周炳恩
Kevin,
Thank you for set up the website and let me know the chow family tree. I have a problem, I don’t know can you help me?
My grandfather have gone to Canada to work around 1915 and was dead around 1958-1959. I have never seen my grandfather’s look because I was born after he dead. My father told me my grandfather went to Canada to work because he wanted to provide a best living to their families. But I am unhappy that even my grandfather dead, no one know where is he buried. About 10 years before, one of my father’s relative who told my father that my grandfather was passed away in St. Joseph Hospital and buried in Fraser Lawn. I don’t know whether it is true or false. I have tried to go to Vancouver to check but the government told me that they have no record.
So Kevin, Can you help me to check although I know it is very difficult and not easy to find, as a granddaughter, I don’t want my grandfather used his half life in Canada due to give a best living to his family and now he dead, no one know where he buried.
I can only provide very little information to you, the informations are as follows :
- My grandfather’s name and address in China.
- 周炳恩 (CHOW BING YAN) 廣東省開平縣茅崗忠心里
- Name and address in Canada
- 周瑞沾 (CHOW YEN) BLUBBER BAY B.C. CANADA
- He had a relative called 周家潤, his mailing address was BOSTON CAFE, 199, BRUNSWICK STREET, HALIFAX NO. 8 CANADA.
I know only this information, it is very difficult to find. Anyway I hope you can help me.
I am looking forward to your reply. Thank you.
Best Regards
Renita Chau
This email of March 2, 2003 set me down a road I’ve never travelled before. It looked so straight forward because everything seemed to be in order:
- there is a name with the properly spelling
- the approximate years of death
- there is a Mount St. Joseph Hospital which is known locally as the Chinese hospital
- the cemetery (Fraser Lawn) is a bit tricky as there are three local possible cemeteries
- Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister
- Forest Lawn Cemetery in Burnaby (the lawn part of the name given by Renita)
- Mountain View Cemetery on Fraser Street, Vancouver
Of course, life is never this simple and easy. After exhausting all obvious and potential leads I finally turned to my friend, Al Chinn, for advice. He suggested a search of the online databases. A search on Google for “cemeteries in BC” eventually led me to the BC Vital Statistics web site. Searching for “Yen Chow” and “Bing Yan Chow” returned no hit but a search for “Chow” returned three hits. One of them was Ben Yen Chow, September 9, 1957.
One of my contacts during the search was Mr. Bak Lip Chow from the Vancouver Chow Association. He said Ocean View Cemetery was a popular burial site with the Chinese despite the fact it is located in Burnaby. Armed with this information I contacted Ocean View Cementery and inquired about Ben Yen Chow. They checked their records and confirmed Mr. Ben Yen Chow, indeed, is buried there.
Since then Mr. Ben Yen Chow’s descendants had traveled from Toronto to pay their respects. I was able to meet and accompany them during their most recent visit. They not only bought flowers to honour their father, grandfather and great grandfather but also placed incense sticks on all surrounding graves. For many of these tombs, if not all, this was the first time in a long time that somebody pays such respect. I found this to be very heartening gesture.
After visiting the gravel site and seeing over a hundred single plot burials there I can’t helped but wonder how of them are waiting to be discovered by their descendants? Since it is estimated that 82,000 had paid the head tax, is 25% or20,500 a good guess? Or is 41,000 closer to the truth? May be higher still? And how many people are in a situation similar to Renita Chau and her family searching for the gravels or their ancestors?
Congratulations. Of you have the time, take photos of all the headstones, and record the names on a website. Then people overseas can locate their families. Personally I have taken photos of one Chinese cemetery in Wellington, New Zealand. For another cemeyery in Auckland I have recorded on a data base all the Chinese who are buried there. One day i will get a chance to take photos of all the headstones. In my area in Canton, villages are being destroyed for a super trade city. I only wish I had time to ge there to record all the headstones that may be there.
I thought the clan and village elders move these graves to a new location. Don’t know why yet but have heard the clan elders in my village are seeking to move the ancestral grave site. May know the reason in their next newsletter.
Taking pictures of the tombstone is a good idea. Most of the graves where Mr. Chow is buried belong to men with no family members in Canada. Reason I know is because these have no visitors during the two traditional Chinese visitation dates nor the Western holidays. I’ll go and take photos of them and post it here. Thanks for the idea.
Hi,
My paternal grandfather (father’s father) lived in B.C. as well. He died in Victoria. He moved to Canada in the early 20th century (1900 to 1950). My father, Bing Sut Chow, came to Canada from Toisan. He and my mom eventually settled in Ontario. I was born in Toronto. Unfortunately, I don’t know my paternal grandfather’s name (I’m researching this still and trying to track down his name). I have been told though that my father has ‘Chow’ cousins in Vancouver. My father’s brother died young so I assume my father’s cousins would be descended from maybe his father’s brother or maybe from his grandparents (my great-grandparents). Of course, I don’t have their names either. I think my best chance will be to get a birth record for my dad from China, but I don’t read Chinese very well yet. (My mom doesn’t like to talk about this stuff – at all. The most I could get was her to write out my father’s name in Chinese and her name in Chinese. I’ll try to get my dad’s name typed out using Cangjie sometime.)
Anyway, I figured I’d put a message up and maybe someone will see this and have information they are willing to share.
My Chinese name is 周婉蓮.
Based on the information I know about my paternal grandfather, I have found three candidates from the B.C. archives (http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-3054F52/gbsearch/Deaths). My grandfather died in Victoria around “1957?”. Because of the the uncertainty, I assume my grandfather’s death was at the end of 1956 or at the beginning of 1958. I’m guessing more likely the end of 1956 because my mom was probably remembering the season he died and not the month.
My grandfather also died in his 60s, so none of the ‘Chows’ that died in Victoria in 1957 fits my information. In 1958, one candidate is Sing Chow who died on May 3rd. In 1956, there are two candidates. One is Poy Sun Chow who died on March 7th. The other is Chu Sing Chow who died on October 10th. I think Chu Sing Chow is the more likely candidate as my paternal grandfather, but I’d like to find out for sure and check these other names out as well.
If anyone has any information they can share about these three people (Chu Sing Chow, Poy Sun Chow, Sing Chow), I would appreciate it.
My father died at age 64, young like his father. This is how I know the age range that my grandfather died.
My dad’s sister is still living in Toronto. I don’t have her name in Chinese either.
I only ever called her ‘Ai Gu’. 
I think she is in her 90s now. She has a daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Anyway, like others, I’m just looking for my ancestors and trying to find distant relatives.
~~~C