This photo is probably familiar to you if you've ever been to the Smithsonian Museum or read anything related to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The baby in the picture is my Aunt Natalie and her mom is holding her. While the backgrounds of my family and many other Japanese and Chinese families may be rich in historical significance, following the threads of their lives may not be easy. Wonder why...Oh yeah, could it be because they were forced by law to leave their homes and all their family belongings and relocate at a moment's notice? Or maybe because their names were too difficult to pronounce so they were altered or changed altogether to suit the convenience of immigration officials? If I were to begin a family tree, I'm afraid the branches would go no further back than my grandparents. On my mother's side, my sister and I are the first generation born in the U.S. since my mother and her parents traveled here on a slow boat in 1932. My grandfather had already been here, at age 15, first working as a kitchen bus boy and sending money home to his family, later going back to China to marry. Because of restrictions placed on Chinese laborers (Chinese Exclusion Act, later extended by the Geary Act), my grandfather had to return to the U.S. after a short time. It wasn't until 1932 that he was able to bring his family (my grandmother and my mother) to San Francisco. Thanks to the excellent research of a co-worker (who just so happens to have worked at the Clayton Library in the past), we were able to recover a passenger manifest of the ship that brought my family to Angel Island, the Pacific version of Ellis Island. Among the passenger list "Chinese Third Class from Hong Kong to San Francisco" aboard the U.S.S. President Hoover is clearly my grandfather's name and "wife" and "dau" (daughter). I showed this to my mother recently and she had never seen it before. So in answer to the exercise in the module, if I were to do any research on my family tree I would definitely start with my friend and co-worker. Beyond that, I would probably visit the Clayton Library and take advantage of their resources. Because of language limitations and due to the fact that beyond my grandparents, most of my relatives lived in China in pre-industrial age conditions with little or no records, the search would most likely end there. Not exactly three steps, but you use what you can. At age 80, and with two of her 7 siblings deceased, my mother is the only living source remaining for my family history. After speaking with her on the phone today, I did learn some more information regarding my Japanese father's family that I didn't know before but I'll save that for another post. I can't convince Mom to write this all down but perhaps a request from her favorite (and only) grandson will do the trick.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Genealogy #67: Genealogy Genesis
This photo is probably familiar to you if you've ever been to the Smithsonian Museum or read anything related to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The baby in the picture is my Aunt Natalie and her mom is holding her. While the backgrounds of my family and many other Japanese and Chinese families may be rich in historical significance, following the threads of their lives may not be easy. Wonder why...Oh yeah, could it be because they were forced by law to leave their homes and all their family belongings and relocate at a moment's notice? Or maybe because their names were too difficult to pronounce so they were altered or changed altogether to suit the convenience of immigration officials? If I were to begin a family tree, I'm afraid the branches would go no further back than my grandparents. On my mother's side, my sister and I are the first generation born in the U.S. since my mother and her parents traveled here on a slow boat in 1932. My grandfather had already been here, at age 15, first working as a kitchen bus boy and sending money home to his family, later going back to China to marry. Because of restrictions placed on Chinese laborers (Chinese Exclusion Act, later extended by the Geary Act), my grandfather had to return to the U.S. after a short time. It wasn't until 1932 that he was able to bring his family (my grandmother and my mother) to San Francisco. Thanks to the excellent research of a co-worker (who just so happens to have worked at the Clayton Library in the past), we were able to recover a passenger manifest of the ship that brought my family to Angel Island, the Pacific version of Ellis Island. Among the passenger list "Chinese Third Class from Hong Kong to San Francisco" aboard the U.S.S. President Hoover is clearly my grandfather's name and "wife" and "dau" (daughter). I showed this to my mother recently and she had never seen it before. So in answer to the exercise in the module, if I were to do any research on my family tree I would definitely start with my friend and co-worker. Beyond that, I would probably visit the Clayton Library and take advantage of their resources. Because of language limitations and due to the fact that beyond my grandparents, most of my relatives lived in China in pre-industrial age conditions with little or no records, the search would most likely end there. Not exactly three steps, but you use what you can. At age 80, and with two of her 7 siblings deceased, my mother is the only living source remaining for my family history. After speaking with her on the phone today, I did learn some more information regarding my Japanese father's family that I didn't know before but I'll save that for another post. I can't convince Mom to write this all down but perhaps a request from her favorite (and only) grandson will do the trick.
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