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Why family trees? And why Gom Benn’s family trees?

For Chi Tung (董小琪), her Gom Benn research began not long after her daughter Diana married Chase Wong. Chase is the son of Harvey, and the grandson of the late Nam Wong – a native of Gom Benn Village who came to America in 1922 at the young age of 11, and later operated Nam’s Restaurant in San Gabriel for many years. 

Chi, a self-trained and now very experienced genealogist, was asked by Harvey’s family to help them learn more about their ancestors.

Quickly Chi learned that the history of the Gom Benn Wongs echoed the story of the many Chinese migrant workers who came to America beginning in the mid-1800s Gold Rush days. She was fascinated. Already she had completed three books on her own family’s genealogy in China.

Appreciating Old China

As a young woman, Chi came to America from China in 1978 speaking only kindergarten-level English. After years of hard work, she graduated after studying computer science and math at UCLA. Later, she graduated from the Harvard Business School with an MBA. During the next decade she worked in finance and management for multinational companies. She married and had three children. Then she returned to China to work for another decade. 

As a first generation immigrant to America, she was motivated, driven and encouraged to succeed in the professional world. This period, her back and forth between China and America, highlighted the amazing histories of both nations. When she returned to China Chi said she began to see China as the only continuing civilization of the four oldest ancient civilizations (Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China). 

Resurgent Genealogy

Especially in China, genealogy is an important part of its heritage. In recent decades, after so many years of wars, upheaval and disruption, there has been resurgent interest in China in family genealogy. 

There certainly was for Chi. She has devoted much of the last half-dozen years to her family’s genealogy. The first genealogy was for her maternal grandfather Xia ZhiShi夏之时, who became the governor of Sichuan province四川 when the the Qing Dynasy, China’s last dynasty fell in 1911. The research took Chi to her grandfather’s village HeJiang合江 near the city of Chengdu成都. 

Her Xia Genealogy, focused around her grandfather, was printed and distributed in July 2017 in ChengDu, Sichuan Province.

Her Second Book

Afterward, representatives from the HeJiang village brought with them the only surviving copy of the old Xia Genealogy (1851) and asked Chi to do research on their descendants based on that 1851 genealogy.

Chi research included examining tombstones and ancestral homes in and around the villages. She learned that the Xia’s first home, their ancestral home, was established there in the Ming Dynasty in 1574, 450 years ago. It is still there in the forest.

Chi completed that 500-page Xia Genealogy in January 2019. It covers 23 generations, six branches, 1,586 people and 783 spouses or a total 2369 people, and includes photos and illustrations of 40 ancestors’ tombstones.

Then a Third

Then Chi’s attention turned to her maternal grandmother, a rather legendary woman – Dong (Tung) ZhuJun董竹君. Her grandmother’s autobiography was on the best seller list for many months, and was made into a 31-episode TV series that aired around China. 

For the next three years (2019-2022), during the Covid period, Chi went to grandma Dong’s hometown HaiMen海门, JiangSu Province江苏省, and met with 30 local Dongs. Then through 40 WeChat groups and 650 contacts, she completed a 700-page Dong Genealogy. This book includes 28 family trees, three major branches, 14 generations, 3,726 people plus 2,696 spouses, or a total of 6,422 people.

And More

Now’s Chi’s passion for genealogy has brought her to us, the greater Gom Benn family.