THE MEE YIM WONG FAMILY HISTORY—Draft 2
By Matilda Wong, Ed Wong, May Louie, et al. (1994)
Edited by Jeffrey L. Staley (2003)
Draft only—not to be quoted without author’s permission
The Lee family in China
Early history
We know very little about our branch of the Lee family in China prior to Mee
Yim’s immigration to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century.
However, Dong Chew’s father, a distant relative of Mee Yim Lee,1 received a “Lee
Family Book” in 1931 for donating money to the Lee Family Association in the United
States. It consisted of twenty-four slim volumes of Lee family genealogical lists, all in
Chinese, of course. According to Dong Chew, one of the volumes ended with Mee
Yim’s great, great grandfather, Lee Wing Gak, who was also Dong Chew’s great, great,
great grandfather. Because of the patriarchal structure of the traditional Chinese family,
only male descendants were listed in the book.
An article in the Seattle Times stated that the Lee Family Association “dates back
to the 1800s, when Chinese arrived in the United States to work on the transcontinental
railroad.”2 The article goes on to note that the Lee family—or Li, depending on how you
Dong Chew was part of the family Mee Yim’s children called the “Cottage Market Lees.” His father was
Mee Yim’s third cousin.
2
Michael Luo, “Big Lee family clan gathers in Boston” (Thursday, July 2, 1998) p. A7.
1
1
transliterate it from Chinese—has “recently edged out Chang (or Zhang) as the largest
surname in China, and, therefore, the world. There are about 100,000 Lees in the United
States.”3 The Lee Family Association believes that they are “descended from the ancient
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism, who lived 2,500 years ago,” but
“traces the explosive growth of the family back about 1,500 years to the Tang dynasty,
when an emperor named Lee bestowed his surname upon favored subjects.”4 Steven Lee,
grand national president of the association, states that “at that time, it was an honor to be
a Lee. The emperor said, ‘If you’re loyal to me, [a] good soldier, I [will] give you the
last name Lee.’”5
In April 1984, Dong Chew had dinner at the home of Walter Wong, Mee Yim’s
oldest son.6 After the meal, Dong Chew told Walter and Jeff Staley the story of the “Lee
Family Book” and how it had been lost during the Japanese occupation of China, at a
time when his father was living there.7 Luckily, prior to its loss, Dong Chew had
memorized seven generations of the family, and could also recite the next five
generations of male Lee descendants after Wing Gak, who was the last direct ancestor to
be included in the book.8 According to Dong Chew, Wing Gak had two sons, Yin Hing,
from whom Dong Chew and Peter Lee9 were descended, and Yin Dick, Mee Yim’s
ancestor. Dong Chew said Yin Dick had one son, Ha Chai, who had four sons: Sing Fou,
3
Ibid.
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Walter Wong had invited Dong Chew, his fourth cousin, over to dinner to discuss his knowledge of the
Lee family history. Jeff Staley was at the dinner, and Dong gave Jeff a two-sheet photocopy of the Lee
family tree as he remembered it (Appendix A).
7
Dong Chew’s father had emigrated from China to Cuba, and then from Cuba to New York around 1912.
He was killed by the communists in China in 1952.
8
See below, “Lee Family Chart.”
9
Peter Lee was the father of Victoria Lee and her brothers, “the three D’s” (Daniel, Donald, and David
Lee). Mee Yim’s children knew Peter quite well.
4
2
Sing Lok, Sing Ling, and Sing Chai, who was Mee Yim’s father (and also known as Lee
San Tuey, or Lee Sing Tui).
Matilda Wong has in her possession fifteen pages of Chinese documents which
were translated by a friend of her brother, Edward, in 2003.10 According to the summary
of their contents, these fifteen pages comprise eight different documents, seven of which
are land purchases in China. Six of these land purchases involved Mee Yim (aka Lee
Hawk Seen, his married name), while the seventh, dated March 2 1862, involved the
purchase of a parcel of land belonging to “Lee Hay’s grandfather.”11 Most likely “Lee
Hay” is “Lee Ha Chai,” Mee Yim’s grandfather. If this hypothesis is correct, then the
“Lee Hay’s grandfather” mentioned in the Chinese document that Matilda has, would be
Wing Gak.
Lee Mee Yim’s parents and siblings
Lee Sing Tui, Mee Yim’s father, was a farmer from the village of Cheong San
Toon, Chen Wo Hen province, Canton, China. His wife’s name was Ng Yen Hai. She
had at least one older sister whom Mee Yim’s children called “Yee Pau.” Mee Yim most
likely had two brothers and two sisters, but Mee Yim is the only child whose name we
know. According to Mrs. Jang Wong, who lived in Cheong San Toon village for many
years,12 one of Mee Yim’s brothers moved to “Nam Yang” (Singapore), and the other
moved to “Jill Foo” (place unknown). Mrs. Jang Wong thought that one of these two
10
In 2003 Matilda Wong made three photocopies of these documents. Jeff Staley, Ed Wong, and Matilda
Wong each have a copy.
11
“7 Sale Agreements,” #7.
12
Mrs. Jang Wong (Tan Yung, or “Mo” ) was the wife of Jang/Jin Wong, the “adopted son” of Mee Yim
and Ow Loy Ho. Mrs. Jang Wong lived in Cheong San Toon village until she came to the United States
shortly after marrying Jang/Jin Wo Wong in February, 1941.
3
brothers died at an early age.13 According to her recollection, Mee Yim also had an older
sister and a younger sister. The older sister, Ng Lei Hai, married a “Hom,”14 but she died
soon after she was married. The younger sister’s name was June Hai. Mrs. Jang Wong
remembered calling her “June Goo.”
Family tradition holds that Mee Yim’s mother had a difficult life in the village.
Mrs. Jang Wong lived with Ng Yen Hai for eight years, and told Mee Yim’s daughter,
Matilda, that Ng Yen Hai was widowed and had lost two of her children to early deaths.
But despite these tragic losses, Ng Yen Hai acted superior to many in the village. This
may be due in part to the fact that she had live-in maids. Although this was somewhat of
a rarity in peasant village life, perhaps her son, Mee Yim, had sent enough money home
to China from “Gold Mountain” (the Chinese name for California) to allow her to
purchase the live-in maids. Live-in maids (“mui tsai”) were usually from very poor
families that could not afford to care for additional girls. The girls’ families would be
paid a lump sum of money for their children’s services, and then for their room and board
the maids would help get water from the well, cook, and garden. They usually stayed
only a few years before leaving to get married. Ng Yen Hai’s maids’ names were Sen
Toy,15 Fook Lon, and Hon Lon. Mrs. Jang Wong knew the last two maids.
Ng Yen Hai had a reputation in the village of Cheong San Toon for being difficult
to get along with, and Mee Yim’s wife (Ow Loy Ho) later recounted many incidents
which typified her mother-in-law’s behavior.16 For example, Ng Yen Hai would chase a
13
He probably died without leaving any male descendants. This could help explain the family tradition that
Ng Yen Hai bought a boy (Jang Wo) to ensure that Mee Yim would have a male descendant.
14
Matilda Wong wrote a parenthetical comment at this point which reads: “see Sen’s relation.”
15
Matilda Wong recalled her mother mentioning this name.
16
Traditional Chinese peasant society was patriarchal, patrilinear, and patrilocal. That is, males dominated
public life and all the external affairs of the family. Females dominated the private sphere of the home. A
4
pig into her daughter-in-law’s bedroom so it would wreck her things. Ng Yen Hai would
also berate her daughter-in-law for stealing food. When Ow Loy Ho would prepare
Swiss chard (a vegetable that shrinks a lot when cooked), Ng Yen Hai would accuse her
of eating some of the chard when she wasn’t looking.
Despite the tense relationship with her daughter-in-law, Ng Yen Hai kept a little
red booklet with the birthdates of her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren.
Somehow Mee Yim got this red booklet, and when he died, his daughter Matilda put it in
a safe deposit box, where it remains to this day.
Ng Yen Hai was in her 70s when she died in China in 1939. When Mee Yim
received word of his mother’s death, he took out a picture of his mother and looked at it,
heaving a big sigh. He obviously was sad to lose his mother.
Lee Mee Yim
From what Mee Yim told his children, the name he was given at birth was Lee
Mee Yim. In other words, this name was not merely a “paper Wong” name. However, on
some immigration papers he lists a second name as “Wong Dan Sing/Dong Sin.”17 The
name “Sing” was also carried by his father and his father’s brothers. In China, when a
man married, his parents or other relatives would choose a married name for him. From
that time on, the man would be known by his married name. Mee Yim’s married name
was Lee Hawk Sin and he was born January 5, 188318 in the village of Cheong San Toon,
daughter would live with her parents until marriage, at which time she would move in with her husband’s
family (patrilocal). If Mee Yim and Ow Loy were married in 1913 with Mee Yim returning to California
shortly thereafter, his wife would have remained living in her mother-in-law’s home and under her
authority.
17
“Class: Native to Depart.” U.S. Immigration Service, San Francisco, Cal. Form 2505, Feb. 17, 1921
18
The birthdate comes from a little three page booklet in the possession of Matilda Wong (2003). It is in
Chinese, and was translated by a friend of Ed Wong, in 2003. The booklet was originally in the possession
of Ng Yen Hai, and then in the possession of Mee Yim. It is not known how Mee Yim came to possess it.
5
Chen Wo Hen province, Canton, China. Mee Yim had three years of schooling in China
before coming to the United States.
Lee Mee Yim comes to America
In July, 1958 Mee Yim’s daughter, Matilda, began planning for her father’s
eightieth birthday celebration.19 In preparation for that event she asked him some
questions about his childhood, and jotted down his answers in a small notebook which
she kept. This is what Matilda wrote back then: “To U.S. when 17 years old; been over
here 60 years.” This would mean that Mee Yim first came to the United States sometime
between January 1899 and January 1901. Since Chinese children were considered to be
one year old when they were born, we cannot be sure whether Mee Yim was reckoning
the seventeen years in terms of American birthdays or Chinese birthdays.
We do not know what Mee Yim’s reasons were for coming to the United States
nor do we know how he entered the country; but we do know that many Chinese people
were living in extreme poverty in their homeland and were continually trying to
immigrate to California. So perhaps Mee Yim’s family was facing similar economic
hardship. Since Mee Yim left his ancestral village at such a young age, it is likely that he
was the youngest son in his family and stood little chance of inheriting any farmland.
Even when confronted with the anti-Chinese sentiment in California, America still
appeared to be a “Gold Mountain” compared to the harsh reality of landless village life in
China.
This eightieth birthday celebration was based upon Mee Yim’s “paper (false) birthday” as a member of
the “Wong” family.
19
6
According to Dong Chew, Lee Ha Tip was one of Wing Gak’s grandsons and
Dong Chew’s great grandfather. He was about seventy-five years old in 1906, owned a
wood store in San Francisco, and had already been living in the United States for a
number of years. It may be that Lee Ha Tip, a first cousin of Mee Yim’s grandfather,
functioned as an important link connecting Mee Yim to his new life in California, giving
him lodging and work, and perhaps even claiming him as his son.
We do not know precisely how Mee Yim was able to enter the United States the
first time. Since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited the importation of
Chinese laborers “construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese
employed in mining” (see Appendix B),20 he could only enter on a student visa, or with
false papers claiming he was born in the United States, or as a merchant or a merchant’s
son. And since there is little evidence that Mee Yim had the requisite education to enter
on a student visa under his real name, it is more likely that he immigrated with false
papers of some kind. But if Mee Yim had done this, he did not initially immigrate under
the Wong name, for there are no Alien Identity records for a Mee Yim Wong that predate
November 1905. The earliest papers on file at the San Bruno NARA (National Archives
and Records Administration) have to do with Mee Yim “Wong’s” departure from San
Francisco in 1905. So the hypothesis that Mee Yim originally immigrated with false
“In 1884, a federal court ruling clarified the provisions of the 1882 act to ensure that the wives of
Chinese laborers would also be forbidden entrance to the United States. Anti-miscegenation acts in all
states which had Chinese populations, prevented the intermarriage of Chinese men with white women. . . .
In 1898, the secretary of the treasury refined the Exclusion Act . . . to include as many categories of work
as possible. Salesmen, clerks, buyers, bookkeepers, accountants, managers, storekeepers, apprentices,
agents, cashiers, physicians, proprietors of restaurants, ministers, preachers, missionaries, tailors, cooks,
boarding housekeepers, laundrymen, and peddlers all became ‘laborer’ under these new stipulations. Those
Chinese exempted from the Exclusion Act--merchants and their wives and minor children, diplomats and
their staff and families, students, travelers, and American-born Chinese and their children—were often
humiliated at the port of entry” (Victor G. and Brett de Bary Nee, Long Time Californ’: A Documentary
Study of an American Chinatown [Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974] 56).
20
7
papers leaves unanswered the question of why there are no Alien Identity records for Mee
Yim Wong prior to 1905. Could it be that he originally immigrated under another name?
This is possible, but why wouldn’t he have kept that name when he left for China in
1905? These perplexing questions raise another possibility: that Mee Yim was smuggled
across the border from either Canada (Victoria was a popular port of entry into Canada)
or from Mexico. Under this hypothesis, Mee Yim would not have had any identity
papers whatsoever until he decided to return to China in 1905. And since he intended to
return to the United States, he would have bought the false Wong papers at that time. At
this point, we are only left with hypotheses. His manner of entrance into the United
States was a secret he kept to himself—and perhaps shared with his wife. Probably out
of fear of deportation, he never divulged this secret to his children.
Lee Mee Yim buys a new heritage: The “paper Wong” connection
When Mee Yim left for China on November 4, 1905 on the steamer S.S. Siberia,
he already had a false identity as “Mee Yim Wong,” a merchant’s son, and a native
Californian born February 28, 1884 at 810 Montgomery Street, San Francisco.21 His
parents are listed as Wong Si Way and Wong Mon Lee Shee, who were both still living
and were residents at 727 Clay Street in San Francisco.22 At that time Mee Yim swore
that he had never been to China before, that his mother, (Wong Mon Lee Shee), was on a
temporary visit there, and that he planned to return to the United States. He lists his
21
See Appendix C.
“In the matter of the return to the United States of a Native born Chinese” Immigration and
Naturalization Servce San Francisco District arrival investigation case file: 20747/11-30 Wong, Mee Yum
(Yim).
22
8
occupation as a cook in the Royal Restaurant on Third Street in Sacramento, near
Chinatown, where he had worked for a little over two years.23
We do not know the details of how Mee Yim purchased his false papers. But the
practice was common, and it was one way to circumvent the Chinese Exclusion laws. In
this intricate system of deception, prospective Chinese immigrants would buy “paper” or
“slots” from people, who, for a sum of money, would claim the buyer or the buyer’s
children as their native-born sons or daughters. The buyer then either memorized the
paper family history or arranged for a real relative to immigrate to the United States,
sending information about the “paper” relative’s family history back to the family in
China. The prospective immigrant would then memorize the information in anticipation
of the questioning he or she would undergo when arriving in the United States.
According to Judy Yung, professor of American Studies at UC Santa Cruz, the system
would often start with a Chinese merchant “returning from a visit to China, . . . [who]
would claim the birth of a son, thus creating a slot by which a kinsman could later
immigrate to the United States as his paper son. . . .[F]or a certain amount of money
(usually $100 per year of age) . . . peasant[s] could buy papers and come posing as the
son of a merchant or US citizen.”24
The Federal Immigration authorities knew about this practice but were unable to
stop it. In fact, the Angel Island port of entry in the San Francisco Bay was built in part
to deal with the problem. The object of the center was to detain Asian immigrants long
enough to ask them a battery of questions about their family, village, and residence in
“On board S. S. Nippon Maru, Dec. 17, 1906” (20747/11-30 Wong, Mee Yum [Yim] Immigration and
Naturalization Service San Francisco District arrival investigation case file).
24
Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1999) 10-11.
23
9
California, and to bring witnesses to testify on behalf of the “returning” immigrants,
hoping that they could trick them into providing contradictory information. The
contradictory information would then be used against the prospective immigrants as
justification for their deportation.25
The Wong family from whom Mee Yim Lee bought his false papers was quite
active in the Congregational Church at Waverly Place in San Francisco, and apparently
owned a mortuary near Portsmouth Square. Whether this is the “Nam Sang Lung”
“general merchandise business” Wong Si Way claims to be a member of, is not clear.26
Perhaps the mortuary was just a “side business,” off the books, so to speak.
According to Mee Yim’s immigration file, Mr. Wong Si Way and Mrs. Wong
Mon Lee Shee, Mee Yim’s “paper parents,” had two sons and one daughter born in the
United States. Wong Si Way also claimed three sons and a daughter by a second wife
living in China.27 But it is not clear whether these are real children or just “slots.”
Because of Mr. Wong’s fortuitous business, he could easily have added “slots” to his own
family or to his clients’ families and then sell these to desperate men wishing to
immigrate to the United States or wishing to bring their wives into the country. Most
likely Mr. Wong Si Way added “slots” by buying legal immigration documents from the
families of the recently deceased and then “doctoring them up,” before selling them to
willing buyers.
25
Ibid.
Ibid.
27
In Wong Si Way’s testimony for Mee Yim on December 20, 1906, he claimed Wong Mee Yim and
Wong Mee Jew as his sons, and Wong Mee Yung as his daughter. However, he also claimed three boys
and one girl born by a different wife in China: Wong Hung Jung, Wong Hung Po, and Wong Hung Gim
were the sons; Wong Gim Jung was the daughter (“Witness Wong Si Way,” U.S. Immigration Service,
Chinese Division, San Francisco, Cal. December 20, 1906).
26
10
From what the Matilda Wong has been told, Mr. Wong Si Way himself claimed
more sons than he actually had. He apparently reported at least three “paper sons” in
addition to how ever many real sons he might have had. These “paper sons” were: Wong
Bok Shew, Wong Bok Shin, and Wong Bok Joon.28 According to what Matilda has been
told, Lee Mee Yim paid Mr. Wong Si Way for the papers of Wong Bok Shew, one of the
“paper” sons. Fook Shew's father, Wong Mee Jow, who lived in Auburn, California,
bought the papers of the second paper son, and Wong Mee Hin bought the papers of the
third son.
Having bought these papers, they would then have to be “fixed” so that Mee
Yim’s name would appear on them, and then, if he passed the interrogation when he
returned to California, Mee Yim “Wong” would become a US citizen with a “paper
birthday” of February 28, l884. These false papers would eventually make it possible for
Mee Yim to bring his wife and Jang into the country as well.
Appendix B is Mee Yim Wong’s Alien Identity papers, based upon the identity he
probably purchased in 1905, shortly before he returned to China.29 At the time he
returned in 1906, Mee Yim could write his name in English, and could understand
English fairly well, since his interrogators comment on his ability to understand the
interpreter’s comments.30
Wong Mee Yim marries
When Mee Yim left for China November 4, 1905, at twenty-two years of age, he
probably was returning to marry a girl from his ancestral village. Because of
However, these names do not appear anywhere in Wong Si Way’s testimony for Mee Yim.
Copied in triplicate, one copy was given to Mee Yim, one copy was kept with his attorneys, and one
copy was kept with the immigration officials.
30
“On board S. S. Nippon Maru, Dec. 17, 1906.”
28
29
11
discriminatory immigration laws, only wives of merchants, students, and diplomats were
allowed to immigrate to the United States. Since Mee Yim Wong was now a “merchant’s
son, born in the United States,” he could have brought his bride to California if he so
desired. But if his intention was to create “slots” (i.e., invented “paper” children to be
sold later on), it was certainly more advantageous to create the “slots” in China rather
than in the United States, where photographs would be required of each child returning to
China. At the same time, however, many traditional Chinese families frowned upon
sending their women overseas. Keeping a son’s wife in China was one of the best ways
of ensuring the son would return to the native land. Regardless of what Mee Yim’s
reasons might have been for leaving his wife in China, when he returned to California on
the S.S. Nippon Maru, December 17, 1906, he claimed to have a wife, Leu Shee (with
natural feet) but no children.31
We have very little information about Mee Yim’s first wife, Lew Shee, born
February 3, 1885,32 except that Mee Yim’s children were given the impression that she
was mentally ill. In November 1992, Matilda Wong and her husband Frank had lunch in
Oakland Chinatown with her cousins Mr. and Mrs. Jew W. Lee. During the course of the
conversation Matilda asked them about the family in China. Mr. Lee told her that Mee
Yim’s first wife would occasionally fall to the ground and writhe about. But then after a
short while, she would get up and appear to be perfectly normal. From this description it
would appear that she suffered from epilepsy.33 Perhaps this is why family tradition
31
Ibid.
Little red booklet, in the possession of Matilda Wong, 2003.
33
Walter Wong also told Jeff Staley that Mee Yim’s first wife was an epileptic (personal notes on family
chart made ca. 1984).
32
12
holds that Mee Yim had no children by his first wife. And because he had no children by
her, he would later take a second wife.
San Francisco looked a lot different upon Mee Yim’s return in December 1906.
The great earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906 had obliterated San Francisco’s
Chinatown and most of the city’s business district, and along with that destruction
thousands of Chinese immigration records had been incinerated. But like the mythical
phoenix rising out of the city’s ashes, many Chinese men seized the moment and declared
themselves native born, merchant class Californians—whose immigration records just
happened to have been destroyed in the earthquake and fire. However, Mee Yim didn’t
need the earthquake and fire to invent an American identity. Although it may have been
cheaper to wait—had he been able to foresee the catastrophe that struck shortly after he
left San Francisco—fire or no fire, he was already Mr. Mee Yim Wong. And he had the
papers to prove it. All he had to do was pass the re-entry interrogation. This he did, with
the immigration officers being “satisfied of identity of applicant.”34
Wong Mee Yim takes a second wife
When Mee Yim left for China a second time, on the Shinyo Maru, August 3,
1912, he continued to list his occupation as a cook, but this time his address was 1917
Addison Street, Berkeley.35 He claims to have been married KS 31-12-10,36 and claims a
son, Wong Gin Yoon aged five, born April 15, 1907. He has no daughters. Mee Yim
gave his address in China as “Wing Tung Get, Hong Kong.”37
“On board S. S. Nippon Maru, Dec. 17, 1906.”
“Office of the Commissioner,” Department of Commerce and Labor. Immigration Service, July 24,
1912.
36
January 4, 1906 (U.S. Department of Labor, Immigration Service, January 11, 1922).
37
“Office of the Commissioner,” July 24, 1912.
34
35
13
Family tradition places Mee Yim’s second marriage during this visit. If Mee
Yim’s first wife indeed had epilepsy and hadn’t conceived on his first visit to China in
1905-06, Mee Yim and his mother, Ng Yen Hai, may have been afraid that he would
never have any sons. So apparently a second marriage was arranged for him. Mee Yim’s
second wife was named Ow Loy Ho (her paper identity would become “Mon Lau Shee,”
the first wife’s name), and she was about twenty-two years old at the time of her
marriage. She would eventually bear Mee Yim five children—three of them boys.
When Mee Yim returned to California two years later, August 28, 1914, aboard
the S. S. Siberia, he claimed two sons: Wong Gin Yuen 8 years (born April 15, 1907) and
Wong Gin Wo 2 years (born July 9, 1913).38 The ages of his children probably were
based on the Chinese tradition of being one year at birth, and their birthplaces are listed
as Wah Lok Village Sun Ning District. This is the “paper village,” not Cheong San
Toon, the Lee family’s ancestral village. Since family tradition says that neither of Mee
Yim’s wives conceived a child on his first two visits to China, most likely these are
simply “slots”—that is, invented children whose identity could be sold later on to young
men who wished to immigrate to the United States.
Shortly after returning to California, on October 29, 1914, Mee Yim (Lee Hawk
Seen) and Leong Ming Wen—probably Mee Yim’s legal representative—bought from
Leong Chew Fung an outhouse and the piece of land surrounding it for $60 (Chinese
Republic dollars). The purchased land was probably near Cheong San Toon, the Lee’s
“Exempt Class Landed Direct From Steamer,” U.S. Department of Labor, August 28, 1914. According
to Chinese reckoning, Gin Wo would be one year old at birth, and would have turned two on Chinese New
Year’s 1914. See also “The following statements or information were made in the year 1931,” Chinese
documents in the possession of Matilda Wong, 2003. Translated and summarized by a friend of her
brother, Edward, in 2003.
38
14
ancestral village. But this is not clear from the English summary.39 By Chinese
immigrant standards, Mee Yim was doing well in America: He had managed to save
enough money to buy a false identity, he had returned to his native land twice, he had
married in China, and he had bought a piece of land. Moreover, he was planning for the
future, having created two “slots” which he could sell at a later date.
In 1916 Mee Yim was able to buy an additional five parcels of land in China. The
dates of these purchases were: January 16 and 30; February 2 and 22; and December 6.
He spent $153 (Chinese Republic dollars) for the five parcels, one of which was a small
vegetable garden.40 As an official US citizen, Mee Yim was required to register for the
draft during the First World War. He did this on September 12, 1918, but did not receive
a classification card41 and did not serve in the war, which ended just a few months later,
on November 11, 1918.
Wong Mee Yim gets a son
Mee Yim returned to China and to his ancestral village May 12, 1921 on the S. S.
Nanking.42 At the time of his departure, he lists his address as Swingle, California, but he
was getting his mail at Davis. He still describes his occupation as “cook.”43
Family tradition states that not long after Mee Yim had returned to the United
States in 1914, Ng Yen Hai realized that her new daughter-in-law had failed to conceive a
child. By this time in her life Ng Yen Hai was probably a widow and had probably lost
one of her sons to an early death. It is also very possible that she had not heard from her
39
Chinese documents in the possession of Matilda Wong, 2003. Translated and summarized by a friend of
her brother, Edward, in 2003.
40
Ibid.
41
“No. 12017/15634, Class: Native to Depart,” U.S. Immigration Service, San Francisco, Cal. Form 4505,
February 17, 1921.
42
“Application of Alleged American-Born Chinese for Preinvestigation of Status,” U.S. Department of
Labor, Immigration Service, San Francisco, Cal. Form 430, March 12, 1921.
43
“Class: Native to Depart.” U.S. Immigration Service, San Francisco, Cal. Form 2505, Feb. 17, 1921
15
son in Singapore for years. For all she knew, he might be dead as well. Thus, she might
have seen Mee Yim as her sole remaining hope for a grandson, and her only hope for
acquiring a position of honor in the village. So, fearing that she might never have a
grandson, and that her remaining son might never return to the village, Ng Yen Hai took
family matters into her own hands.44 Apparently unbeknownst to Ow Loy Ho, her new
daughter-in-law, Ng Yen Hai bought a five year-old boy named (Ng?) Jang as a
grandson.45 According to Mee Yim’s oldest son, Walter, Ng Yen Hai brought the boy
home to Ow Loy Ho “piggyback-style,” with the new grandson pinching her neck the
whole way.46
While there may be elements of truth in this family tradition, Mee Yim’s claim in
1914 to have two male children casts into doubt much of the story. For either Mee Yim
had two living children by his first wife—and Jang/Jin Wo, whom he brought to America
in 1922 was one of them—or (what is more likely), Mee Yim in fact had no children by
his first wife, but was busy creating “slots” to sell at a later date. But if Mee Yim had
created two “slots” to sell, why would his mother need to “buy” a grandson? Wouldn’t it
make more sense for Ng Yen Hai simply to sell one of Mee Yim’s “slots” to a family
who wanted their son in America, and then keep her paper grandson until after the end of
World War I, when Mee Yim could return to China? Selling “slots” was, of course,
illegal in America, and thus was not the sort of story you tell your American-born
children. However, it is likely that a sale did take place, and it is likely that a child was
44
World War I dominated global politics from 1915-1918, making overseas travel extremely tenuous and
dangerous for noncombatants. So it would be natural during these years for Ng Yen Hai to fear she would
never see her son again.
45
If, in fact, the boy was about five years old (by Chinese reckoning) when “purchased,” then the “sale”
could have been transacted in 1916 or 1917. Moreover, the “little red booklet” gives “Jang Wo’s” actual
birthdate as July 7, 1910, making him, by European reckoning, not quite six years old when Mee Yim’s
land purchases began (booklet in the possession of Matilda Wong [(2003]).
46
Walter Wong related this story to Jeff Staley, ca. 1984.
16
the item of exchange. But it was probably one of Mee Yim’s “slots” that was sold, rather
than a child purchased.47 The distinction may seem trivial today—but to a Chinese
family whose ties to America were tenuous at best, the distinction was crucial.
Whatever the case may be, we know that the little boy who filled the “slot” Mee
Yim had created in 1914, became Wong Jang Wo, born July 9, 1913. And just perhaps, it
was the sale of that one “slot” that made possible Mee Yim’s purchases of five land
parcels in China in 1916.48
Wong Mee Yim brings his family to America
The new Mrs. Wong Mon Lew Shee
Apparently Ow Loy Ho, Mee Yim’s second wife, took care of Jang in Cheong
San Toon village for a few years before she, the boy, and Mee Yim were able to
immigrate together to America. The three of them left Hong Kong for San Francisco on
the S. S. Nanking in late 1921, arriving January 5, 1922. When the family left China, Ow
Loy Ho was already pregnant with her first child and was sick the entire voyage. She
entered the United States under the name of Mee Yim’s first wife, “Wong Mon Lau
Shee,” with a paper birthdate of December 19, 1884, which was seven years older than
her actual birthdate.49
Mee Yim’s wife, now “Mrs. Wong Mon Lau Shee,” was coached about the Wong
family history so that she could satisfactorily answer the US immigration officer’s
questions, for when the family disembarked at Angel Island, she and Jang knew they
Apparently the “Wong Gin Yuen” slot was sold as well, since this name is listed as arriving on the
President Lincoln May 1, 1929. However, there is some confusion regarding his arrival and departures. He
was originally listed as arriving on the China, January 5, 1922. This is crossed out, and listed as
“departing” December 21, 1926. “Gin Yuen” also has two alien identity numbers: 12017/31176, and
27929/7-13.
48
Chinese documents in the possession of Matilda Wong, 2003.
49
“Application and Receipt for Certificate of Identity,” January 16, 1922.
47
17
would be separated from Mee Yim. The family was detained there for nearly two
weeks—a short time compared to many immigrants’ experiences. Ow Low Ho’s
demeanor and her obvious pregnancy helped her pass as “Mrs. Wong Mon Lau Shee”
despite the few minor discrepancies between her answers and those of her husband.
“Jang Wo” also passed his interrogation on Angel Island without any problems, and thus
the new paper “Wong” family was reunited on board a ferry to San Francisco. We
cannot help but wonder what was running through the minds of the new Mon Lau Shee
and Jang Wo Wong on their first boat trip from Angel Island to San Francisco’s
Chinatown. The steamer trunk that the family brought with them to America in 1922 is
still in the Wong family, and must have more than a few tales to tell, if pine and canvas
could talk. It is stored in the home of Barbara Wong, Mee Yim’s granddaughter.
In Ow Loy Ho’s 1922 Angel Island interrogation, she stated that her parents were
both dead, her father having died when she was quite small, and her mother having died
“two or three years after my marriage.”50 It is obvious from the records that Ow Loy Ho
was responding to these family questions as though she was “Mon Lau Shee,” Mee
Yim’s first wife, rather than answering truthfully. The same holds true for Mee Yim’s
Angel Island interrogation.51 However, Ow Loy Ho told her children later in life that she
had two brothers, one of whom died at a young age.
On December 15, 1982, Mrs. Bing Y. Huey (“Moy Day”) telephoned Matilda
Wong after she had received Matilda’s Christmas card. Mrs. Bing Y. Huey used to call
Ow Loy Ho “Goo Pau,” which meant she was related to Ow Loy Ho through her father
(Bok Gung), who was an “Ow.” From her, Matilda obtained the following additional
50
51
“Applicant 61-17,” U.S. Department of Labor. Immigration Service, January 11,1922
“20747/6-17,” U.S. Department of Labor. Immigration Service, January 11,1922.
18
information regarding Ow Loy Ho’s family: According to Mrs. Bing Huey, Ow Loy Ho
had an older brother who was a farmer. However, because his wife ran a little boutique
business in the city, she did not live in the village with him. Mrs. Bing Huey also
recalled that Ow Loy Ho used to mail things back to her family in China. As a child,
Matilda remembered her mother occasionally sending dried apples and clothing overseas.
These items were probably sent to her family.
Wong Mon Lau Shee’s son, Walter Gin, was probably Ng Yen Hai’s first
grandson by blood. But he was born May 9, 1922 in San Francisco, far away from the
Lee ancestral village in China. For Ng Yen Hai, it must have been a bittersweet moment
when she received the news of Walter’s birth. No doubt the proud new parents would
have sent photographs of their son to Ng Yen Hai and other relatives in the village as
soon as they were able, but that may not have occurred until years later.
Soon after their last child, May Gim, was born in July, 1931, Mee Yim, Mon Lau
Shee, and their six children did pose for a formal photograph with the “paper
grandmother,” Wong Mon Lee Shee. It was the last, visible, precautionary link the Lee
family would make with their paper relative. About this same time, a “coaching sheet” in
Chinese was made that listed the birthdates of all Mee Yim’s children and the
relationship of Mee Yim to his paper family.52 When Jang Wo returned to China a few
months later, on February 13, 1932,53 he probably took that family photograph and the
list of the grandchildren’s birthdates to Ng Yen Hai. Ng Yen Hai kept a little red booklet
“The following statements or information were made in the year 1931.” Chinese documents in the
possession of Matilda Wong, 2003. See also, Yung, Unbound Voices, 11.
53
He embarked on the President Coolidge, and returned on the President Lincoln October 4, 1932
(“Applicaion of Alleged American Citizen of the Chinese Race for Preinvestigation of Status, December 1,
1931” U.S. Department of Labor. Immigration Service, and “Wong Jang Wo,” Action Sheet, First Day
Landings).
52
19
of all her grandchildren’s birthdates54—and probably a copy of that photograph—for the
rest of her life. But she died in 1939 without ever having seen any of her grandchildren
in America. Nor did Mee Yim ever send his son Walter to China and Cheong San Toon
village for an arranged marriage. It was Jang Wo who had returned to the ancestral
village for a bride—just as Japanese armies were beginning to invade northern China.
Walter, probably Ng Yen Hai’s first grandson, would himself marry the American way,
without a village matchmaker or a far distant family to arrange the wedding.
On October 2, 1933, about a year after Jang Wo returned to the United States,
Mee Yim received a telegram stating that his “mother” had just arrived from China, and
that he needed to go to Angel Island to identify her. No doubt the “coaching sheet” of
Mee Yim’s children and the “Wong” family photograph with her in the center helped
expedite Wong Mon Lee Shee’s readmitance. The photograph and the “coaching sheet”
would also have helped Mee Yim repay the debt he owed the Wong family for the false
papers he had bought from them twenty-five years earlier. The 1933 telegram is the last
piece of documentary evidence connecting our Lee family to the paper Wong family.
The Wong family settles down in the Bay Area
Mee Yim, Mon Lew Shee, and their children lived in San Francisco from 1922
until 1947, when they bought a house at 1629 Cornell Street in Berkeley. Their first
address in San Francisco was 873 Washington Street, but this was simply a place for the
Lee clan members to gather and a place for Chinese bachelors to pick up their mail.
When the children grew older, Mon Lew Shee would visit the “store” at 873 Washington
Street from time to time, and take her daughters Matilda and May along with her.
54
This is the little three page booklet is in the possession of Matilda Wong (2003).
20
According to Walter (Gin Wah), the family lived first at two different places on
Stockton Street, the second of these being a second floor apartment on Stockton between
Clay and Washington Streets. The family lived there until 1931, and the remaining five
Wong children were born during these years: Edward (Sun Wah), Matilda (Mai Yolk),
Hoover (Ton Wah), and May (Mei Gum). Mee Yim worked as a chef for affluent people
in the Lake Tahoe area for most of these years, and also would pick potatoes around
Stockton. A picture of Mee Yim with two farming friends dates from this period.
In 1931 the family moved to less expensive housing at 33 Stone Street, and their
rent dropped from $18 a month to $13 a month. This was during the Great Depression,
and for some of those years Mee Yim worked with the Federal Works Progress
Administration. Since the family lived there until 1940, most of the Wong children’s
strongest memories of home life were formed there: Taking baths in a corrugated steel
bath tub about three feet wide; sharing toilet facilities with other tenants in the building;
Mon Lew Shee washing clothes with a washboard. The apartment had gas lighting,
which was produced from glowing silk mantles, and the children were told not to jump
around much because the mantles were very fragile and would break easily. Sometimes
the children would be spanked if they caused a mantle to fall. Milk was delivered to the
home, as was ice—for the times the family could afford this luxury, and food was kept on
a screened shelf.
In 1940 the family moved to 802 Broadway Street, San Francisco, where they
lived until 1947. This housing was luxurious—it had two bedrooms. During some of
these years Mee Yim worked on a potato farm in Dixon, California, but in the mid-1940s
he began working as a kitchen helper at the Exposition Fish Grotto on Fisherman’s
21
Wharf. The children remember him saving up his share of the jiggers of whiskey until he
had a pint to bring home. After abdominal surgery in 1949, he retired from this job.
In the 1940s Mee Yim and Mon Lew Shee began to look for a home to buy in San
Francisco. After several false starts due to racial discrimination, Mon Lew Shee went
over to look at houses in the East Bay. Finally, in 1947, the Wong family purchased a
two-plus bedroom home at 1629 Cornell Avenue in Berkeley. This first home cost
$10,000 and was bought with cash, of which only $1,000 was borrowed. It took a lot of
courage to buy a single dwelling house in the East Bay at that time, since most Chinese
families in San Francisco that could afford to buy were purchasing multi-unit buildings.
The idea was that the rental income would help pay for their investments. But Mon Lew
Shee was thinking ahead. A home in Berkeley would save the family transportation costs
since several of the children would be attending the University of California at Berkeley.
With a home close to campus, the children could live at home and minimize the costs of
college education.
The Wong family lived in Berkeley until Mon Lew Shee died in 1956, when Mee
Yim moved into a house his oldest son had recently bought in Oakland, at 4163
Lakeshore Avenue. Mee Yim lived there in Oakland with his oldest daughter, Matilda,
and his son Walter’s family until his death, February 10, 1966.
Asian Americans in San Francisco Chinatown 1922-1946
A child’s life
When the Wong children were old enough to go the American school, they also
had to spend evenings in Chinese school. This was a private school on Waverly Place,
San Francisco, and there they studied the four books of Confucius. But children love to
22
play, and Chinese American children in the 1930s and 40s were no different than anyone
else. The Wong boys would play baseball with a tennis ball in the Commodore-Stockton
schoolyard, and the girls would draw lines with white chalk and play hopscotch with
neighbor children on the street in front of the house. The younger children would shoot
marbles and chase each other in games of tag. “Kick-the-can” was a favorite
neighborhood pastime for boys and girls alike, and they would also roller-skate, play with
yo-yos, and jump rope. When they were a bit older, the girls would spool-knit. But when
they were by themselves at night, the Wong children would tell ghost stories in bed. At
other times they would read by street lights when they were supposed to be sleeping, and
their mother, Mon Lew Shee, claimed that was how they ruined their eyes—by reading in
such poorly lighted areas.
But the Wong children also had money-making jobs after school and in the
summer months. For example, at the age of eight, Ed began selling newspapers in San
Francisco. There were four newspapers in the city at that time—The San Francisco
Chronicle, The Examiner, The Call-Bulletin, and The Daily News, each costing three
cents. The seller got to keep one cent from each sale. In a day’s time Ed would make
from five to ten cents. As he got older, Ed and his younger brother Hoover both took
shoeshine jobs. A shine cost five cents, and a child could make fifty cents to a dollar in a
four to six-hour period. The only drawback to this high-paying job was that the boys
would occasionally be chased by a bootblack who worked at a booth in a nearby
barbershop.
Around 1935, shelling shrimp became a money-making task for the entire Wong
family. The boys would pick up the shrimp and bring them home for shelling, and then
23
everyone would pitch in and work. Later on, Mon Lew Shee and her daughters worked at
the Diamond Shrimp Company at 661 Clay Street instead of at home. They were paid
nine cents for a pound of shelled shrimp meat. The girls had to work in the basement
because of the child labor laws, and would hide when the inspectors came.
During the summers in the 1940s, Mon Lew Shee, Matilda, Hoover, and May
worked on the flower farms down the peninsula, picking suckers off aster and
chrysanthemum plants. Mr. Lowe, one of the owners of the aster flower farm, observed
that Matilda had a knack with numbers, so he had her keep track of the family's earnings
and he paid them according to Matilda’s records. They made about twenty-five cents an
hour.
Making ends meet for a family of eight
24