Tag Archives: Wing Yuen Company

You Choi – rejected, appealed, appeal dismissed

Affidavit, photos, Witnesses, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In 1910 Go Hip King applied for admission to the U.S. for his minor son Yao Chow or You Chow (You Choi).

You Choi Go Yao Chow Aff 1910
“Affidavit photos of Go Hip King and You Choi,” 1910, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, (Go) Yao Chow (alias Go You/Yow Choi) case file, Portland Box 7, file 1949.

Go Hip King’s interview did not go well. He admitted that two members of his firm were laborers not merchants; that he had attempted to have attorney Hemple bribe an immigration official; and that although there was an accusation that his rental property was being used as a place of ill repute he did not know what kind of people lived there. There were many discrepancies between the father’s and his alleged son’s testimony.

In his summary, Chinese Inspector in Seattle, Raphael P. Bonham wrote:

“The testimony given when applicant sought admission in 1910 is permeated with inconsistencies, contradictions, and falsehoods…”

“The witnesses, Go Leong and Go Quong, of Astoria, Oregon, are not believed to be in good faith or worthy of full credit.”

“Go Hip King has proved himself an unconscionable prevaricator, and now admits being a bribe-giver…”

“Yow Choi is the victim of the unscrupulous advice of Attorney Hemple, since decamped, whose motive must have been solely that of his fee.”

The 1910 application for admission under the name of Yao Chow and was rejected; he appealed but withdrew his appeal the next day.
You Choi (Yao Chow) tried again the following year. In June 1911 You Choi, age 19, married name Go Kum Lun, arrived in the Port of Seattle.
Transcripts of translated letters from Jue Shee, Go Hip King’s wife and from his sons, Yow Choi and Yow Lee, are included in the file.

Edward E. Gray, Go Kip King’s attorney in 1911 reviewed every item of contention in the 1910 case with the Immigration Commissioner trying to show his client in a good light. Gray said that Hemple, Go Hip King’s previous lawyer convinced Go that paying off an official was a necessary part of business.

Witness John C. Montgomery, who worked in a plumbing and tin shop, testified in July 1911, that he was born in Astoria and lived there forty years except for ten years when he was away. He had known Go Hip King for over six years, saw him on a regular basis as manager of his store, and didn’t think he ever worked as a laborer in a cannery.

Witness A. E. P. Parker, collector agent and hotel man leased to Go Hip King the Eagle Drug Store property on 51 & 57 Bond Street in Astoria in 1910; part of the property to be used for a restaurant and part for a grocery story with the upstairs rooms rented out. He knew Go Hip King as a merchant of the Wing Yuen Company and had not seen him doing manual labor. (Charles Verschueran was a witness on the 1910 affidavit but no more information on him is included in the file.)

Attorney Gray thought that You Choi was the innocent victim of his relatives and friends who mixed up the records so much that it was hard to ascertain the truth.

Once again, You Choi was rejected; his case was appealed, and the appeal was dismissed. He was sent back to China. There is no more information in the file.

The Archaeological Site of the Chinese Community, The Dalles, Oregon

Archaeological Site, Artifacts, Museum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Wing Hong Hai Company, Archaeological Preservation Site
Wing Hong Tai Company, Archaeological Preservation Site at 210 East First Street, The Dalles, Oregon                                                                         The site is owned by Eric B. Gleason and Jacqueline Y. Cheung, archaeologists.
Eric and Trish
Eric Gleason showing Trish Hackett Nicola the plans for preserving the Wing Hong Tai Company building.

[In the original documents the company is sometimes referred to as the Wing Hong Tai Company and sometimes the Wing Hong Hai Company.]

photo of owners
The Dalles Wing Hong Tai [Hai] Co Owners
Business owners & residents, ca. 1900-1910: Lee Yuen Hong, Lee Dick, Lee Wing, and Lei On
Exhibits by The Friends of The Dalles Chinatown and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, OR

The Dalles A Brief History
The Dalles: A Brief History
Sanborn Map
Sanborn Map of Chinatown, The Dalles, OR

The Sanborn map showing the location of the Wing Yuen Company and Chinese lodgings. Photos of Seid family, Wong Sen and Wong Gen Chuey, Lee Ho, Wa Poi, Toui See, Lee Sam, Lee Jeon Kue, Chan Shee, and Lee Tom.

Display of Artifacts
Display of Artifacts from the Marilyn Urness Collection at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum

Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum’s display of artifacts from the Marilyn Urness Collection. These artifacts were collected over fifty years and loaned to the museum. For more information see Marilyn Urness’s well-written historically researched and documented book, Chinatown, The Dalles, Oregon 1860-1930

photos of Lei On and Fook Doo
Exhibit with photos of Lei On and Fook Doo at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum
Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum
Trish Hackett Nicola at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum

Seid Juck Family Portrait – The Dalles, Oregon

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Seid Juck Family Portrait
“Seid Juck Family Portrait,” ca. 1917, Chinese Exclusion Act case files, RG 85, National Archives-Seattle, Seid Quay Fong (Foon) and Fung Shee case file, Portland, Box 31, 4242.

[This undated, unidentified family portrait was included in the file. The people in the photograph are almost identical to other photos in the file: Fung Shee (mother), Seid Quay Foon (daughter), Sher Lun (adopted son), Seid Juck (father), and baby (probably born in 1916-17; not mentioned in the file). The photo was taken about 1917.]
Fung Shee and her daughter, Seid Quay Fong (or Foon), arrived at the port of Seattle, Washington on 3 June 1915 and were admitted four days later. Fung Shee’s husband, Seid Juck, was a merchant and manager of the Wing Yuen Company at 208 First Street in The Dalles, Oregon.
The file tells a complicated story. Seid Juck and his first wife adopted a son, Sher Lun. After Seid Juck’s wife died, his first cousin, Seid Dai, who was visiting in China from The Dalles, arranged for Fung Shee, a widow without children, to live in Seid Juck’s home and take care of Sher Lun. Seid Dai (sometimes referred to as Seid Ah Dai) was a fruit rancher and contractor for laborers for the Seufert Cannery in The Dalles, Oregon.
Fung Shee was thirty-one years old in 1915 and had bound feet. W. F. Watkins, Chinese and Immigrant Inspector in Portland, Oregon, explained the marriage situation in his report to J. H. Barbour, Inspector in Charge. Watkins said that Seid Juck and Fung Shee’s marriage was arranged by Seid Ah Dai and was “consummated by the bride coming to Seid Juck’s home to live.” “… according to Chinese custom, nothing additional in the way of ceremony is necessary when the bride is a widow.” Seid Juck arrived in China in October 1912 about a year after the marriage to Fung Shee took place. He returned to The Dalles in May 1913 with his son Sher Lun. His daughter, Quay Foon, was born four month later in China. Seid Sher Lun, age 11 in 1915, was attending school in The Dalles in Grade 2A in Miss Sebring’s class.
Seid Juck’s marriage name was Seid Sing Gee. He was 52 years old in 1915. Other members of the Wing Yuen Company were Seid Wah My, salesman and buyer; Seid Lup, silent partner; Seid Wah Yim, bookkeeper and salesman; Seid Sui, silent partner; and Seid Sing, silent partner. The company’s annual sales were $5,000.
F. A. Seufert, Jr. was a witness for Seid Juck’s 1912 trip to China. Seufert had known Seid Juck for about 12 or 14 years. He swore that Seid Juck was a bonafide merchant and performed no manual labor except that was necessary in the conduct of his business at the Wing Yuen Company.
Arthur Seufert, age 37, was born in San Francisco and lived in The Dalles, Oregon for 35 years. He was a member of his family’s salmon cannery, Seufert Brothers Company, and swore he knew Seid Juck and his partner, Seid Wah Yim, for several years. The brothers both gave favorable and positive statements for Seid Juck.

There is no information about Fung Shee in the file after 1915. In 1926, a letter in the file states that their daughter, Seid Quay Foon, age 14, applied for and received a Certificate of Identity.