My Ancestry: Hawai’i 75 Years Ago
I interviewed my grandmother for this story to discover more about my ancestral past; without her I would never have found out so much about my ancestors and where my roots originated. This is the story from her perspective…
My grandparents got off the boat at Honolulu harbor, planning on going to San Francisco but they decided to jump off the boat here. They had no education in China but had enough money to charter a boat here. They had five children; they were poor, but saved and had a little bit of money to pass on the their children. They spent years and years investing in property and real estate to earn that money. My grandfather came when he was 18 years old and began working in a sugarcane factory. He worked until he was 28 years old and then went back to China to get a wife. He was a migrant worker. When he came back to Hawai’i with a wife, he used to catch fish for a living and sold it at the market. He was a fish dealer, he graduated from St. Louis.
My grandmother used to feed me salted fish and rice whenever my sisters and I visited her. We’d sit on the back step and she’d feed me while she’s eating her dinner, back when I was six. My grandmother only spoke Chinese and I was really little back then, so I did’t understand anything she said. She raised five kids and they all finished high school. Education was very important. Everyone went to McKinley High School in those days…My mother was the youngest of her siblings, she graduated from McKinley and worked in downtown. She met my father, a college graduate, who became a stock broker. Our house was built along a dirt road when the land was only 4 cents per square foot. My father also wanted to raise chickens. He wanted to go to school to become a doctor but he didn’t have the money to do so as an orphan. He went to Dartmouth for 3 years but struggled to finance his education. Your grandfather also went to St. Louis College for $2 a month.
My father’s parents weren’t able to raise my father. His mother died, leaving my father with just his older brother and his father. He just wandered along family members, aunties and uncles, because his close family weren’t able to take care of him. He had to find his own way, starting at Mid-Pac, where they built up the school’s reputation by giving scholarships to lure athletes to the school. That was how my father went to Mid-Pac and Dartmouth, he was the only Asian on the track team at Dartmouth. Mid-Pac was started by the Damon family, which specialized in shipping and commerce. It was one of the big five families, one of the missionary families.
Back then there were many English standard schools; you would have to take a test on college material, pass the test, and go to English standard schools, and all of them were free. Most of those who attended went on to go to college. Auli’i ‘Iolani, Stevenson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln School were all feeder schools for the English standard schools. I passed the university test, transferred to the University of Deleware, and graduated with a degree in education. Then I came back to Hawai’i to get a fifth-year certificate. I was an elementary school teacher; I taught a few years and then stayed home to take care of your father and two aunts.
You can do whatever you want, but you always have an obligation in life…to be a good person in whatever you do. You’ll be satisfied with yourself and fulfill your life. At this point, I am enjoying my sunset years. Have the attitude of being a good person.
