, becoming Director of the Kwangtung Fisheries Experiment Station in 1929, and later Director of the Chekiang Fisheries Experiment Station. In 1946, he became President of the Taiwan Fisheries Corporation. His comprehensive knowledge and experience in the field of aquaculture made him a leading and respected authority of national and international renown,\n\nIn Canton on March 1928, Toby married Louise Dung Yuk Bow, a vivacious beauty from Grass Valley, California. Stricken with Parkinson's Disease and gradually weakened by it, she died on 27 January 1971. While I was teaching in Canton, Toby and Louise welcomed me as an immediate member of their family and I spent many weekends in their home - I am grateful for this hospitality to this day. They had six children, five daughters and one son:\n\nMelody Wil married Johnson C. J. Chen\n\nCarol Kit married John Lee\n\nSonia Cíl married Tai Min Wan\n\nJade Ef married Eddy Lin\n\nLloyd married Deborah\n\nLena ft married Jeffrey Lo\n\nThe girls leaned towards the arts like their mother, and Lloyd, an ichthyologist, towards science like his father.\n\nCousin Helen Moo Ching married a nephew of Tong Siu Yee (T'ang Shao-i) Hill, a Chinese diplomat during the late Ch'ing and one time Prime Minister of the Republic of China. Her married life was spent in Peking where her husband was head of the Postal Savings Bureau. After his death she moved south and finally retreated to Taiwan where she died in 1974 of cancer.\n\nCharles Ting Hing began his career in banking but switched to dentistry. He was married twice, both times to non-Chinese girls, and had children by both of them. He died in Shanghai in 1978.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211427, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 143, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "119\n\nof wine, the man sprayed it all over the area as a purification ritual before he removed bone by bone and wrapped each with a piece of white cloth amidst burning incense. He labelled the bones as he went along in order that the remains would be in their proper positions when reburied in a sitting position in a large urn. Father learned that 90 percent of the bones were intact because the burial area was dry.\n\nStep-Grandmother was exhumed at a later date but I was not present. A pair of jade bracelets and a jade ring were recovered. After storing them in a large handkerchief for years, Mother finally threatened to throw them away as they were stained, probably discoloured by the absorption of body fluids. Thereupon I salvaged them, soaked them in alcohol for several days, kept one of them for myself and let Helen have the other. Dora would have none of it. Because the ring broke into pieces, we threw it away. Surprisingly, with wear, the yellowish stains disappeared and the bracelets became greener and greener, acquiring a beautiful sheen and revealing their original beauty. I gave mine to Dora when she learned to appreciate it and kept for myself a white jade bracelet, one of a pair that had been buried with Paternal Grandmother in China and shared with us by First Uncle's concubine. These bracelets are much treasured by us. The Chinese believe that funeral jade is a charm against harm, but for me, wearing the bracelet brings me closer to my ancestors.\n\nFirst Paternal Aunt Yim\n\nFirst Paternal Aunt Ai, whose maiden name was Chan Yung Kam $32, was born in 1861 (?) and was the eldest of my Grandfather Chan's seven children. She was married to Yim Mow Chow also known as Yim Goon Chan, of How Chang Villaget. She was mother substitute to my father after Grandmother Chan's early death. Aunt Yim left China with my father in 1892, landing first in San Francisco before transferring to a whaling vessel for Honolulu to join Uncle Yim who had emigrated earlier to Hawaii. At one time, he repaired watches for a living, but during the Honolulu Chinatown fire of 1900, he was employed as a clerk in Sing Chan 14, a plumbing shop.\n\nSince Aunt Yip did not have children, they adopted George Goon Hop, reported to be the infant son of a Japanese barber, whose wife had become emotionally disturbed at childbirth. George was born", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211456, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "148\n\nhave been had he been alive when Ruth graduated from McKinley High School first in her class, with honours and a gold medal, or when she received a degree in medicine.\n\nAlthough our dresses were home-made, our shoes and hats were from fancy shops on Fort Street, then the main shopping centre of Honolulu. Whenever Father took us out, he would tell us to 'dress up like a duchess'. Sometimes he would take us to a cinema, or to a stage show, or to a musical at the Y.M.C.A. A visit to the Bishop Museum was always followed by a pause at the site of the mental hospital then located on School Street, where we would peep through the knot holes of the fence to observe the bizarre behaviour of the inmates. When Queen Liliuokalani died and her body was on view in Kawaiahao Church, he took Ruth, Helen and me to this sad and historical event. I remember him carrying me out onto our porch in Iwilei to point out a comet with a wide spray of bright light. I believe it was Halley's Comet. These may not be unusual experiences for children of today, but in the early 1900s, they were not common for Chinese children.\n\nFather's interests extended beyond our home. There were always illiterate women friends asking him to write letters. He did volunteer work at the Berentania Street Mission under the direction of Mrs. Elijah J. Mackenzie, a missionary who spoke fluent Chinese. There he taught English to young men newly arrived from China, gathered with them in worship, and interpreted for the Sunday and evening services when a sermon was given in English. When the Rev. Schenck came to Hawaii to administer the missions for the Hawaiian Board, he dispensed with Father's help so abruptly that it hurt Father deeply. Father had other community interests. He was one of the early members of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. which was located behind the Fort Street Chinese Church. Among its members were En Sue Kong, Luke Chan, Yim Quan and Tom Joon Yai. Father also served as English secretary for the See Dai Doo Society for many years, until his death. He would often drop by Wing On Tai for a chat or to do business; he would visit with friends from his village or nearby areas at the Pui Gun Horse Stable, located off Pauahi Street near River Street. There he enjoyed their fellowship and the news from 'home'. He would always buy a bag of roasted peanuts from a well-known shop on Pauahi Street to enjoy on his way home.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211466, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "158\n\nRuth's death in 1932, after several years of illness, was a physical and emotional drain on Mother, but surprisingly, she took this loss with much fortitude. In times of adversity and loneliness, she must have found support, solace and strength in her religious faith, in her loving family and in her close friends.\n\nMother died on 20 November, 1974, following a stroke, at the age of 87. We three daughters had tried to make life easier and happier for her. She had the companionship of Dora and her two sons since 1950 when they returned to Honolulu to live with her. Mother had made several extended visits with Helen in Chicago and with me in Brookline and had travelled with me by car as far north as Bar Harbour and as far south as Philadelphia, and across the United States through the Southwest via Yosemite Park to San Francisco. I earnestly hope that we had given her some real happiness. We are grateful for the sacrifices she had made without expecting anything in return. A simple, unobtrusive and intelligent lady, devoted to husband and children, loyal to family and friends, and strong in her religious beliefs this was my Mother. She had been my support, my counsellor one who gave me life and nourished me with love. I shall miss her always.\n\nMy Sisters and I\n\nWe were a family of five girls\n\n―\n\n▬\n\nRuth, Me Yuk, Helen, Dora and I. The three older ones were about 20 months apart in age and were born in our first home on Prison Road. In those days Chinese women did not have the benefit of either prenatal care or professional attendance at time of delivery; they relied on the help of midwives or experienced relatives. Although Mother had arranged for me to be delivered by a midwife, the latter could not keep her commitment because my arrival was too close to the lunar New Year. It was fortunate that a Hawaiian neighbour was available. She cleaned my eyes, massaged them so that they would become large and round, and sucked my breasts so that they would grow large and full.\n\nI have no recollection of Me Yuk as she was sent to California while still a baby. Ruth and I were each other's playmate most of the time in those early years. I recall having only one doll between us named To Gai and Tong Chen (words without meaning that we had concocted),", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211467, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 183, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "159\n\nand playing among chairs and other furniture on the unpainted but gleaming parlour floor. Ruth was a sweet, lovable and plump child, obedient and seldom in mischief. She was so bright that Father began to teach her to read before she started school. I was somewhat sickly and rather homely, causing the sons of the Leong Yau's to nickname me \"kitten\". I seemed to drop and break things often, and Mother, thinking that I was careless, would scold me with the term Cho Bow Gwai, (Careless Devil). Active, impulsive and spirited, I usually made life difficult for her.\n\nOur Wilci home was crudely built and sparsely furnished. We slept on a bed of boards, covered by a straw mat, under a square-shaped mosquito net, but we rarely used the hard, lacquered black pillows. Our home was lighted by kerosene lamps which cast such ghostly shadows that I was always afraid to go to bed by myself. At that time my Mother believed in ghosts and apparently transmitted her fears to me. It was not until I was about ten, after Mother had been converted to Christianity, that the fear of the rod was greater than the fear of my fantasies. The kitchen and toilet were located behind the house proper, but under cover, and cooking was done on little wood-burning stoves. Food was stored in a screened cupboard, which was called a \"safe\". There was no refrigeration and we had none of the amenities which we now enjoy and take for granted. Everything was done by hand.\n\nIn 1910 we moved to Smith Lane, off Fort Street, between Vineyard and School Streets, but we did not live there long. Two other Chinese families resided there: the Leong Chew's and the Loo Goon's. We were now not confined in the house, but had the opportunity to be outside to play with Willis and James Leong, and Florence and Louise Loo. It was here that Helen Me Chin was born on September 26, 1910, with Mrs. Leong attending Mother. That morning, after Father had gone to work, Mother sent Ruth and me out of the house to play. We returned later to find a new-born baby. On a few occasions, when Mother was very busy, I had to carry Helen on my back in an embroidered sling, which had four straps, two of which went over my shoulders and two of which circled my waist, that were knotted in my front. I remember feeling Helen's weight against my chest. Small wonder, for I was not quite five then. It was here that Ruth and I contracted the childhood diseases of chicken pox, mumps and measles.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211472, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 188, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "164\n\nfor being arrogant, did not accept Ruth, probably due to her discrimination against Mrs. Chang's programme. However, she accepted me, perhaps because I was considered uncontaminated and because Father was employed in a bank owned by \"white\" people. She made a poor choice because Ruth was by far the better student. Ruth then was accepted by Mrs. Creighton of Kauluwela School where she was placed directly in the third grade with Mrs. Bowman. Ruth stood out scholastically and was the pride of her teachers. She continued to do well in McKinley High School and won first prize and a gold medal upon graduation. Granted a Barbour scholarship at the University of Michigan, after a premedical programme at the University of Hawaii, she completed her academic medical studies and received a medical degree in 1929.\n\nAt Michigan Ruth met and became engaged to Herbert Kai Gee Wong of Hong Kong before he left to finish his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, Ruth sprained an ankle on a tour of a theatre during her last year of school and, even after surgery, was not able to walk normally or to accept an internship in a Philadelphia hospital. On her way back to Honolulu to recuperate, she spent a few days with me in Lincoln and some weeks with Dr. George S. Chan, a distant cousin, in Los Angeles. Being a herbalist, he tried unsuccessfully to heal the ankle with Chinese herbs. Once home she came under the care of Dr. Joseph Lam, family friend and schoolmate of Ruth's at Michigan. An injection of some new medication from Germany, administered by Dr. Mils Larsen, resulted in her death from septicemia on 6 June, 1932. Her three years of illness were a great strain on her and on the family. It was a great tragedy that such a brilliant woman was struck down just at the beginning of a promising career.\n\n―\n\nHelen was a very appealing child bright, sweet and smiling. During the Easter, Children's Day and Christmas services at the Kauluwela Mission, she was always asked to sing or perform. She attended Central Grammar School as I did and was a favourite of her teacher, Miss Padgett, and of the principal, Mrs. Sophie Overend, who had replaced Mrs. Carter. From there Helen went to McKinley High School, where, during her senior year, she was elected ROTC Sponsor for Company L. At the University of Hawaii, from which she graduated in three and a half years with a B.A. degree in Education, she was selected runner-up by movie star John Gilbert in a beauty contest among a group of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211490, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 206, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "182\n\na year at Tulane University, came for a visit with his family, as did my mother from home. From New England came Effie Huchmore and Beverly King.\n\nA word about Effie. I had met her while we were both staying at the Franklin Square House near the Boston City Hospital when I was studying at Simmons College and she, at Boston University. We became fast friends. She had me as her guest in her home in North Woodstock, New Hampshire, where she lived with her parents and maternal grandmother, and showed me the beautiful scenic spots of the White Mountains. This visit gave me an insight into the activities and character of a typical New England town and the enjoyment of the simple unpretentious hospitality of an old Yankee family. A rare experience indeed!\n\nBefore I left New York the summer of 1948, I was a bridesmaid to Betty Lee upon her marriage to Paul Gee on June 7, 1948. She was formerly a teacher of religion at True Light and its principal during the Second World War. I had also promised to return to marry John Shue Fong Lew, a widower with two younger daughters in Canton. I had met him casually in Boston in 1947 through a mutual friend, Grace Chin, and had become better acquainted with him when he came to see me in New York, often accompanied by his good friend, Lew Orne. We were both mature and ready to settle down by this time, and fortunately felt drawn to each other. On the way back to Honolulu, I stopped over in Chicago where Mother had taken Edmund to join his mother and where she was waiting for me to accompany her home. As soon as I had fulfilled my commitment, I left Honolulu in October 1950 for Chicago, where John and I were married from Helen's home on 4 November 1950, in a simple ceremony at a local church rectory.\n\nAfter living in an apartment near Harvard Square for a few months, we bought a duplex on 12 Littell Road, Brookline, in order to be near John's business, \"The Ming Restaurant”, at 1022 Beacon Street. By 1952, the business had deteriorated so much that it was not feasible to continue it and we turned it over to S. Y. Lew, one of the partners who wanted it. In the meantime we sent for our daughters, Gar Shuey and Gar Ling, and they arrived in Boston in August 1951 by way of Europe. Both attended Lawrence School and Brookline High School, working as waitresses during the summer in our seasonal restaurant in Bar Harbor,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]