Tag Archives: Berkeley

Nelson Wah Chan King – Tie-in to Gum Moon: A Novel of San Francisco Chinatown by Jeffrey L. Staley

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Jeffrey L. Staley recently published a book on his wife’s family called Gum Moon: A Novel of San Francisco Chinatown.  Although the book is fiction it is based on real people and true events. The Chinese Exclusion Act case file published in September 2017 on this blog for Nelson Wah Chan King mentions the Methodist Oriental Home in San Francisco, where Staley’s wife’s grandmother, Mei Chun Lai, was also raised.
The mother of Nelson Wah Chan King, the subject of the blog entry, was Lily Shem. She and her younger sister, May, were both raised at the Methodist Oriental Home. Mei (Maud/Maude) Chun Lai, Jeffrey Staley’s wife’s grandmother, and several other Chinese children including May Shem sang for President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House on November 5, 1908.

Shem May Oriental Home
Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Staley

The children who performed for President Roosevelt were Ruby Tsang, Pearl Tsang, Maud/Maude Lai, May Shem, Lydia Woo, Grace Woo, Ida Woo and Lum Wong. Nine-year-old Lum Wong was the musical director and Maude Lai was his accompanist on the piano. A fund-raising trip across eastern part of the United States was organized by Miss Carrie G. Davis, superintendent of the Oriental Home for Chinese Children and her assistant Mrs. D. S. Street. The home was located at 1918 University Avenue, Berkeley, California. The purpose of the trip was to raise funds to complete a new building to replace the old one which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. Miss Davis thought the new building would cost $35,000.1
1 “Chinese Youngsters to Sing in English,” Salt Lake Telegram, 27 Feb 1909, p 1.


Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Staley.

Ora Ivy Chang – Berkeley Resident

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Ora Chang photo
“Ora Chang Photo, Form 430,” 1910, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Ora Chang (Chang Ora) case file, Seattle, Box RS 193, RS 29,102.

[What huge bows in Ora’s hair and fine detail on her dress.]
Ora Chang, the daughter of Hong Yen Chang, the Chinese Consul at Vancouver, British Columbia, was admitted to the United States at the Port of Seattle on 5 April 1912 with her mother Charlotte Chang They were making a brief trip from Vancouver, B.C. to Seattle accompanied by Chin Keay of the Quong Tuck Company.
Ora Ivy Chang’s initial application to travel to China was in 1910. The family was living 2330 Fulton Street, in Berkeley at the time. Her birth certificate stating that she was born at Laporte, California on 8 November 1898 is included in the file. She was visiting China with her mother and brother Oliver Carrington Chang. The San Francisco Chinese Inspector interviewed Ora Chang, age 12; Charlotte Ahtye Chang, her mother; Chun Shee, her grandmother; Dr. Elizabeth Keys, the physician who attended at the birth of her brother Oliver; and D. R. Rose, another white witness who knew Mrs. Chang since 1884. Chun Shee, Ora’s grandmother, testified that she was 68 years old and the widow of Yee Ahtye. They had five children, all born in Laporte, California: a daughter Fook Yow living in Oakland; a son, Yee Jock Sam living in San Francisco; daughters Yee Ah Oy and Yee King Lan, living in Berkeley; and a son Yee Jock Wai (Dilly), living in San Francisco.
[This file gives lot of names and places of residence but doesn’t have a lot of other personal information.]

William Jue Poy, M.D., surgeon at David Gregg Hospital, Hackett Medical Center, Canton, China

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William Jue Poy, photo 1932
“Photo of William Jue Poy,” 1932, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, William Jue Poy (Jue Soo Kuen) case file, Portland, Box 99, 5017/872.

William Jue Poy, Chinese name Jue Soo Kuen, was born at 365 E. 12th Street, Portland, Oregon on 22 May 1904. His parents were Jue Poy and Choy Lain. William Poy attended local schools in Portland, University of Washington in Seattle and Northwestern University in Chicago; did his internship and residency and was an assistant surgeon before getting his medical license in Pennsylvania about 1932. He had two brothers and four sisters, all born in Portland. In 1932 his brother Clarence was in Russia working as a consulting mining engineer for the Russian government; and his brother Henry was in Berkeley, California working with McKee Radio Company. His sisters Frances, Alice and Dorothy were unmarried. His sister Helen was married to Andrew Y. Wu and they were living in San Francisco.

In 1932 William was applying to go to China to work as a professor of Anatomy, Associate Surgery in the Hackett Medical School in Canton, China. The school was established under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions and he had a five year contract. His application witnesses were his mother and Mrs. William S. (France A.) Holt. Choy Lain, William’s mother, was born in San Francisco about 1884 and had never been to China. Her husband, William’s father, died about three years previously. Mrs. Holt testified that she had known William Poy since he was a baby and that William’s father was the first Elder in their church. Mr. Holt married William’s parents.
In August 1937 William applied to leave the U.S. so he could accompany Dr. Loh Shau Wan to Vancouver, B.C. Dr. Wan had original planned to stay in the United States for six months but was returning early because of war conditions in China.
The Reference Sheet in William’s file lists three of his siblings: Jue So Ling (Clarence Poy), file 5017/452; Helen Poy Wu, file 5006/397; and Jue So King (Alice Jue Poy), file 5017/760 There is no more information about Dr. William Poy in his file after 1937.
[I am always curious when I come across my maiden name, Hackett, when I am doing research. Although I am not related to the founder of Hackett Medical College, here is a link to a very lengthy biography on Edward A.K. Hackett (1851-1916) that I found on FindAGrave.com.]
[Edward A. K. Hackett established the Hackett Medical College at Canton, China, and put his eldest daughter, Dr. Martha Hackett, in charge.]1,

1. Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017), memorial # 57707137, Edward A.K. Hackett (1851-1916), created by “JC”; citing Linderwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Allen Co.,IN.

Fook Chun Lee – “Common Sense is Needed”

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Lee Fook Chun
“Stanley Fook Chun Lee (Lee Fook Chun) photo,” 1929, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Fook Chun and Chang Suey Ping files, Seattle, Box 1119, Case 10422/2-2; 10422/2-3.

Chan Suey Ping’s infant son, (Stanley) Fook Chin Lee, was refused admission at the Port of Seattle but permitted by the Secretary of Labor to remain in the United States for six months until 7 March 1930.
Chan Suey Ping was born in 1902 at Napa, California and a citizen of the United States. In 1925 she visited China and married Chiu Hang Lee, a citizen of China and of the Chinese race. Under the terms of the 1922 Cable Act, she lost her U.S. citizenship. Chiu Hang Lee came to the U.S. with a student status and she accompanied him with a “wife of student status.” In about 1927 they had twin boys, born in Berkeley, California. They went back to China in March 1928 to visit Chiu Hang Lee’s elderly mother who was ill. They left their sons with Chan Suey Ping’s mother in Napa. Chan Suey Ping was pregnant when they left and their son, Lee Fook Chin, was born in China.
By the time Chan Suey Ping was ready to return to the U.S., Lee Fook Chin, was four months old. Even though Chan Suey Ping was born in the U.S., her son was excludable under the Chinese Exclusion Act. Since he was born in China, according to officials he was “consequently helpless from infancy, it seemed absolutely necessary to also exclude his mother as an accompanying alien.”

Included in the file is an editorial from The Seattle Daily Times published on 24 February 1929, on page 6. The headline is “Common Sense is Needed.” The piece included these statements: “The decision of the U.S. immigration authorities…may be based upon statutory law, but it is contrary to every decent conception of humanity and common sense.” “She and her husband are graduates of Stanford University.” ”It is inconceivable the exclusion act is so precise in its terms that it does not permit some discretion on the part of responsible authorities.” ”America does not appear in an enviable light when the country’s officers can and do deal so callously.”
Chan Suey Ping, her American-born two-year-old twins, Bert Y. Kynn Lee and Allan Wy Synn Lee, and baby, Stanley Fook Chin Lee, returned to China on 6 November 1929.