Posted by Charles Louie on July 12, 2000 at 02:12:05:
In Reply to: Re: Surname No.69 thunder posted by Vicky Murphy on March 12, 1999 at 05:39:41:
: : You may be in luck. What port did your grandfather come through? After 1882 through the mid 1940s Chinese were racially discriminated against in the US and severe attempts were made to keep them out of the US via the Chinese Exclusion Act. As a result, every time a Chinese came into the country, they went through massive interrogations which were documented. Most of these immigration/interrogation files are at the NARA (national archive) location of the Port of Entry. If your grandfather was a paper son and INS found out about it, there should also be an INS interrogation file. I am using my husband's email and I am not sure of our email address but you can leave a voice mail message at my work through Closet World, 800-452-5673 ext 409.
: I am also trying to trace two uncles in Canton (Guangzhou). My grandfather Ying Louie b.1895 (father Fat Mow Louie)left China in 1914 to US. He was held on Ellis Island, refused entry and went to Liverpool, England where he married my grandmother. They had two sons Frances and Aubrey, who in 1930 were taken back to China and have never returned. We also beleive there may have been some relatives in Philadelphia. Can anyone help?
Most of the pioneering Louie's who arrived in America from the 1800's to 1970's came from the Districts around Hoisan of Guangdong Province(Toisan in Cantonese, Taishan in Mandarin) and they speak a Cantonese dialect known as HoiSan-va/SchleiYip-va (ToiSan-wa/Sze-Yup-wa in Cantonese). They came to North America via Canton to Hong Kong. One of the primary areas where the Louie's come from is the Gao-Gong area of Hoisan (Taishan) where a large percentage of the males have left for North America. Many Louie's arriving after 1965 are also coming from JungSan (ZhongShan in Mandarin), Guangdong where they speak JungSan-wa.