Posted by Vicki (121.218.59.16) on February 12, 2009 at 00:58:48:
In Reply to: Re: AMOY, CHINA posted by j.v. gabriel on September 11, 1999 at 04:28:14:
Sounds like im not the only one whos researching their chinese ancestry.
My name is Vicki and my great great grandfather was also born somewhaere near Amoy , China.
Unfortunately he changed his name or maybe the word 'gam ' was part of his real name, and it wasn't uncommon for chinese men to be called Tommy or Tom , he came to australia some time in the mid 1800's, apparently for the gold rush in Ballarat - according to family oral history.
He used the name ''Tom Gam''and the first official document located was his wedding certificate as he married a German woman in Dapto NSW ,Australia , i have also found -with the help of other 'Gam descendants ,Toms naturilisation details, wich state he was born near Amoy China, no record of the ship he came out on though. he was Naturilised in 1872 as he wanted to purchase land in Australia. Myself and other relatives have searched every records we can possibly think of to try and find out more about him and where exactly near Amoy was he from, the fact that he changed his name makes things really hard, we do know that Gam means 'Gold ' but still that dosent help us much.
Has anyone got any suggestions?