Tag Archives: Chin Kee

Lee Poo – Chinese Gardener, Walla Walla, Washington

Affidavit, appeal, Bayard-Zhang Treaty of 1888, Certificate of Residence, IOU, laborer, photo, promissory notes, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
“Affidavit photo of Lee Poo,” 1903, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, Record Group 85,
NARA-Seattle, Lee Poo, Box RS 019, file RS 664.

1903 Sept 28 –   Lee Poo started the process of obtaining a return certificate which would allow him to reenter the U.S. within a year of his department date. He swore in an affidavit that he was laborer, age 37 years, had been in the United States 23 years and was living in Walla Walla, Washington, and working as a gardener nearby. He was owed more than $1,000 by Jim Lee and Hoy Yam, both of Walla Walla. He handed over his Certificate of Residence which would be returned to him when he reentered the U.S. His photo was attached to the affidavit.

1903 Sept 28 – Jim Lee and Hoy Yam, both from Walla Walla, swore that they owed Lee Poo, a total of $1,100.  The Chinese Inspector verified the loans with them.

1903 October 8 – the Commissioner-General at the Bureau of Immigration in Washington, D.C. wrote to the Inspector in Charge in Port Townsend, Washington saying they compared Lee Poo’s duplicate Certificate of Residence that they had in their file and it completely agreed with Lee’s copy. Hoy Yam testified that he still owed Lee Poo money. Jim Lee who worked as a gardener in Walla Walla, also testified that he still owed Lee Poo money.

1904 June 28 – R. B. Scott, the Chinese Inspector at Port Townsend report that Jim Lee and Hoy Yan both said that neither of the debts were in the form of promissory notes.

1904 Aug 24 – When Lee Poo returned to Port Townsend on 25 August 1904, he testified that he was 38 years old and lived in Walla Walla. He had worked in a laundry for three years, then as a cook for fifteen or so years, and as a gardener for the last two years.  He saved his earnings and accumulated about $3,500. He took half of it to China and left the remainder with his cousin, Jim Lee who owned a garden in Walla Walla near the O.R. & N (Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company) depot. Lee Poo worked every day of the week for one dollar a day. Jim Lee had only paid him about $40 so he still owed him $500.
Lee Poo loaned $600 in gold coins to Hoy Yan so he could buy an interest in a garden. He kept his money at Quong Chung Seng’s place in Walla Walla. Bow Loy, a member of the firm, was a witness to the transaction and held the notes. He signed an IOU for the money.

Lee Poo also leased a garden with his cousin Lee Hing in Dayton, Washington. They owned a horse and wagon.

Lee Poo’s trip to China involved taking a steamer from Port Townsend to Victoria, another steamer to Vancouver, then the Empress Line to China. After Lee Poo’s return, Jim Lee and Hoy Yan both testified they still owed Lee Poo money.

1904 Aug 27 – Lee Poo was denied admittance and given two days to file an appeal. He filed an appeal.

1904 Sept 6 – Lee Poo told his lawyer that he thought his application for a certificate of departure and return was proof of note for his loans. He gave Bow Loy a slip of Chinese writing paper listing how much money he was owed by Jim Lee and Hoy Yun. It seems that Lee Poo did not understand he was being asked about a legal “promissory note” not just a note reminding him that he was owed money.

He was rejected “on the ground that the debts on which he sought to re-enter the United States were evidenced by promissory notes.”

1904 Sept 14 – The report of R. B. Scott, Chinese Inspector at Port Townsend, to the Inspector in Charge clarified that the monies due Lee Poo were for money borrowed and labor performed; they were not promissory notes. His Book of Debts Owed was offered as evidence of the debts owed by Hoy Yun and Jim Lee.  

“Book of Debts Due to Lee Poo,” CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, Lee Poo, Box RS 019, file RS 664.

Kwong Si  29  August 10,
Jim Lee, total balance due $500
         Lee Poo Count.

Kwong Si    29    August, form other book –
Total –
        28 year April 10
        Borrowed U.S. gold coin $600        
Both agree until next year when I come back.
       Huey Yan see Lee Poo count.
(Translated by Chin Kee, Chinese Interpreter)

This case file pertains to the Bayard-Zhang Treaty of 1888 and the 1888 Scott Act. To find out more about them, go to https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Scott_Act_(1888)#Scott_Act



Rose Chin – Born in Seattle, lost her U.S. Citizenship when she married a Chinese Native in 1927

1922 Cable Act, Birth Certificate, Chinese Native, Disapproved, discrepancies, Form 430, Lost citizenship, photo, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

[The National Archives is still closed because of COVID-19. This file was copied before the closure in March 2020. I will let you know when the Archives reopens. THN]

Rose Chin had never been out of the United States and in 1927 she and her husband wanted to make a trip to Canada.  Rose applied with immigration services to make a temporary visit abroad.

Rose Chin, form 430 photo,” 1927, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, national Archives-Seattle, Rose Chin case file, Seattle Box 22, #30-3706.

In her application, Rose Chin Kee testified that she was born on 15 April 1911 to Mr. and Mrs. Chin Kee of 219 Washington Street in Seattle. Rose’s  father, Chin Kee, was a merchant and interpreter at Immigration Service at Seattle. He died in China about 1920.  Her mother was born in San Francisco and had been to China sometime before Rose was born in 1911. Rose’s birth certificate says her mother was born in China, but the interviewer did not ask her about the discrepancy. Evidently Rose was comfortable with the English language; she approved of her interview being conducted in English. Rose had five brothers and four sisters who were all born in Seattle, and one adopted sister. Her oldest brother, Tom Chin Kee, was the only one of her siblings to visit China. He left and returned when Rose was a small child.

“Rose Chin, Birth Certificate,” 1911, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Rose Chin case file, Seattle Box 22, file 30-3706.

Rose married Pong Mon on 15 May 1927 at home in Seattle. They obtained their license from the county clerk and a white man performed the ceremony.  Mr. Lysons helped them get their license.

Rose Chin lived in Seattle all her life and knew Inspector Mangels, Interpreter Quan Foy and Mr. Monroe from Immigration Service. She attended Main Street and Pacific public schools. She provided her birth certificate for inspection.

Although the inspectors verified Rose’s birth certificate, knew her family, and knew her since she was a small girl, they could not approve her application. Her husband, a Chinese native, could not prove that he was a U.S. citizen. According to the 1922 Cable Act, Rose Chin lost her U.S. citizenship when she married a Chinese native.

Rose Chin’s application was disapproved.

Additional information not included in the file:
The Expatriation Act of 1907 stated that women assumed the citizenship of their husbands.  U.S.-born women lost their citizenship when they married non-citizen immigrant men.

The Cable Act of 1922 said that an American woman who married a non-U.S. citizen would no longer lose her citizenship if her husband was eligible to become a citizen. However, if she married a Chinese ineligible for citizenship, she would lose her U.S. citizenship.

The 1931 amendment to the Cable Act allowed women to retain their American citizenship even if they married a person ineligible for naturalization.

For more information about the Cable Act go to:

Meg Hacker, “When Saying ‘I Do’ Meant Giving Up Your U.S. Citizenship,” Prologue, National Archives and Records Administration, Spring 2014, p.56-61.

Donald A. Watt, “Cable Act of 1922,” Immigration to the United States, Citizenship and Naturalization, Laws, Cable Act of 1922

Look See, wife of Chin Quong, a manager of the Wa Chong Company

Affidavit, photo, reference sheet, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Look See (Mrs Chin Quong)to
“Photo of Look See (Mrs. Chin Quong),” 1904, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Look See case file, Seattle Box 1236, 35205/1-4.

Look See, wife of Chin Quong, a manager of the Wa Chong Company, 719 King Street, Seattle, Washington, made two trips in China—one in 1904 and another in 1917.

After the first trip Look See was re-admitted to the United States at Port Townsend, Washington on 22 June 1905. She testified that she was thirty-six years old and first came to the United States with her sister, Mrs. Chin Gee Hee, in about 1882 or 1883 when she was around thirteen years old. When asked if she knew any white men in Seattle, she replied that she knew Mr. Whitlock, a lawyer; and three white ladies: Mrs. Hambeck, a Christian teacher; Mrs. Thomas, an old lady, also a teacher; and Mrs. Greene. Chin Kee was her Chinese witness. He testified that Look See and Chin Quong had been married according to the Chinese custom for at least twenty years; they had six children—three sons and three daughters, all born in Seattle. Her maiden name was Ah Quan. Chin Gee Hee, a merchant, labor contractor, and well-known early settler in Seattle, performed their wedding ceremony in October 1886.
Look See’s husband Chin Quong testified that he had been a member of the Wah Chung (Wa Chong) firm since about 1890. There were seven partners whose capital stock equaled $60,000 [worth almost  $1,600,000 in 2017]. The partners were Chin Quong (himself), Chin Quok Jon, Woo Jen, Chin Wing, Chin Wing Mow, Chin Wing Yon, Chin Yen Gee, and Chin Ching Hock. [That adds up to eight partners but the John H. Sargent, Chinese Inspector did not ask about the discrepancy.] Chin Quong was also a manager at the Wah Chung Tai Company in Butte, Montana.
John C. Whitlock, testified that he was forty-eight years old, had lived in Seattle more than sixteen years–arriving in the spring of 1898, and since he collected the rent from the Chinese tenants of the Wah Chung building he was well acquainted with Chin Quong. Whitlock usually had to go to the building night after night to find all of the tenants. He was aware that Look See was in the detention house in Port Townsend when this testimony was taken. Whitlock, Samuel F. Coombs, Justice of the Peace; and Chin Quong all testified in affidavits in Look See’s favor in 1904 before she left for China.
Look See left Seattle again in September 1916 with her sons Chin Dan and Ah Wing, and her daughter Ah Lan. She was returning in June 1917 with her son, Chin Dan, and her daughter, her daughter’s husband, Pang Chung Cheong; and their infant son. They were admitted.
The Reference Sheet lists these files: RS 910 & 34,380, Look See; 35205/1-1, Archie Pang, son-in-law; 35205/1-2, Annie M. Chin, daughter; 35205/1-2, Victor Ernest Pang, grandson; 35205/1-5, Chin Dan, son; 36918/3-8, Chin May Goon, daughter of husband by secondary wife; 40231/2-16, Anna Pang (Annie M. Chin) Chin May Young, daughter; RS 2033, Chin Quong, husband.

Chin Tom Kee – 1904 Seattle Birth Return

Birth return, Return Certificate, , ,

Chin Tom Kee Birth Return 1904
“Chin Tom Kee, City of Seattle, Birth Return.” 1904, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, ChinTom Kee file, Seattle, Box 1295 Case 38246/4-1.

Chin Tom Kee 1918 Post Card
The City of Seattle birth return for Chin Tom Kee shows that he was born at 219 Washington Street on 13 July [1904]. His mother was 24 on 26 October and his father, Chin Kee, a merchant, born in China was 44 years old. Chin Tom Kee was delivered by Mrs. Jakshitz [a midwife]. [The return is a post card attached to notarized statement in the file.]
In September 1918 Chin Tom Kee was about to make a trip to Hongkong and was filling out the necessary paper work so he could be readmitted upon his return. He received visa no. 988, Certificate for a Person of the Chinese Race Claiming American Citizenship. Although this sounds very official, the last sentence of the document is: “The question of his admissibility to the United States will be determined upon his arrival at an American port.” It is signed by J. S. [illegible] Callen, Vice Consul, Hongkong.