Category Archives: Correspondence

Leong Hoey – Portland, Oregon Store Proprietor

application for citizen's return certificate, Application for laborer's return certificate, Correspondence, photo, , , , , , , , , ,
Photo of Leong & Co. Store
Leong & Co. Store Photo, 1923, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Leong Hoey file, Seattle, Box 950, Case 7032/2037.

Leong Yuen and Leong Hoey at Leong & Co. store, 230 1/2 Third St., Portland, Oregon

According to a newspaper article included in the file [Oregon Journal, Portland, Oregon, Nov, 11, 1923, p. 1, col. 1] a gang robbed the store and shot, Leong Hoey, the proprietor, early in November. Judge Stapleton sentenced C. H. Jackson, leader of a gang, to ten years in the penitentiary and Vito Dellino  received a 2-1/2 year sentence.

In October 1932 Leong Hoey [sometimes spelled Huey or Houie] applied for a laborer’s return certificate. He owned a $1000 Fourth Liberty Loan Bond, worked in a fish cannery, was married, and had a son, See Gok, who was 8 years old. Leong Hoey arrived in the U.S. in 1910 and was admitted as the minor son of a merchant.

His file also contained a letter from his brother, Leong Yuen, answering a charge by the city Attorney that the store at 230 1/2 had been used for gambling. He explained that the rear of the building had been leased to a Chinese society to be used as a meeting place.

Leong Hoey’s application was denied. He appealed and it was approved. He left for China from Seattle on 7 October 1932 and returned the following year.

[More about the robbery and the gambling charge next time…]

Mrs. Lum Sue – lost her American citizenship

Correspondence, photo, ,

Lum Sue Form 432 1926

Mrs. Lum Sue (Wong Fong How), photo on Form 432, 1926, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Mrs. Lum Sue file, Portland, Box 68, Case 5010/411.

letter regarding Mrs. Lum Sue
Mrs. Lum Sue (Wong Fong How), “Letter from U.S. Department of Labor to Commissioner of Immigration, Seattle,” 1926, CEA files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, Mrs. Lum Sue file, Portland, Box 68, Case 5010/411.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Mrs. Lum Sue (Wong Fong How) of Astoria, Oregon was born in Redland, California about 1898. When she married Lum Sue, a Chinese native, on 27 April 1914 in Los Angeles, she lost her American citizenship. In 1926 they were living in Astoria, Oregon with their three children, Anna, 11 years; Flora, 10 years; and John, 8 years. The children were all born in Astoria. Lum Sue was manager of the Lum Quing grocery store.

Wong Fook – Reference letter fom Seufert Bros. Company

Correspondence, Letterhead, , , ,

Letterhead for Suefert Bros. Co
Seufert Bros Company letter, 1909, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Wong Fook file, Portland, Box 5, Case 1700.

This letter is from Wong Fook’s employer. Wong Fook lost his original certificate of residence about 1901 or 2. He reapplied about three years later and received a duplicate certificate. That certificate was destroyed in a fire on 12th April 1909.

In the above letter Mr. Seufert states “…and Seid Beck can tell more about them then I can, he suplys [sic] the help here.”

Seid Beck (sometimes spelled Back) was a merchant and labor broker in Portland.

Rev. Kai Chong Yeung – Exempt Status

Correspondence, Exempt Status, Section 4D, , , , , , , ,

Exempt letter for Rev. K C Yeung
Exempt Status letter for Rev. Kai Chong Yeung, 1930, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Chan Wah file, Box 833, Case 7031/43.

The 1924 United States immigration act specifically exempted from quota restriction professors and ministers of any religion as well as their wives and minor children.[1]

 Section 4(d) An immigrant who continuously for at least two years immediately preceding the   time of his     application for admission to the United States has been, and who seeks to enter the United States solely for the purpose of, carrying on the vocation of minister of any religious denomination, or professor of a college, academy, seminary, or university; and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him…[2]

[1] Roger Daniels, “Immigration,” Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, (http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/E-N/Immigration.html : accessed 14 August 2015).

[2] “Non-Quota Immigrants,” Public Laws of the Sixty-Eighth Congress of the United States. Sess. I, Chapter 190. 1924, p.155, (http://www.legisworks.org/congress/68/publaw-139.pdf : accessed 14 August 2015).