Author Archives: Brian Beesley

 Why become a Catholic at 37?

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Brian Beesley

From what I know of the Hunter family, none were Catholic. My grandfather and and his brother George were both married in Anglican churches; my grandfather at St Andrews in Kowloon and his brother George in Leeds, England. Their sister … Continue reading →

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Strange 11 Shelley Street Coincidences!

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Brian Beesley

  The Hunter family residence was 11 Shelley Street, Hong Kong. The location was first registered about 1897. Over the years, deaths in the family have all been listed with this address. The lady we believe is my great grandmother, Anne … Continue reading →

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 Why am I writing this blog?

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Brian Beesley

So I was on one of the many genealogical sites I frequent and ran across someone with a blog dealing with Asian roots. It had a lot of great information and many good tips. We struck up a conversation and … Continue reading →

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A Concubine Conundrum?

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Brian Beesley

 My great uncle James Hunter had a concubine. This bit of information was discovered in a line from his daughter Ellen Hunter’s probate. Ellen Hunter alias “Fok Shu Wah” died November 18, 1944 but the probate was not processed until … Continue reading →

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Facebook Friends

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Brian Beesley

I know many of you will say: “I’m not on Facebook” or “I don’t want to be on it!” and I’ll admit it has it’s pitfalls. That said, if one is reasonably careful, as you should be visiting any website … Continue reading →

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Hong Kong Public Records and more

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Brian Beesley

The Hong Kong Government has a wonderful site that is also very user friendly. A simple search query will bring up three tabs as shown. The main two I use are the archives and the “Carl Smith Collection”. The latter … Continue reading →

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 Going Dutch

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Brian Beesley

Back in January of 2020 I received a message through Ancestry.com from a DNA match in the Netherlands. My contact is the adoptive mother of a Chinese girl, born in 1996. Her daughter was adopted as an infant and has … Continue reading →

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 I think they loved me!

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Brian Beesley

As I’m mentioning my family members so much and just because I have this, I thought I’d add it to the blog. It was filmed by my aunt Nora Hunter in Hollywood, California about 1946. The lady is my mother … Continue reading →

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Ellen Hunter in WW2 Hong Kong

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Brian Beesley

My grandfather’s niece Ellen Hunter spent the war years in Hong Kong. She was the only child of his brother James Hunter and from what I can tell, she was born there, went to school there and in November of … Continue reading →

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 News of deaths in Hong Kong!

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Brian Beesley

I’m sorry if I skip back and forth a bit, but sometimes questions come to mind. One such mystery for me, is why were certain deaths deemed “newsworthy” in Hong Kong.    Clearly after scanning hundred if newspapers from the late … Continue reading →

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