Tag Archives: servant girl

Lee Gang Bong – family portraits

Affidavit, Description of village, family photo, Group Photo, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lee Gang Bong M143 1940

Lee Gang Bong 李境垹 arrived at the Port of Seattle on 1 January 1940 and was admitted as the son of a native, Lee Fook Loy, deceased. He was 17 years old, born 30 March 1923, and he was coming to live with his brother, Lee Chong Yin 李長恩, in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

“Lee Gang Bong, M143 photo, ”ca. 1940, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Gang Bong file, Seattle Box 803, 7030/12660.

His father, Lee Fook Loy, returned to China in November 1935 and died there in 1937 after a brief illness.Lee Fook Loy 1935

“Lee Fook Loy,  Form 430 photo, ”ca. 1935, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Gang Bong file, Seattle Box 803, 7030/12660.

Lee Gang Bong married Louie Shee in China against his wishes on 15 June 1938 when he was fifteen years old. His mother wanted someone to wait on her and she also thought he should be married before he came to the United States.

According to Lee Gang Bong’s interrogation his home village of Pon Lung in the Sui Low section of Toy San, China had 30 or 40 houses arranged in 11 rows facing west. His brick house had five rooms and tile floors with stone in the court. Each bedroom had two outside windows with on glass but fitted with iron bars and wooden shutters. They had a rice mill. Three wooden carved ancestral tablets painted green with gilt character representing their general ancestors were hanging on the back wall of the shrine loft in the living room. The village had a brick wall about five feet high on the head side and bamboo running from the back to the tail with a pond in front.

Lee Chong Yin Affidavit
“Lee Chong Yin Affidavit,” 1939, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Gang Bong file, Seattle Box 803, 7030/12660.

Upon his arrival at the Port of Seattle, Lee Gang Bong’s brother, Lee Chong Yin, was a witness for him. His interrogator asked him confrontational questions, such as: “Do you know of any American Chinese citizen that ever had a daughter born in China?” and “Insofar as you know are all children born to American citizen Chinese in China sons?” Chong Yin married Leow Shee and had a three-year old son in China whom he had never seen. He was born after Chong Yin returned to the U.S.

These family portraits are included in the file:

Lee Gang Bong Family Portrait
“Lee Gang Bong, family portraits,” ca. 1927, 1930, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Lee Gang Bong file, Seattle Box 803, 7030/12660.

Mee Lin, servant girl; Ng Shee, mother; Lee Gang Bong, applicant; Lee Fook Loy, father; Lee Chong Yin, brother

Lee Gang Bong Family Portrait ca. 1930

Leow Shee, Chong Yin’s wife; Lee Gang Bong, applicant; Ng Shee, mother holding Lee Ging Shek, brother, Lee Ngook Guey, brother; Lee Fook Loy, father, Lee Chong Yin, brother

Lee Gang Bong was admitted at the Port of Seattle on 9 February 1940.
[This file researched by Hao-Jan Chang. Hao-Jan also does the Chinese characters for the blog.]

Moy Mee Ting (Georgia Moy) – Chicago, Illinois

Birth Registration, family photo, Form 430, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Photo of Moy Mee Ting Family
“Photo of Mrs. Moy Chuck Poy (Woo Shee) and family,” 1940, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Moy Mee Ting (Georgia Moy) case file, Seattle Box 737, 7030/10320.

Back row: Tai You (servant girl), Moy Mee Ting (applicant)
Front Row: Moy Ngoon See, Woo Shee (mother), Moy Fang Dhl, Moy Mon Dle

Moy Mee Ting 梅美清 (Georgia Moy) and her bother Moy Fang Dhl 梅宏資 (Stanley Moy) were admitted to the U. S. at the Port of Seattle on 3 September 1937 as native born U. S. citizens. Georgia was 14 years old and Stanley was a year younger. They were joining their father, Moy Chuck Poy in Chicago, Illinois. Their native dialect was See Yip Sun Ning.

Moy Mee Ting Birth Cert 1923
Chicago, Illinois birth registration, Georgia Moy, 1923; Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Moy Mee Ting (Georgia Moy) case file, Seattle Box 737, 7030/10320.

The Moy family went to Sai How Gow Dee village, China in 1927 so the children could study Chinese. The children Georgia, Stanley, and Philip (Moy Mon Dle) were all born in Chicago. Their mother Woo Shee (maiden name: Woo Yin Po) stayed in China and their father returned to the U. S. about 1929. The children and their mother moved to Ng Gong market near Gow Dee village in about 1932 because there were many floods in their former village.

Moy Mee Ting’s paternal grandfather, Moy Fang Chung (marriage name: Moy Dip Nai), was living in Detroit in 1937.

Moy Mee Ting testified that Sai How Gow Dee village had over 100 houses and she attended the Sai How School. There were over 100 students and including about thirty or forty girls. There were no women teachers. In her interview she was asked about size of the village, the number of stores, the number of stories of various buildings, who lived where, where they got their household water, how their house was lighted, where everyone slept, the number of beds, who cut her hair, why her mother had a servant girl, and many more questions.

When they moved to Ng Gong market the children attended the gospel mission school called Jing Ock. They had women teachers at this school. Chairman Inspector J. H. Gee asked Mee Ting several questions about where her mother got the money to support them after her father returned to the U.S. and where she got the white gold wrist watch she was wearing. She replied that her father had been sending her mother money and her mother gave her the watch before she left for the U.S.

Their mother accompanied them to Hong Kong. They took a boat from Ng Gong market to Ow San market, a train to Bok Gai and a steamer to Hong Kong. Their mother said goodbye onboard and a man named Chin Deung Fun oversaw them on the trip to the U.S.

Mee Ting correctly identified photos of her father, Moy Poy, (SF file 20173/13-16) (Seattle file 10724/12-10) and her mother, Wu [Woo] Yin Po (SF file 20173/17-3) and her brothers. Six pages of testimony by her brother, Moy Fang Dhl, is included in her file. The next day Moy Mee Ting was recalled to the hearing. Three more pages of testimony are included in the file. The interviewers compared her answers to her brother’s and asked about discrepancies and included more in-depth questions. Mee Ting and Fang Dhl were both admonished for saying that they had a brother named Ngoon Jee. They admitted that there was no such brother and were cautioned not to say he was a brother. They provided a group photo of the family which did not include the “extra brother.”

The Immigration committee reviewed the parents’ files from 1917 and 1921 and the family’s files from when they left the country in 1927 and voluminous current testimony and unanimously approved the admittance of Moy Mee Ting and Moy Fang Dhl.

Moy Mee Ting Form 430 1927
“Form 430 Photo of Moy Mee Ting (Georgia Moy),” 1927, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Moy Mee Ting (Georgia Moy) case file, Seattle Box 737, 7030/10320.

 

Chun Shee and her son Wong Gwan Jing

Affidavit, Photographs, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Affidavit photos of Wong Ling, Wong Gwan Jing, and Chun Shee
“Affidavit photos of Wong Ling, Wong Gwan Jing and Chun Shee” 1915, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Chun Shee and Wong Gwan Jing case file, Portland, Box 31, Case 4263.

In November 1915, Wong Ling, alias Chew Kee, age 55, a merchant and member of the Chew [Chu] Kee Co., 214 Front Street (formerly 130 Front Street), The Dalles, Oregon, submitted papers seeking admission into the United States for his wife and son. Three white witnesses swore that Wong Ling was a merchant and met the mercantile status required by law by not engaging in prohibited manual labor. R. P. Bonham, Chinese Inspector, stated, “the case is either genuine or else has been concocted with greater cleverness and recited with far more guile than is usual with a case arising in a country town.”
During questioning, Mr. Bonham found that Wong Ling had been issued certificate of residence #43730 (issued in 1894 in Portland, Oregon) and certificate of identity #2562 (issued in Seattle in 1911). Since it was not Immigration’s policy to have two identification documents for one person, the certificate of identity was sent to Seattle for cancellation.
Wong Ling’s white witnesses were Edward H. French, a banker, president of French & Company and long-time resident of The Dalles; L. A. Schanne, a hardware and grocery merchant who had lived in The Dalles for 40 years; and Edward Kurtz, Chief of Police, a resident of The Dalles since 1894. They all had known Wong Ling for 15 to 20 years.
Wong Ling testified that his marriage name was Hong Gwoon (or spelled Hong Quin). He was born in Ging Bui Village, Sun Wui district, China and had made two trips to China. In K.S. 15 (1889) he left and returned the next year via San Francisco. In K.S. 32* (1906) he left from Sumas, Washington and returned at Seattle. He had been living in the United States about 32 years. He and his brother, Wong Cheong, were partners in Chew Kee Company.
Wong Ling’s first wife died in K.S. 32 (1906) when she was about 36 years old. They had two children. His son and his family were living “on the small door side” of Wong Ling’s house in China. His brother’s family lived in their father’s house “on the big door side.”

Wong Ling married his second wife, Chun Shee, about four months after his first wife died. A woman named Ngan Ho arranged the marriage. They were married on a market day, either the 18th or 22nd, 9th month, K.S. 32* (1906) and the feast lasted one day. Their son, Gwan Jing, was born one month after Wong Ling returned to the U.S. In 1915 his son was five years old and was about to meet his father for the first time.
Wong Ling’s Chinese witness was Liu Chung, marriage name Shung Nguen, who lived in San Francisco but visited The Dalles occasionally. He recognized Wong Ling’s wife, Chun Shee, from a photo. He had only seen her briefly when his visit to China coincided with Wong Ling’s visit. Even though he had a meal at their home in their village he said “…according to our custom, just as soon as a lady sees a man she withdraws and keeps away.”
Chun Shee was interviewed twice, on 22 October 1915 and on 5 November. She and her son Wong Gwan Jing, age 5, arrived in Seattle on the 22nd. She was 28 years old and had married at age 19. Her maiden name was Ah Gon. The interviewer asked about a servant girl, Chun Moy, who lived in the household for about four years. She was security for a debt and when her father paid off the loan, she left and was married. Chun Shee was asked the same questions her husband was asked. There were only minor discrepancies in their answers. After two weeks [most likely in detention] she and her son were admitted to the United States.
[The file gives a lot of information about the family, house and land holdings of Wong Ling in his village in China.]
[Usually each person would have a separate file. The information for Chun Shee and her son, Wong Gwan Jing, is all together in one file.]
*K.S. 32 is during the reign of Kang Shi, or about 1906.