Monthly Archives: December 2016

Mrs. Charles Tigard’s Witness Statement for Mark T. Lee

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Mark T. Lee photo
“Lee Tong Wing, M143 photo” Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Tong Wing (Mark T. Lee) file, Seattle, Box 468, Case 7030/1769.

Lee Tong Wing (Mark T. Lee) was the son of Lee Loy and Chuey June Ho of Tigard. Lee Loy was a well-known Chinese hop grower in Greenburg, Washington County, Oregon. Mrs. Charles Tigard a former neighbor of the Lees testified favorably for them. The Tigards had been living in their home for 55 years, her husband owned a grocery store, and the area was named after them. Mrs. Tigard identified photos of the Lee parents and several of their eight children, including Mark Lee. The Lee children went to school with the Tigard’s daughter. E. A. Dueber, Immigrant Inspector in Portland believed Mrs. Tigard to be reliable and trustworthy.
Lee Tong Wing’s American name was Mark Lee. He was born at Guild’s Lake, Portland on 8 December 1893 before birth certificates were required. He obtained a delayed certificate in 1931. Over the years the family lived in Guild’s Lake, Tigard, and Graham’s Ferry before settling in Portland in 1905. Mark Lee graduated from Portland Trade School in 1915. Mark Lee registered for the draft [for World War I] when the family was living on a farm between Butteville and Champoeg, Oregon.
He went back east several times and worked as a mechanic at Northway Motor and Manufacturing Company in Detroit and was a head waiter at several Chinese restaurants in Chicago. He returned to Portland in 1930. He was applying to leave the U.S. for his first trip to China.
Mark Lee’s parents and his sister, Yettai Lee Young, were interviewed. A family photo was shown to the interrogator but it is not included in the file. The information given by the three family members was compared and it all agreed.

Mark Lee’s father, Lee Loy, marriage name Lee Wun Ung, was 86 in 1931. He was born in Pok Gai Shan village, Sun Ning district, China and came to the U.S. in T.G. 11. He had only been back to China once. Mark Lee’s mother, Chuey June Ho was born in San Francisco about 1858. She and her husband married in Portland in 1879.
Mark Lee application was approved and he received his certificate of identity. By that time he was a restaurant manager in Portland. After he was approved he went to China, married, and returned to Portland alone, as was the tradition, and was admitted on 8 March 1932.

[Charles F. Tigard (1862-1942), for whom the town of Tigard (originally Tigardville), Oregon was named, operated its first store and post office and was later president of its First National Bank.]1

(1) Charles F. Tigard papers, 1888-1926, Finding Aid, 2012, Archives West, Orbis Cascade Alliance, (http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv52230 : accessed 23 December 2016.)

Holiday Greetings from 1936

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telegraph
“Advertisement on Telegraph,” 1936, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Ng Quock Ping file, Seattle, Box 457, Case 7030/1446.

The 9 December 1936 telegraph in Ng Quock Ping’s file says, “Telegraph Your Holiday Greetings” [Notice the variety of prices.]

Mrs. Kenneth S. Wang (Dora Brandenberger)

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Photo of Mrs. Kenneth S. Wang (Dora Brandenberger)
“Photo of Mrs. Kenneth S. Wang (Dora Brandenberger),” 1932, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Kenneth S. Wang file, Seattle, Box 161, Case 2355/7-25.

[Date and place the photo was taken are not listed.]

Dora Brandenberger was born on 30 November 1903 in Baretswil, Switzerland. She arrived in the U.S. at New York City in November 1922 on the S.S. Adriatic. She married Kenneth S. Wang on 30 June 1932 at Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York.
Kenneth S. Wang was born in Tang Shan, China on 2 November 1903. He came to the U.S. through Seattle in September 1924. He was here to attend pre-medical courses at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. After three years he transferred to the Medical College at University of Buffalo, New York for three and one-half more years. He was living at 24 High Street in Buffalo. Before he arrived in the U.S. he attended two years at the Chinese German School at Tientsin and four years at the Peking Academy. His father paid for his education.
At the completion of his studies Dr. Kenneth Wang, a non-quota immigrant student (Section 4 (e) of the Chinese Exclusion Act), and his wife Dora Wang left for China in July 1932. There is no indication that they returned to the U.S.
[Dora Brandenberger Wang does not have a file since she was not a U.S. citizen. There is no mention of how or where Dora and Kenneth met. Miscellaneous information found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org: Dora was the daughter of Alfered [sic] Brandenberger and Lina Miller of Switzerland. She was a 17 year-old student when she arrived in the U.S. Kenneth Wang was her second husband. Her first husband was Ture Verner Wennersten. They divorced in 1929. Dora was a teacher and residing in St. Petersburg, Florida when she married Kenneth Wang. Kenneth lists his residence as Bemus Point, Chautauqua County, New York on their marriage license. One of the witnesses to the marriage was living in Orlando, Florida. ]

Pearl Y. Hom – Anonymous letter about Portland teacher

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Photo of Pearl Y. Hom, 1929
“Photo of Pearl Y. Hom” Form 430, 1929, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Pearl Y. Hom file, Portland, Box 92, Case 5017/501.

[After an anonymous letter was received at the Immigration Office saying that there was a rumor that Pearl Y. Hom had married a Chinese citizen on her recent trip out of the country, an investigation was made and it was determined that the information was incorrect. [Her 1929 trip was to Vancouver, B.C. In 1909 Pearl and her family visited China.]
Transcript of the letter:
Portland, Oregon, April 10th, 1930
Dear Sir,
This is just to let you know that it has been said that Pearl Ham [sic], the woman who teaches Chinese in the Chinese School which is located on Davis street near 3rd street, was married to a Chinese before she returned to this country. She has told people that she is still a girl. She was born in the United States and is a citizen. But I should like to ask you to see if she is still a citizen, if she was married to a Chinese. It is up to you to investigate this matter. As far as I am concerned, I have nothing against such woman. But I just want to let you know if it is lawful for her to stay in our country, if she was married to a Chinese before she came back to the country where she was born. Of course, you know what to do about this case.
Yours very truly
No need to be mentioned

On 23 July 1929 Pearl Y. Hom (Mon Hom Ying) applied for a Native’s Return Certificate. She was born in Portland, was not married, and had been teaching at a Chinese public school in Portland for four years. She was living at the Baptist Mission on Broadway and Couch.

According to Pearl’s application she had four brothers and one sister: Thomas S. Hom (Hom Mon Sing), working in a cannery in Alaska and off-season living in Seattle; Charles C. Hom (Hom Mom Chow), Alice H. Hom (Hom Mom Hong), and Amos G. Hom (Hom Mon Gum) living in China; and George Hom (Hom Xow) living in Portland. [Sometimes “Mon” is spelled “Mom” but “Mon” seems to be correct.]
Pearl’s 1909 application included affidavits from C.R. Levy of Levy Spiegel & Co., Dr. C. E. Cline, Mrs. E. B. Kan, Yee Mow, and Rev. Moy Ling, all of Portland.

Maggie Lyle Jeu – Lost U.S. citizenship when married Chinese citizen

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Photos of Maggie Jeu and Itoria Ding

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“Photos of Maggie Jeu and Itoria Ding” 1921, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Mrs. Jeu Ding (Maggie Jeu) and Itoria Ding files, Seattle, Box 1395, Case 41560/4-6 & 41560/9-3.

[The file is listed as “Jeu” but the surname is frequently spelled “Jue” in the file. He signed his name as “Jeu.”]
Maggie Lyle Jeu was a Caucasian American who lost her U. S. citizenship when she married a Chinese citizen. She needed to apply to the Chinese Consul-General for a Chinese passport before she could travel to China with her husband and two children. Her husband Jeu Ding, a Chinese-born merchant of Osceola, Arkansas, was exempt from the Chinese Exclusion Act because of his merchant status. He had made two previous trips in China as a merchant while doing business in Inverness and Benoit, Mississippi. He was the sole owner of his grocery business. He used his marriage name, Cheu Wah or Cheu Wah & Co., in his business. Jeu Ding’s first wife died in China. On 10 January 1918 he married Maggie Lyle, in Memphis, Tennessee. A copy of their marriage certificate was reviewed by the interviewer and returned to the applicant. Jeu and Maggie Ding had two children, Mary Ding, age 22 months; and Iteria Ding, age 4 months.
The 1921 White witnesses for the family were V. M. Rives, age 39; and Fred G. Patterson, age 50, both residents of Osceola for many years. Patterson testified that Dr. Dunnavant attended the home births of both children.
[Mrs. Jeu Ding was not interviewed.]
[Out of curiosity, I checked Ancestry.com for additional information. This is a summary of the mostly undocumented information I found: Their daughter Mary died on the return trip from China in 1923. They had several more children. Jue [sic] Wah Ding died on 10 September 1929 in Arkansas. Maggie remarried William H. Bourne in 1931 in Tennessee. They had several children. William died in 1953 and Maggie died in 1990.]