Fok Cheu (Fook Chew) was admitted at the Port of Seattle on 15 February 1909 as the minor son of See Kin 時乾, a merchant in Walla Walla, Washington. Fok’s father was a member of the Hong Chong Wo Company. The immigration inspector of Seattle asked T. M. Fisher, the Chinese Inspector at Walla Walla to obtain Fok Cheu’s Canadian Pacific head-tax guarantee. He described the guarantee as “printed on a piece of paper about 2-1/2 by 5 inches, the face of which is green and the back yellow.” The head-tax guarantee was required from Chinese arriving from British Columbia ports, enroute from China.
Affidavit Photos for Fok Cheu (Fook Chew) and See Kin,” 1908, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Fok Cheu case file, Seattle RS Box 053, file RS 2063.
Fok Cheu, a student, was 16 years old, 5 feet tall and weighed 82 pounds. He had a small mole on the bridge of his nose and a scar over his left temple. He was born at Si Ben Hong, a village with 200 to 300 houses in the Sun Ning District, Kwong Tung Province, China. The only time he remembered seeing his father was four years previously [1905]. His older brother, Fook Yung, was already living with his father in Walla Walla. He had two younger brothers living in China with his mother, Lee Shee.
See Kin, Fok Cheu’s father, testified that he was forty years old and had been living in the United States about 27 or 28 years [arrived 1881 or 1882] in San Francisco, then lived in Portland before settling in Walla Walla in 1886. He had a $1,000 interest in the Hong Chong Wo Company at Sixth Street between Main and Rose. His partners were Wong Sui, See Yick, Get Tuck, Yee Hep, Eng Hong (See Fat), Sing Kuan, and Yee Sing. He had visited China three times since his arrival in the U.S.
Lee Poo (married name Gee Woon,) a gardener in Walla Walla, was a witness for Fok Cheu. In 1903 on a trip to China he visited the Fook family. Poo’s village was about three miles from Fook’s village.
Fritz Lehn, a clerk and member of the Walla Walla city council, and Theodore Rondema both swore in an affidavit that they knew See Kin as a merchant for more than eight years; that See Kin had done no manual labor for the past year; and the photo attached to the affidavit was a true likeness of See Kin.
Eng Fang (married name Jam Mon), a gardener, age 45, testified for Fok Cheu and recognized a photo of him taken when Fok Cheu was 9 or 10 years old.
Fred M. Pauly, a cigars and tobacco business owner in Walla Walla, also testified for See Kin. Pauly had lived in Walla Walla about twenty years and did business with the Hong Chong Wo Company. He thought they carried about $2,000 or more of Chinese merchandise and groceries.
Fok Cheu’s file contains no more information after he was admitted in 1909.
“Gim Bing, Statement of Registered Chinese Laborer…Intention of Returning,” photo, 1908, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Gim Bing file, Seattle, Box 1091, Case 9347/9-3.
In October 1898, Gim Bing started the process to make a trip back to China. It would be his first trip to his home village since he arrived in San Francisco in 1882. Because he was a Chinese laborer, he needed to be registered, have two witnesses, preferably Caucasian, to swear that they had known him for over a year, and he needed to be owed at least $1,000 as an assurance that he [and not someone who had assumed his identity] would return to collect the money due him.
E.L. Brunton and George H. Barber swore in an affidavit that they were both over the age of 21, citizens of the United States, that they were well acquainted with Gim Bing for over three years, and that he was a gardener in Walla Walla, Washington. They knew that Gim Bing was owed $1,374.48 by Hoy Loy, a long-time resident of Walla Walla.
Gim Bing’s affidavit said that he had obtained a Certificate of Residence and was a resident of Walla Walla for more than seven years. Hoy Loy owed him $1,374.48 for work performed before 1 February 1898 and Gim Bing would collect the amount due him on his return. His photo was attached to the affidavit. Hoy Loy also swore that he owed Gim Bing $1,374.47 for labor he had done for him.
In late September 1903, Gim Bing started the paperwork for his next trip to China. He filed an affidavit and attached his photo. He was listed as a Chinese laborer, registered, residing in U.S., and wishing to leave for China and return within one year. He had debts of one thousand dollars from Hoe Sing and Lee Chung, both from Walla Walla for $500 each.
The Bureau of Immigration compared Gim Bing’s application to the original information in their files and found that everything agreed. Chinese Inspector R. B. Scott reported that Hoe Sing and Lee Chung were indebted to Gim Bing for $500 each.
On 5 November 1904, Gim Bing arrived at Port Townsend, Washington. He was questioned again to make sure he was the same person who had left one year earlier. He testified that he had leased a garden for the last six or seven years from Mr. Hill in Walla Walla. He was paid $600 a year. Hoey Sing owed him $550 for wages from three or four years ago. Lee Shung also owed him $300 for wages and a loan of $200 from five years ago.
Gim Bing’s next trip to China was in September 1908. He filed a “Statement of Registered Chinese Laborer About to Depart from the United States with the Intention of Returning Thereto.” It included photos of Gim Bing with front and side view showing his queue. [Wikipedia: Hair on top of the scalp is grown long and is often braided, while the front portion of the head is shaved.] He stated that he was 43 years old, from Walla Walla, a gardener, and was owed $550 from Young/Yung Foo and $480 from Moy Kee, both from Walla Walla.
A few weeks later, Gim Bing was interviewed again and said he was born in Num Mon Village, Sun Ning District, Kwong Tung Province. He had been living in the U.S. for twenty-six years [since 1882]. He was asked if her knew anyone from his village in China who was living in Walla Walla. Jim Dune, a cook, was living nearby in North Yakima. Yung Foo and Moy Kee were interviewed, and their statements agreed with Gim Bing. Gim Bing returned on 4 June 1909 and re-admitted to the U.S.
Gim Bing applied to visit China again in October 1912. He had made three trips to China and every time he completed the same paperwork with updated information about who owed him money. Wong Chew, a gardener, owed him $1,000 for his interest in Mrs. Villa’s place.
In January 1921, Gim Bing applied for a return certificate as a merchant of the Kwong Chung Sing Company in Walla Walla, Washington. He gave his marriage name as Gim Sing Wing, He was fifty-five years old. He said he was born in Lung On Village. [In 1908 he said he was born in Num Mon Village, but the interrogator did not question him on the discrepancy.] He was questioned about his previous four trips to China. He and his wife, Pon Shee, had four children. He was now a partner and salesman with a $1,000 interest in his store. They sold about $13,000 to $14,000 in Chinese goods every year, mostly teas, tobacco, cigars, rice, and canned goods.
One of Gim Bing’s white witness was William George Sargant, a citizen of Great Britan who had filed his first papers after living in Walla Walla for about nine years. Sargant was asked if he had seen Gim Bing selling vegetables in the last year. He had not.
Gim Bing’s other Caucasian witness was James E. Ward, who had lived in Walla Walla over twenty-two years. Ward was a meter reader for the Power & Light Company.
Lee Yun Nam was also a witness for Gim Bing. He arrived in the U.S. in 1915 at San Francisco as a student but soon came to Walla Walla and became a partner at Kwong Chung Sing Co. with a $1,000 interest. The interrogator asked if Gim Bing had been working as a gardener or in a laundry in the last year. Lee said that Gim Bing had not worked as a laborer.
The Acting Commissioner approved Gim Bing’s application but asked that it be noted that the application had not been properly filled out and that at one time in the past Gim Bing was found to be a laborer when he claimed to be a merchant.
“Gim Bing, Return Certificate,” 1927, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Gim Bing file, Seattle, Box 1091, Case 9347/9-3.
In early September 1927, Gim Bing, now age 62, filed for a return certificate for his sixth trip to China. Once again, he was applying as a laborer so he needed to prove that $1,000 or more was owed to him. Wong Chew still owed him $1,000 from when he sold him his interest in the McCool’s garden. Gim Bing sold him the garden, the implements, tools, a truck, wagons, horses, and crops for $2,000. Wong Chew testimony agreed with Gim Bing’s.
Gim Bing returned and was admitted at the Port of Seattle on 13 August 1928. It is the last document in his file.
Fok’s father was a member of the Hong Chong Wo Company. The immigration inspector of Seattle asked T. M. Fisher, the Chinese Inspector at Walla Walla to obtain Fok Cheu’s Canadian Pacific head-tax guarantee. He described the guarantee as “printed on a piece of paper about 2-1/2 by 5 inches, the face of which is green and the back yellow.” The head-tax guarantee was required from Chinese arriving from British Columbia ports, enroute from China.
