“Writ of Habeas Corpus, Order of Discharge, No. 10036,” 1891, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives at Seattle, Yee Ah Jin case file, Seattle Box 706, file #7030/9143. According to the 1891 findings of S. C. Houghton, Special Referee and Examiner of the District Court, Yee Ah Jin was born in the United States and was a citizen entitled to re-enter and remain in the U.S.
Yee Ah Jin 余亞振 was born in San Francisco in 1869, the son of Yee Look Long and Lee Shee. He left San Francisco on 6 January 1882, before the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed on 6 May 1882 and returned on 25 September 1890. Yee Ah Jin applied to land at the port of San Francisco and his application was denied. His uncle Yee Gum Jung signed the petition for his Writ of Habeas Corpus and it was filed by Southard Hoffman, Clerk.
Hon. Judge Ogden Hoffman of the District Court of the United States, Northern District of California District, declared that Yee Ah Jin had been illegally restrained of his liberty by Captain Pearne, Master of the S.S. Gaelic. Yee was discharged from custody of 18 September 1891 and admitted to the United States. “Yee Ah Jin, Form 430 photo,” 1936, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives at Seattle, Yee Ah Jin case file, Seattle Box 706, file #7030/9143. Yee made several trips between China and the United States landing in San Francisco in 1910, 1918, 1922, and 1930. The final trip recorded in his file was on 15 December 1937 arriving at the Port of Seattle. He was 68 years old, living in Detroit, Michigan; married to Soo Hoo Shee. His marriage name was Shew June. They had six children–five sons and one daughter. Three sons were living in the United States.
(This file was researched by CEA volunteer, Tamia Duggan.)
In 1910 Go Hip King applied for admission to the U.S. for his minor son Yao Chow or You Chow (You Choi).
“Affidavit photos of Go Hip King and You Choi,” 1910, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, (Go) Yao Chow (alias Go You/Yow Choi) case file, Portland Box 7, file 1949.
Go Hip King’s interview did not go well. He admitted that two members of his firm were laborers not merchants; that he had attempted to have attorney Hemple bribe an immigration official; and that although there was an accusation that his rental property was being used as a place of ill repute he did not know what kind of people lived there. There were many discrepancies between the father’s and his alleged son’s testimony.
In his summary, Chinese Inspector in Seattle, Raphael P. Bonham wrote:
“The testimony given when applicant sought admission in 1910 is permeated with inconsistencies, contradictions, and falsehoods…”
“The witnesses, Go Leong and Go Quong, of Astoria, Oregon, are not believed to be in good faith or worthy of full credit.”
“Go Hip King has proved himself an unconscionable prevaricator, and now admits being a bribe-giver…”
“Yow Choi is the victim of the unscrupulous advice of Attorney Hemple, since decamped, whose motive must have been solely that of his fee.”
The 1910 application for admission under the name of Yao Chow and was rejected; he appealed but withdrew his appeal the next day.
You Choi (Yao Chow) tried again the following year. In June 1911 You Choi, age 19, married name Go Kum Lun, arrived in the Port of Seattle.
Transcripts of translated letters from Jue Shee, Go Hip King’s wife and from his sons, Yow Choi and Yow Lee, are included in the file.
Edward E. Gray, Go Kip King’s attorney in 1911 reviewed every item of contention in the 1910 case with the Immigration Commissioner trying to show his client in a good light. Gray said that Hemple, Go Hip King’s previous lawyer convinced Go that paying off an official was a necessary part of business.
Witness John C. Montgomery, who worked in a plumbing and tin shop, testified in July 1911, that he was born in Astoria and lived there forty years except for ten years when he was away. He had known Go Hip King for over six years, saw him on a regular basis as manager of his store, and didn’t think he ever worked as a laborer in a cannery.
Witness A. E. P. Parker, collector agent and hotel man leased to Go Hip King the Eagle Drug Store property on 51 & 57 Bond Street in Astoria in 1910; part of the property to be used for a restaurant and part for a grocery story with the upstairs rooms rented out. He knew Go Hip King as a merchant of the Wing Yuen Company and had not seen him doing manual labor. (Charles Verschueran was a witness on the 1910 affidavit but no more information on him is included in the file.)
Attorney Gray thought that You Choi was the innocent victim of his relatives and friends who mixed up the records so much that it was hard to ascertain the truth.
Once again, You Choi was rejected; his case was appealed, and the appeal was dismissed. He was sent back to China. There is no more information in the file.
Quan You Hing’s father, Quan Foo 關富(marriage name Soong Woo 崇護) was born in San Francisco on 3 August 1889. By 1939 he had made four trips to China—in 1911, 1923, 1928, and 1932, and was living in Chicago, working at Hugh Sam Laundry. His wife, Moy Shee, was living in China with their four sons and one daughter. Their youngest son, Quan You Hing, was born in Lum Hing village, Hoy Ping, China on 13 October 1924. [His date of birth is also listed as 15 September 1924.] The family moved to Joong Wah Li, Hoy San district in 1930.
There were eight dwelling houses and a school house in the village of Jung Wah Li; four rows with two houses in each row with the school house at the head of the village. This is how Quan Foo described his house:
“It is a regular five-room Chinese house, built of grey house bricks, tile gable roof; tile floors in all the rooms; the open court is paved with stone; two outside doors; large door faces east; two outside windows in each bedroom; one L-shaped loft in each bedroom, along the outside and rear wall and also a cross loft along the rear wall of the sitting-room. One double built-in stove in the small-door side kitchen and also a portable earthen stove in the small-door side kitchen. A rice pounder is located in the sitting room near the west wall and also a rice mill located in the large-door side kitchen. One double skylight in each bedroom covered with glass; no skylight in the kitchen.”
“Affidavit Photos of Quan Foo and Quan You Hing,” 1939, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Quan You Hing (Hugh) case file, Seattle Box 792, file 7030/12240.
Quan Foo was bringing his son to the United States in 1939 because the Japanese were invading south China near their village and his son wanted to get away from the war. Ironically only four years later, Quan You Hing joined the U.S. Navy and died serving his adopted country.
There is a note in front of his file, “Killed in action, December 1944, U.S. Navy, Hugh [Quan] You Hing.” There no mention in the file of why or when Quan You Hing joined the U. S. Navy.
According to the muster roll of the U.S.S. Leutze You Hing Quan enlisted on 14 October 1943 and was received on board on 4 March 1944.1 His death is listed under Illinois in the U.S. Navy Casualties Books2: Quan You Hing, Electrician’s mate 3C, USNR. Father, Mr. Foo Quan, 2252 South Wentworth Ave., Chicago.
1. U. S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949, Ancestry.com, p. 7, Image 24, National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group: 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798 – 2007; Series ARC ID: 594996; Series MLR Number: A1 135.
2. Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
“Mei Lai Gay (Agnes), Form 430 photo and birth registration” 1927, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Mei Lai Gay (Agnes) case file, Seattle Box 817,file 7030/13284.
The father of Mei Lai Gay (Agnes), Mei (Moy) Kong Kay (marriage name: Mei (Moy) Kung Sun) first came to the United States in 1908 and was admitted as a merchant at the Port of San Francisco. He was born in 1882 in Sai Yuen village, On Fun section, Hoy San district, China. He and his wife, Ng Shee, had six children; two sons living in China and four in D.C. where they had been living since 1923. Mei Kung Sun was a merchant at Hong High Company, 343 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Agnes’ 1927 birth was registered by Dr. Mary Parsons. Dr. Parsons had been practicing medicine in D.C. for fifty-three years and had worked with the Chinese population for 31 years. It was thought that she officiated at the birth of the first Chinese baby born in the city.
The return certificates as American citizen applications for the parents, Agnes, her two brothers and sister were approved and they left Washington, D.C. for China in 1927.
In October 1940 Mei Lai Gay Agnes and her sister Mei Bow Ngook Ruby returned to the U.S. through the Port of Seattle. They were going to live with their brother, Mei (Moy) Bow Duen Earnest, in Washington, D.C. The interrogators questioned Ruby, age 16, then Agnes, age 13. Their father, Mei (Moy) Kung Sun, died in the U.S. in 1938. Their mother moved from her husband’s home village to Hong Kong after her husband’s death. The examining inspector had no questions about the identity of Ruby and noted after careful examination of the photograph of Lai Gay Agnes that “the left ear of this applicant shows outer and inner rim close together and a ridge in the center of the right ear.” [Evidently this scrutiny of her left ear agreed with her baby photo.] Their applications were approved and they were admitted into the U.S. “Mei Lai Gay (Agnes) M143 photo,” 1940, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Mei Lai Gay (Agnes) case file, Seattle Box 817,file 7030/13284.
The Reference Sheet in Mei Lai Gay (Agnes Mei)’s file includes the name, relationship and file number for Agnes’ parents, four brothers and her sister.
Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files 