Tag Archives: Moy Shee

Lee Tah (Tok) Fu (George Chin) – Anonymous letter, three wives, many photos

Alien Registration File Number, Anonymous letter, Marriage name, New York City file, Photographs, Section 6 Student, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lee Tah Fu (George Chin)’s file is a reminder that these files usually pertain to a small portion of a person’s life. Lee’s file brings up many questions and gives us few answers.

Lee Tah (Tok) Fu, Section 6 Certificate, 1924, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, Record Group 85, National Archives at Seattle, Lee Tah (Tok) Fu, Box 900, 7032/790.

Lee Tah Fu 李達夫 first came to the U.S. as a Section VI student in 1924. He was born on 15 January 1899 at Hen Mee Village, S.N.D. (Sun Ning District), China, son of Lee Nie Wee and Moy Shee, and attended school at Chi Chu Middle School in Peking. Lee went to New York City after his arrival in Seattle and went to Mission School for one year before working in a laundry.

Historical black and white portrait of a young man with dark hair, wearing a suit and tie, with the words 'IMMIGRANT INSPECTOR' below his image.
Lee Tah (Tok) Fu, Form 432, 1930, CEA case files, RG 85, NARA-Seattle, Lee Tah (Tok) Fu, Box 900, 7032/790.

Ng Fook, marriage name Ng You Chung, was a witness for Lee Tah Fu in 1930. Lee and Ng Fook were both laundrymen living in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They had known each other three or four years. Ng borrowed $1,000 from Lee in August 1930 filling the requirement Lee needed when applying for his return certificate to visit his family in China. Lee’s application was approved.

When Lee returned through the Port of Seattle in September 1931, he received his Certificate of Identity #66912. Sometimes his name was spelled Lee Tah Fu and he also went by George Chin.

In October 1937, Mrs. George Chin wrote to Immigration and Naturalization in Seattle asking for more information about Lee Tok Fu. She said she was married, going to have a baby and would like to know about Lee’s married life in China. She did not say if she was his wife. The Seattle office wrote to the New York office for information contained in Lee’s New York file 134/237 and suggested that they contact Mrs. Chin. She was not contacted by Immigration until 1942.

In late January 1942, the immigration office at New York received an anonymous complaint about Lee. Gilbert M. Hall, U.S. Chinese and Immigrant Inspector at Ellis Island, New York, interviewed Lee Tok Fu.  Lee gave his marriage name as Lee Soon Moon. His parents were both deceased and they had never left China. Lee married Ng Shee, who died in China in 1934. They had a son and daughter. He married Caroline Greger, a Caucasian, in October 1935 at Church of All Nations in New York City. They had two sons, both born in New York City. Lee was registered under the Alien Registration Act and belonged to the Chinese Benevolent Association and had his Certification of Identity. Inspector. Hall decided that Lee had been legally admitted to the U.S.

Mrs. George Chin (Caroline Greger), a Caucasian, also known as Mrs. Lee Tok Fu, was then interviewed. Caroline was born on 29 October 1918 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. When asked for a copy of her 1935 marriage license, she said her husband tore it up while in a crazy fit. They had two sons, William, born 1939, and Joseph, born 1941. Their son George, born 1938, died in 1941, a few months before Joseph was born.

About 1937 or 1938, Caroline found out that her husband had another wife. Lee’s father-in-law, Charlie Sing, came into their laundry and told Caroline her husband was married to his daughter who was alive and living in China. They had three children together. Caroline found wife #1’s name and address in her husband’s effects and wrote to her. Lee’s eighteen-year-old son in China wrote to Caroline telling her that his mother was alive and sent her several photographs. Caroline confronted Lee and he told her he had two living wives in China. She separated from him but returned because she could not manage on her own. She planned on terminating her marriage.

Immigration filed this information in Lee’s file but no further action was taken. Alien Registration number 2860497 was handwritten on the final page in his file. Copies of the photos and Chinese letter from Lee’s N.Y. file were sent to Seattle and included in his file. No other follow-up information was included in the file.

Black and white photograph of two boys seated together, one wearing a suit and the other in a traditional outfit, both looking at the camera.
A man in a light suit sitting on a rooftop, holding a straw hat. The background features buildings and trees, with writing at the top and bottom indicating a date and name.
Black and white portrait of a young man in a suit, looking directly at the camera. The image has handwritten notes at the bottom.
A portrait of a young girl sitting on a rock, wearing a traditional patterned outfit. The background features foliage and a blurred bridge.
A young girl in a traditional dress stands next to a seated doll on a rock, with a decorative backdrop featuring plants and structures.
Photos from NARA- NY, File 134/237

Photo information:
Top row: Chin Tah Fu’s sons by his 1st wife: Chin You Tong, age 18 and Chin You Hing, age 13, taken ca. 1937; Chin Tah Fu; Chin You Tong
Bottom row:
Chin Tah Fu’s common law wife, Lin Sue (wife #3)
Chin Tah Fu’s daughter, Chin Sue Kin, age about 22, with her baby

[I was unable to find more information on Lee Tok Fu or his children by Caroline but according to Ancestry.com, Caroline Virgina Greger married Henry Keuvir on 12 April 1942, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. phn]

Quan You Hing – U.S. Navy – Killed in Action, December 1944

Affidavit, Description of house, Description of village, Photographs, U.S. Navy, U.S. Navy Casualties Books, U.S. Navy Muster Roll, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quan You Hing’s father, Quan Foo 關富(marriage name Soong Woo 崇護) was born in San Francisco on 3 August 1889. By 1939 he had made four trips to China—in 1911, 1923, 1928, and 1932, and was living in Chicago, working at Hugh Sam Laundry. His wife, Moy Shee, was living in China with their four sons and one daughter. Their youngest son, Quan You Hing, was born in Lum Hing village, Hoy Ping, China on 13 October 1924. [His date of birth is also listed as 15 September 1924.] The family moved to Joong Wah Li, Hoy San district in 1930.

There were eight dwelling houses and a school house in the village of Jung Wah Li; four rows with two houses in each row with the school house at the head of the village. This is how Quan Foo described his house:

“It is a regular five-room Chinese house, built of grey house bricks, tile gable roof; tile floors in all the rooms; the open court is paved with stone; two outside doors; large door faces east; two outside windows in each bedroom; one L-shaped loft in each bedroom, along the outside and rear wall and also a cross loft along the rear wall of the sitting-room. One double built-in stove in the small-door side kitchen and also a portable earthen stove in the small-door side kitchen. A rice pounder is located in the sitting room near the west wall and also a rice mill located in the large-door side kitchen. One double skylight in each bedroom covered with glass; no skylight in the kitchen.”

Quan You Hing Aff photos
“Affidavit Photos of Quan Foo and Quan You Hing,” 1939, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Quan You Hing (Hugh) case file, Seattle Box 792, file 7030/12240.

Quan Foo was bringing his son to the United States in 1939 because the Japanese were invading south China near their village and his son wanted to get away from the war. Ironically only four years later, Quan You Hing joined the U.S. Navy and died serving his adopted country.

There is a note in front of his file, “Killed in action, December 1944, U.S. Navy, Hugh [Quan] You Hing.” There no mention in the file of why or when Quan You Hing joined the U. S. Navy.

According to the muster roll of the U.S.S. Leutze You Hing Quan enlisted on 14 October 1943 and was received on board on 4 March 1944.1 His death is listed under Illinois in the U.S. Navy Casualties Books2: Quan You Hing, Electrician’s mate 3C, USNR. Father, Mr. Foo Quan, 2252 South Wentworth Ave., Chicago.

1. U. S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949, Ancestry.com, p. 7, Image 24, National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group: 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798 – 2007; Series ARC ID: 594996; Series MLR Number: A1 135.
2. Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Harry Chinn – WW II Veteran and POW in Germany

Birth Certificate, Certificate of Identity, reference sheet, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Harry Chinn, a World War II veteran, died in 1951 from complications of frostbite of both feet and pulmonary tuberculosis which he developed when he was a prisoner of war in Germany.

Chinn Harry Birth Cert 1922
“Harry Chinn – Seattle, Washington Birth Certificate of Birth,” 1922, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Harry Chinn file, Seattle Box 734, 7030/10246.

Harry Chinn 陳光漢 (Chin King Ging), son of Shaw Chinn (married name Chin Shu Num 陳召南) and Moy Shee (Moy King Sam or May Sem), was born in Seattle on 25 August 1922. He attended Bailey Gatzert School, Washington School and Broadway High School in Seattle. Harry, his parents, and his four brothers and sister visited China in August 1937 and returned in November 1938. While in China Harry married Til Wui Lee (Lee Tie Win) according to the old Chinese custom in May Hong Tune, How San Province in January 1938.
Harry Chinn obtained his Certificate of Identity in 1942 a few days after he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Harry Chinn – Certificate of Identity
“Harry Chinn – Certificate of Identity #84891,” 1942, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Harry Chinn file, Seattle Box 734, 7030/10246.

Mrs. Chinn arrived at the Port of San Francisco on 6 March 1947 as the wife of a U.S. citizen and a war veteran. She was admitted twenty-two days later. Harry Chinn was a patient in the U.S. Marine Hospital in Seattle when she arrived so his father and brother went to San Francisco to meet her. They asked Immigration Services to expedite their investigation of Mrs. Chinn. They had been waiting three weeks for her release and it was very expensive for them to stay in San Francisco. Paul D. Mossman, Medical Director of the U.S. Public Health Service in Seattle verified that Harry Chinn, a patient in the hospital since 2 January 1947, was bed-ridden and unable to leave the hospital. His prognosis was guarded and it was expected that he would be in the hospital for some time.

[There is no information in the file about Harry Chinn’s length of time in the hospital but he died in July 1951.]
The Reference Sheet in the file contains the name and file number for Harry Chinn’s grandfather, parents, four brothers, one sister, and his wife.

[Information not included in the file: According to The Seattle Daily Times, Seattle, Washington, 21 July 1951, page 4: Harry Chinn, age 30, of 1 Canton Alley, Seattle, died 18 July 1951 in Vancouver, Washington. The funeral was under the direction of the Cathay Post No. 186 and burial was in Washelli Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and parents and six brothers, Howard Chinn, Haley Chinn, Hopkin Chinn and Hansing Chinn, all of Seattle and Horace Chinn, Fort Lewis; and Henning Chinn, Fort Hood, Texas; and two sisters, Hannah Chinn, Seattle; and Toy Su Chinn, China.]