I want to start my family tree and don't know where to start. Would appreciate any information on where and who to write for documents. I believe my great-grandparents came from China to Hawaii. Any HELP would be greatly appreciated.

On 27 Jul 2001 copperdove@hawaii.rr.com wrote: > I want to start my family tree and don't know where to start. > Would appreciate any information on where and who to write for documents. > I believe my great-grandparents came from China to Hawaii. Any HELP > would be greatly appreciated. Dear Copper Dove, I have the following suggestions: When searching for family genealogy, one should never ask anonymously. If people do help, they would like to know who they are helping. If you live in Hawaii and do not know your family history or genealogy, then the fault lies with one's family and with Hawaii's local Chinese community. There are many Chinese in Hawaii and I can not see why they don't help others. It seems as if Chinese fight all of the time and never extend a hand in friendship to other Chinese. It is better to help other people, than to be critical of them. The Leong family comes from Imperial Chinese roots and many of them were brought to Hawaii along with the Chou and Chun clans. At one time Leongs ruled part of China and had their own family dynasty. Many descendants of recent China greats came to Hawaii. The history is given at my website http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/1535/cha_pu.html. Please read my website! Many of Hawaii's Chinese people and clubs DO NOT teach, nor give out this kind of information. This is one of my gripes with those in positions of control and power in local Hawaii Chinese organizations. If you go to your local library, most likely you will find books on how to research your family genealogy. Every State in the United States of America probably has information as to how to go about researching family roots. Additionally, if you want genealogy information on your family, you need to consult with a good genealogy expert, if such exist. The cost of doing such would be about $160 per hour with no results guaranteed. The other option is to join a Chinese society, where you can get help in your genealogy search possibly for free. Every Chinese family has a Chinese surname society, so do you have one where you live? Nothing in this world is free and there is some kind of cost associated with getting things. What are you prepared to pay? If you or other Chinese truly want to find your roots, why don't you volunteer your time with some Chinese society. If you do, then Chinese elders would be too happy to help you with your genealogy search. Many of the old folks clam up and do not give away such things for free! Good deeds are rewarded. That's how my grandparents brought me up. I had to do chores, before they gave me anything...and they sat in judgment of all of their grandchildren. Those who were good and those who worked for it, those who helped grandparents, for example, clean the yard and household chores were given bits and pieces of the family genealogy. Those who did not obey grandparents and did not work (as children) WERE NOT given their genealogy. Many Chinese went without! If you live in Hawaii, the best thing to do is to join the Chou Clan Society. They maintain a small library of Chinese records and their collection is much better than the ones kept in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Shanghai Library. The Chou society covers surnames like Chow, Chang, Ching, Wong, Ing, Goo, Choy, Lum, Lau, Loui, Lai, Yap, Sun, Ho, Chiang, Woo, Mao, Dang, Young, and Siu to mention a few. Chock and Tom are included in this Chinese grouping as well as Aisin-Gioro and Chun (from the Ming Dynasty). Other last names of Chao, Chai, Leong, etc are of interest to the Chou Society because of family relations over time and history. Hawaii's Chou Society was started on behalf of the four main lineage brothers (descendants) of the Chou surname, who make up the backbone of the Chou Dynasty. These men arrived in Hawaii around or prior to the turn of the century. I run the Chou clan society, today. Most people DON'T care about helping others. Most people only want for themselves, so many local Chinese (those not connected to societies and clubs) have told me they don't share their family books with anyone. So, if you are a relative, such people will not share or let you know that such a book exist, so I was told. You have to help people in order to learn and get genealogy information. There is a cost. You either get it from a Chinese society...sometimes, by helping them out as a volunteer or by doing chores cleaning the family hall, sweeping the family hall or cleaning toilets...or by paying a professional Chinese genealogist the going rate of $160 per hour. I got mine by helping parents and grandparents. By being an obedient son and by listening to them. Most Chinese people in this day and age will want to get their family genealogy for free. When you provide it to them for free, out of your love for them as family members and as a result of your years of research and hard labor, they will never truly appreciate what you have done for them and after they receive the documents (rare pieces of paper), you will never see them again, nor hear from them. People are strange, selfish. They only care for their own pleasures and have no consideration for others. By making people work for their genealogy, as my mother and grandmother said, people will understand the hard labor and sacrifices that you have put into this thing. They will appreciate their genealogy all the more, seeing what it is truly all about and seeing the great sacrifice of the Chinese people in preserving these things. You can not find such rare documents in any library, whether in the Mormon Library at Salt Lake, nor at Shanghai's touted genealogy library. Chinese family genealogy was the property of the clan societies and family halls (temples). Such would not be kept at a public library. I put many postings up about Chinese genealogy in soc.culture.china and soc.culture.asian.american and nobody responded to these things. I assumed that Chinese people weren't interested. It got so bad that I wanted to burn my genealogy collection. I wrote to some local Chinese societies and offered these things to them for free. I sent out copies to family members throughout Hawaii and mainland U.S. and haven't heard from any of my own kin. They aren't interested in such things and do not want to pay for the cost of maintaining all of those books. Giving information away free does not pay and people do not truly appreciate it (their genealogy). If you make people volunteer for work and they had to earn the privilege of having a genealogy they would appreciate it much more! You could tell a Chinaman that he was an Imperial Prince, he would not have any appreciation for such things, nor would he know the value of such a dignified distinction. If you knighted a wealthy American or European, that man would honor his English or European Crown. Not so with people of the Chinese race. Part of culture is having a true love for it. Most Chinese curse their cultural roots and would rather listen to American professors ("scholars"?) lecture on the merits of money and western democracy. As to the way of the European, so, too, should the Chinese culture be. People have to earn the right to have a genealogy tree. -- Lester D. K. Chow and Associates, International Political Consultants and Conflict Resolution Specialists. http://lchow.webvis.net/temp.html Official representative for China's Imperial family, for those members who reside abroad in the United States of America.