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 I was led to believe doing a blog would be a good idea. Now, I’m wondering. Maybe not!

A blog is definitely cathartic if that’s what you’re looking for, and I must admit that for me, it’s a part of the reason. Really though, I’m looking for more information, which means trying to find new connections and hopefully make new discoveries along the way. 

I’ve done blogs before so I went with the Google Blogger because I was somewhat familiar with the format, but the end game is getting it read and getting some feed-back. This is the part that’s elusive. There’s too much information out there. No one cares. 

I’ve done the Ancestry trees, the DNA tests and the uploading to Gedmatch and all the other sites that will take it. I’ve subscribed and consulted and offered to help, but here I sit after so many years. Life is slipping out of the project. I’m thinking maybe it’s time to give it up but what happens to the 20 years of research and the thousands of files?

Delete, delete, delete?

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 on the internet, Facebook can be the best source of information and real time help that anyone could ask for.

Quite apart from the usual Facebook pages that most users visit, are the “Private Group Pages” that deal with particular and very specific subjects. They all have moderators and rules that must be followed. Those who do not abide will usually get a stern warning and if continued, they are removed.

These are some of the groups that I use on a regular basis:

Family and Friends from Shanghai and Hong Kong 

Hong Kong Past – The Early Years 

Private group 7.4 K members

Hong Kong in the ’60s

Public group 18.8 K members

Hong Kong in the Colonial Era

Private group 11.2 K members

Most if not all of these sites, require you to join. Acceptance is usually quick and informal. Some may ask a couple of questions which are mainly to weed out trolls.

Let me give you and example of the value of this source: 

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I recently discovered some probate files files after a search of the Hong Kong Records site. A link was listed under the “Archives” heading. It was from 1944 and was sealed but could be released upon application to the courts. This looked to me like a daunting task as I’m in Canada and even phone calls are hampered by sizable time zone differences. 

As I don’t get many good leads these days I tend to follow up no matter how difficult it may seem. In this case I made a phone call and reached a gentleman at HK Records. He informed me that I’d have to fill out some forms and return them to their office but it could be done electronically. That same day I received a PDF request file which I promptly filled in and sent back. Everything was going along just fine. 

Then a slight snag appeared. There was a small fee that needed to be paid. It was HK $123.70 or about CA $25.00. The snag turned into a snarl when I discovered that they did not accept credit cards! The fee must be paid in cash or by bank draft. No problem I thought, I’ll get a draft. Well, apparently small amounts like that, can’t be done by wire and at the time ( and still ) due to Covid19, there is no snail-mail in or out of Hong Kong! Even if I was able to arrange payment, I could only get my documents sent via ship and that might take months if at all.

Facebook to the rescue! Well, not exactly Facebook, but a member of one of those specialty “Facebook Groups” in Hong Kong. So at 10 PM my time I posted my dilemma on Facebook and about 10 minutes later I got an answer. A user in Hong Kong messaged me that he went past the HK Records office on a daily basis and he’d be happy to go and pick up the papers. He even said he’d pay for it all and he’d scan and send them to me via e-mail. He said “I could buy him a cup of tea sometime” as repayment.

The following day, he did as he’d promised and retrieved the 40 page document. He scanned it and sent it 5 pages per day ( what his program allowed ) so it took 8 days and it was like watching a TV series with a cliff-hanger at the end of each episode. Due to the time difference I’d often get the 5 page batch at about 2 AM my time.

 Anyway, it all got done and I have my copies and in the process I’ve made a great new friend. I really hope one day I’ll be able to buy him that cup of tea and maybe a whole dinner to go along with it.

I’ve made many friends on these groups and can’t enough the ones who have answered so many question, most often within an hour of posting. I’ve had translations and identifications of old locations and buildings in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. On occasion I’ve even had members volunteer to take photos or make a local contact on my behalf. So, don’t rule out Facebook as a very useful tool in your search.

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 no knowledge of her birth family, other than they are in China. They don’t even know which part of that vast country hold her roots.

It seems that I turned up on her list of DNA matches, with the smallest increment, and a designation of 5th to 8th cousin. A measurement this size would by most caucasian testers, be disregarded as “noise” except for the fact that I know I have a healthy-sized batch of  Asian genes. 

While there’s probably no way we’ll ever find our common ancestor, I’ve at least been helpful to them as far as narrowing their search. My known connections to Foochow led them to do more concentrated searching and in the process they uncovered additional matches in Fujian Province.

Just today, I had a message from her and I understand they have matches from Shandong Province as well. Her daughter’s genetic makeup is predominantly Han with about 51% northern and 30% southern. I also have some Hunter connections in Shandong Province, that I haven’t quite nailed down but they’re much too close to be just coincidence.

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 Iris Beesley nee Hunter and the gentleman is my grandfather Tobias Hunter. My mother would have been 35 and my grandfather about 70. 

The baby is me! 

I am now 75 and I find it interesting to see myself becoming my grandfather. Other than the fact that now I have a beard, and my hair shows more grey, I haven’t changed much at all. Sorry I haven’t figured out how to embed the video yet so I have to do it by this link. It works!

I think they loved me back then.

Click on the picture to view a video clip.

We started with four sources, James, George, Tobias and May.

James’s line ended with his daughter Ellen in 1944. That left just the three lines we have today.

George Hunter had two sons. Only one, George Stanley, had children. The remaining live daughter from that line is Diana.

Tobias Hunter had two daughters. Only one, Iris Hunter produced a son, which is me, Brian Hunter Beesley.

May Hunter had three daughters and a son. All but one  produced children but most are deceased now or have not tested their DNA. One daughter, Edna had a daughter, Janetta, who also had a daughter, Miranda.

Miranda and her mother have both tested with Ancestry and Miranda went a step further and did a mitochondrial DNA test with FTDNA.

This last test traces the DNA which is passed down only from mothers to their children. Male children do not pass it down. 

In our case we are extremely fortunate that we have a direct unbroken female line. Mitochondrial DNA remains the same for many thousand of years, which means mothers are almost 100% the same as their daughters and vise versa. This enables us to work backwards up the line, from Miranda to her mother, Janetta, to her mother Edna, to May Hunter, to … Anne Hunter? Kot Choy?

We don’t have the answer to who, but the mitochondrial tells us that they are all Haplogroup C7a2 which is virtually all Asian. So we know the entry point of out Asian DNA is May’s mother.

If May’s mother is also the mother of the other three children, James, George and Tobias, then my great grandmother was at least 50% Asian. 

Miranda and her mother carry the C7a2 mitochondrial DNA as does her brother and her uncle, The latter two have not done a mitochondrial test, but it is not necessary as they will be the same as their mothers which is C7a2.

The Diocesan Boys School was originally located on Bonham Road and was later moved to Mong Kok, Kowloon. George Piercy was head until 1918 when Rev Feathersone took the reins. He would have been in charge when my grandfather and his age group were in attendance. Rev William T Featherstone was instrumental in the relocation to Kowloon.

There is also a reference card in the Carl Smith collection that shows Tom Cock having been a student there as well. As mentioned, this could have been where Tom met my grandfather and later his sister May Hunter, who would become his wife.

A clipping from 1919 shows the prizes given out and I add it simply to show some of the other names. Mabel Gittens, Lena and Trixie Choa, my mother Iris Hunter, her cousin Ellen Hunter, one of the Doyle girls, Jessie and also Enid and Irene Hotung. 

Another couple of names worth mentioning are Enid Connell ( I believe a relative of this person, now does an extensive Ancestry tree on Hong Kong people.) 

The other is Robie Shea, who I believe could be related to “Rev Guy Shea” Remember this name as it will come up again soon in a future post.