Forum: Ancestors in the Americas

Responses:

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Subject: From the East to the West and back to the East
From: Olivia Yap Lyons
Date: 05 May 2001 8:12 AM

I would love to tell the story of my parents how they affect the Chinese immigrants in the Philippines. I'm very fortunate to have two pairs of very great grandparents, the Yap's and Tan's from Xiamen and Jimei in Fujien Province, who promoted the "excellency for Education" for every child. Through the establishment of Tan Ka Kee unselfish goal, the Xiamen University and the Jimei Teacher Village achieved so many outstanding science teachers and researchpersonnels in America like Dr. William Tan Yap and Jennifer Yap Tan.They are direct descendants from Tan Ka Kee.If you like to hear the story about their educational experiences through the period from 1888 to l985, I could contribute some of the details I recollected from my parents. Thank You.

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Subject: Surname and U.S. Supreme Court
From: Mabel Eng
Date: 05 May 2002 12:55 AM

From the stories that my father has told us about the family journey to the Americas I found one to be very interesting. In the Chinese culture the surname comes first and then the given names. My great grandfather had migrated to the Philippines and had found work with the U.S. military since he had a good command of the Chinese and Philippine languages. When asked what his name was he answered with the traditional Eng Jim Tow. Of course the registrar used Tow as the last name. When he was bringing his sons to America he would write and inform them that they must use Tow as their last name since this was the way that the family name had been registered. My grandfather was the fourth successful immigrant using the Tow surname. However, the youngest son did not understand and when the officials asked the young man's name he gave Eng as the last name. Immigration officials denied him passage since his last name was not the name on the papers, even though the last name was correct. He was held on the Philippines for years while the battle ensued between the U.S. Immigration and the family. Since he worked as a translator, Eng Jim Tow knew many of the upper military ranking officers and asked them what could be done. Their suggestion was to take immigration to court. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and the final decision was that the children of the immigrants could use whatever surname they chose. This led the way for my father using his correct surname of Eng after my grandfather came in as Eng Sam Tow. I would love to be able to research this case in the Supreme Court records.