Sing Bing, my great great grandfather, had five sons.
Jing On, my great-grandfather, was known to be strict, conscientious and meticulous, even nicknamed "Meticulous Jing On." Being the oldest, he had to look after all the younger brothers. He also owned a carpenter shop, as a part-time contractor. He married a Tow who had curly hair. Jing On had two sons and a youngest daughter; the oldest Sau Fang, my grandfather Sau Jiang, and my grand-aunt.
Jing Lam was a very weak branch. His descendant, my uncle, was a carpenter, learning the trade from our carpenter shop. He stuttered. His son was adopted, about five years older than I am. He later wandered into Chungching. During the war when I was attending medical school in Chungching, 1945-1946, my father told me to look for him. I couldn't find him. After the war, he returned to the village, like a bum.
Jing King was also a weak branch. He had a wife nicknamed "Black Face" and he also had a concubine. Black Face had one son and her concubine had a daughter and a son. Black Face was known to be mean. We always were afraid of her when we were kids. A grand-uncle from this branch was about my dad's age, lived in New York for decades and died two years ago (1988) of paralysis(stroke). His widow and son still live in New York. He was bald. We called him "Bald Grand-uncle."
Jing Nga was a very strong branch. He also owned a brick factory. Blind for many years before he died. Had four sons - the wife had the oldest son and the concubine had the younger three.
The last of the sons had no offspring.
My grandfather's generation began a new era. Many of them went abroad to America. My grandfather and his older brother, and cousins did it. More family members going to America meant income jumped many fold without farming, more children attending schools and more new housing.
My uncle's grandfather's cousins in America:
"G" I met him in Chicago in the early 1950's. He died of a broken hip. Had two sons and three daughters, the oldest son was one year younger than my dad, and was my school principal and taught me arithmetic when I was in first grade. This oldest son died of lung cancer in Chicago. His daughter died of epilepsy in early childhood. The younger son also died of lung cancer in Chicago. We met his two sons in New York, with their wives. One was very helpful during my dad's funeral. He was found dead in sleep in January 1990, from an apparent heart attack. Second daughter is in New York, also suffered from blindness similar to her grandfather, inoperable. The third daughter also lives in New York and visited us in Baltimore on occasions.
"H" died in Chicago. His daughter is in Chicago and has a nice family. Two sons died of starvation during the War. It was the wives of this branch who courageously stepped forward to defend our family during the Communist land reforms and purges in the village.
"I" died young in New York of gunshot wound during one of those Tang wars in Chinatown. He had two daughters and a son in between them. All three are talented. Since their father died young and their family became poor, my father encouraged and supported the son to continue his education and he became an artist. Another cousin supported him to come to America in the late 1950's. He had duodenal ulcer, was once perforated and debilitated. I operated on him at South Baltimore General Hospital (hemigastrectomy and bilateral truncal vagotomy) and restored his good health. He is now in Los Angeles. His younger sister was about three years older than I am, and was competing with me during my second and third grades for first place in the class. I won.
"J" was the only literate grand-uncle around in my childhood. He thought all three of his older brothers were in America and he would be well cared for. So he never worked, never held a job and never earned a single penny or plowed a single inch of land. He was just a bum. Buy he was very good to me. We called hom 4th grand-un. During the summer vacation, I always hung around with him all day, begging him to tell me the Three Kingdoms stories. He did, and did well. When I reached the fourth or fifth grade and was able to read, I borrowed all his books and read all of them by myself. As it turned out, all those books originally belonged to my father.
"J" died during the War and his only son died after the War. He had two daughters. The oldest daughter was a nobody-care-for character, but became a colorful celebrity under the Communists. She lost her husband and chopped firewood, straw and hay in the mountain for a living. One day while working in the mountainside, she heard gunfire. The Nationalist troops were in hot pursuit of a Communist cadet. That cadet ran into her and begged for help. She hid him under the piles of firewood and straw. When the troops arrived a moment later, she pretended she didn't see anyone at all. After the troops left, waiting until dark, she smuggled that cadet to her own home for safety. Shortly thereafter, the Communists took over the whole country and that cadet became the chief executive of our Tai Shan County. "My Aunt" became an instant celebrity. During the harsh land reform and merciless purge and persecution of the landlords in our village, this "no-good" aunt saved the necks of many of our innocent relatives.
My comments:
When Uncle Chiu refers to some ancestor as a "weak" branch, I think he means a branch that doesn't produce many descendants, especially from the males. Perhaps he also means that the descendants aren't as prosperous.
Uncle Chiu's handwritten family trees contain all the Chinese names but for conciseness he labels the main characters with letters, hence the letter names for the cousins of his grandfather. You will notice that being a doctor, he goes into great detail describing the ailments and the causes of death of various people. I remember going to his medical office in Baltimore as a child, he was soft-spoken, meticulous, and gentle as a doctor. He is very precise and organized, which must have served him well in the Air Force.
