In April 1931 Ng Chin Gar 伍傳家 applied for a laborer’s return certificate, form 432. The Seattle Immigration Service wrote to the immigration office in El Paso, TX requesting a copy of his immigration file #5032/84-200. Ng Chin Gar handed over his certificate of identity #40650 which was issued to him as a “Columbus refugee” in El Paso, TX in 1923. It would be given back to him when he returned from his trip. They verified that he had the necessary $1,000 liberty bond. To qualify for reentry into the U.S., he had to return within one year and still be the owner of the $1,000 bond. Since he fulfilled all the requirements for a laborer under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the El Paso office recommended that Ng be issued a return certificate. While waiting for the approval of his documents, he was staying at the Wah Yuen store in his departure city, Seattle. He returned to the Port of Seattle in April 1932 and was admitted.
“Ng Chin Gar, Form 432, Return Certificate photo,” 1934, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, Record Group 85, National Archives-Seattle, Box 911, File 7032/1072.
Ng Chin Gar applied again for a return certificate in 1934. He was working as a kitchen helper in Austin, Texas. He was married with two sons, ages 12 and 6 years old. In his application, he stated that he originally arrived as a refugee with the U.S. army and was admitted near Columbus, New Mexico, in 1917. He went to Mexico when he was twenty years old (ca.1912).
The Immigrant Inspector Roy M. Porter made a note saying: This certificate bears the following indorsement: “Registered under Public Resolution No. 29 approved November 5, 1928.”
[This was part of a later effort to standardize and reaffirm the validity of Chinese registration certificates issued under earlier exclusion laws.]
In 1935, Ng Chin Gar was unable to return within the one-year deadline because his wife was ill. He applied to Charles L. Hoover, the American Consulate General in Hong Kong for an Overtime Certificate. Ng was asked why his wife’s mother couldn’t take care of her. Hoover approved the certificate because he thought if Ng appealed, it was likely the certificate would be approved. Ng was admitted to the Port of Seattle on 22 May 1936.
The following information is not included in the Ng Chin Gar’s CEA file:
Army camp Columbus, N.M., auto truck supply train about to leave for Mexico / Shulman . New Mexico Columbus, 1916. [?] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2002719615/.
Quick summary of the earlier post: Ah Soon’s file starts in 1899, when as a cook (laborer) living in Helena, Montana, he is applying to visit China. He returns in 1900. In 1907 he was a merchant living in Seattle working for Ah King Company. He visited China again in 1907 and returned in 1909.
There is no activity in Ah Soon’s file from 1909 to February 1913.
28 Feb 1913 Ah Soon applied to travel aboard under the provisions of Rule 15 of the Regulations of the Department of Commerce and Labor with the status of a domiciled broker. He had merchant status and claimed that he owned 2,000 shares of the Canton Province Mining Company in Seattle.
Ah Soon, Form 431, Application of Lawfully Domiciled Chinese Merchant, Teacher, or Student, for Preinvestigation of Status, 28 Feb 1913, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, Record Group 85, NARA-Seattle, Ah Soon file, Seattle RS Box 219, RS30384.
3 March 1913 White witness, George F. Ober, a thirty-nine-year-old mining engineer in Seattle, testified that he had lived in Seattle for over three years. He knew Ah Soon was a merchant and real estate broker who bought and sold restaurants and laundries. Soon worked with Wong Shin How at a curio exhibit for an Ah King concern at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle in1909. Ah Soon was a stockholder in the Canton Province Mining Company and sold shares of the company on commission. The Mining Investment officers and trustees were President: Ah King; Vice President: Thomas W. Snaith; Secretary and Treasurer: George F. Ober; Trustee L.L. Thorp; Managers: Yee Onlai, Assistant Secretary: Louie Kee.
Ah Soon, “Mining Investment,” CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, RS Box 219, RS30384.
Joseph H. Beaven, another white witness, stated that he was fifty-four years old and a superintendent of Baptist mission work. He had known Ah Soon about twenty years. Ah Soon was employed and a stockholder at the Ah King Company. About twenty years ago Ah Soon was a cook at a restaurant in Spokane but presently had an interest in his brother’s store, the Ah King Company.
Later that day, Ah Soon testified that he had misplaced his certificate of residence but was classified as a merchant. He was a mining stockbroker, living at the Ken Chung Lung Store in Seattle. He owned 2,000 shares in the Canton Province Mining Company. He paid $.06 to acquire a share and got 15% commission on every dollar’s worth of stock he sold. He had sold over $2,000 worth of stock in a little over two years. He also sold goods on commission from the Ken Chong Lung Company. He denied doing any manual labor in the past twelve months. He signed his statement in Chinese characters.
12 March 1913 A letter from the Ellis DeBruler, Immigration Commissioner, stated that he was not satisfied that Ah Soon met the requirements to receive a return certificate as a domiciled exempt broker. DeBruler thought Ah Soon’s white witnesses also could not testify that he met the requirements.
20 March 1913 J. V. Stewart, Chinese Inspector, put a note dated 20 March 1913, into Ng Ah Soon file saying that he found Ng Ah Soon acting as cashier in the Peking restaurant in Tacoma, Washington. And J. A. Wilkens, A.S. Fulton, and watchman Sylvester, were witnesses also.
Ah Soon, “Stewart Note,”1913, CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, RS Box 219, RS30384.
8 July 1913 Ah Soon testified that his “baby name” was Gong Sen, Hock (Hok) Fong was his marriage name, and his American name was Ah Soon. He was fifty years old, born in Har Ping village, Sun Ning District, China. He originally came to the U.S. through San Francisco. He had been back to China twice, in KS 24 or 25 (1898 or 1899), returning KS 26 (1900) through Port Townsend as a laborer. He went to China in KS 33(1907) and returned in 1909 through Seattle as a merchant and a member of Ah King Company. In 1913 he was living in Tacoma and working as a laborer at the New York Laundry. He earned $40 per month. Charley Dan owned the laundry. He based his claim for a return certificate on his loan to Charley Dan for $1,100 so Charley could buy an interest in the Peking Café and buy a laundry. Ah Soon got the money from his brother, Ah King, [sometimes he says Ah King was his cousin] when he sold his interest in the Ah King Company store in Seattle.
Ah Soon was married to Lou Shee. They had two children, a boy and a girl. Their son, Gong Sen/Kwong Sin was born in 1908, was six years old and their daughter, Ah Que, was about fourteen years old.
Ah Soon was cautioned that he should not collect any part of his loan to Charley Dan while he was in China because it would change his status and he would not be able to return to the U.S. Ah Soon signed his statement in Chinese and English. Charley Dan, baby name Men Dan, was his witness. Dan was married and twenty-eight years old. He and his wife and fifteen-month-old daughter, Annie Dan, were living at the laundry at 1508 South D Street in Tacoma. Dan was a native-born citizen. He went to China when he was six years old, returning when he was nineteen years old and was admitted at Port Townsend.
9 July 1913 A letter from the Immigrant Inspector in Tacoma to the Commissioner of Immigration in Seattle, confirmed that Ah Soon was issued a Certificate of Residence #14906 as a laborer at Helena, Montana on 24 Feb 1894. [Ah Soon status was changed from a merchant to a laborer.]
Ah Soon, “Letter 30,564,”1913, CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, RS Box 219, RS30384.
5 August 1913 Ah Soon made another trip to China.
8 April 1915 Ah Soon was unable to return within the allowed one-year period because he was sick with rheumatism. He provided corroborative statements by Chin Gee Hee and Ng Kun. Ah Soon obtained a Chinese Overtime Certificate.
Ah Soon, “Overtime Certificate 25/1915,”1915, CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, RS Box 219, RS30384.
9 May 1915 Ah Soon returned from China in May. Upon his arrival he testified that a son, Quong Ock was born after he left China in July 1913. He now had two sons. His daughter died about 1912.
12 July 1915 Ah Soon applied for the laborer’s return certificate to return to China. He recently had made a loan of $1,000 to Mah Fook Hing, a merchant at Yik Fong Company at 705 King Street in Seattle. Hing was interviewed and although he did not sign a promissory note, he substantiated Soon’s testimony. Ah Soon planned to leave for Hong Kong on the July 17 and would be staying at the Sam Yik Company. This is the last document in his file, so he probably did not return to the U.S.
