The Chronicles of Chow King Leong & His Family
The Chronicles of Chow King Leong & His Family - Addendum
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Paper Son, The Lucky 8?
In order to bring in a paper son, which was really Chow King's first cousin, Lau Shee listed her age as 32, (Chow King
was 34) making her 20 at the time of Wing Yew's birth. Her real age was 28, which would've made her 16. This
was actually plausible for the day, since she was 15 on her wedding day, December 1894.
In Auntie Ann's narrative to PBS, she talks extensively of Wing Yew, (she called him Yi Sook), and his son
Wesley Leong. His wife, Hester Chan, tragically committed suicide by hanging, in 1926. Typical of the day,
single fathers did not raise children, and their daughter Bertha, spent time in an Oakland orphanage called
Ming Quan. Ming Quan records show her admission date as Dec 17th, 1929 and that she was taken out to go to China on
April 2, 1931. Wesley was sent to one called Chung Mei, in Berkeley. Uncle Lee was a houseboy in Berkeley, and had friends
at Chung Mei. He even had overnights there, to visit friends. These are off shoots of Cameron House, and a
result of the 1906 earthquake, which explains their East Bay locations. Chow King was a board member of each.
Eventually Wing Yew took his children to China, and Bertha was lost, but believed to have died giving birth.
Wing Yew migrated to Madagascar, and Singapore where he died. Wesley came back to the US, and has children
and grandchildren with Leong last names living in the Bay Area.
Mary Julia McCaslin
1892 - 1974
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Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Cumberland Church is a division of the Presbyterian Church, formed in the 1800's around the Cumberland River in
Kentucky and Tennessee. This was a revivalist group with a long history of sending missionaries, first to the
south; like Alabama and Texas, followed by Native American Reservations, and it was inevitable they would reach
California and Chinatown. Any chronicle of our family would not be complete without mention of Julia McCaslin,
(1892-1974). Miss Julia was raised in Missouri, graduated from Bethel College, a Cumberland school, became a
missionary in 1913, and came to Chinatown in 1915. Auntie Ann was born in June of 1916 and Miss Julia referred
to her as "her first Chinese baby". She was responsible for Auntie Ann enrolling in Bethel College, and seeing
to her wellbeing while Auntie Ann was so far from home. She was a longtime friend of our family.
Dong Hin
Dong Hin (AKA Dong Yin) was also from our village of Luzhou. No doubt Chow King had made prior arrangements
to come work for him in his sewing factory called H. William. Dong Hin eventually helps Chow King take over
H. William when he returned to China, but Dong Hin did not retire in China, as he had hoped. Perhaps he got
bored, but he returned to San Francisco and worked at H. William again for a short period, eventually moving
to George Brothers, the other large garment factory, and became a principal in that firm. He died in 1942,
leaving many heirs who still live in the Bay Area, and whose history I plagiarized greatly, as much of their
history is also ours, especially the stories of Luzhou.
H. William and Company
Chow King ran H. William from 1904 until his retirement, when the second generation took over. Chow King
competed against, but considered them friends, many principals of Levi Strauss and Co. In fact, it may have
been Chow King who invented stone washed jeans! Shortly before World War One, he purchased, at auction, some
water damaged denim, and dried them by hand in an empty lot. WWI caused the price to of denim to skyrocket,
resulting in a nifty windfall. After the war, the firm moved from 1105 Stockton St. to 1108-14 Stockton,
occupying multiple buildings. By the time Chow King was in charge of H. William, Levi Strauss had passed away,
and the business was being run by Walter Hass Sr. Post WWII, Levi's was still not much larger than H. William,
but grew to 22,000 sales people in the next 30 years. H. William was dissolved in the 1960's by the second
generation, as there was no one to run the business.
Community Involvement
The reference to the YMCA is significant.
Chinese Hospital Opening April 18, 1925
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Chow King sat on many community boards, such as Ming Quan Home for
Girls and Chung Mei Home for Boys. He was a founding member of the Chinatown YMCA, and served 35 years on its
board. He was a member of Chinese Hospital Planning Committee, founding The Chinese Hospital which opened in
1925. Not to mention the family associations, such as Sam Yup Benevolent Association, and an officer in the
Hung On Tong Society.
1235 Washington
The family moved here from Oakland, after returning from their China trip. This was a significant purchase,
being outside of the traditional boundaries of Chinatown. To this day, Nob Hill is one of San Francisco's
exclusive neighborhoods. Even my Contra Costa home, built in 1950 has a historical "Oriental Clause". To
purchase this building in 1931, Chow King had to place the deed in a Caucasian trustee. I am not aware of any
guarantees to secure the property, and he had to trust this person not to claim the property as his own. It
would be many years before Willie could transfer the title into the Leong's name. As you would expect, there
were attempts to drive the family out of the neighborhood. I don't think there were any burning crosses, but
there was a rice incident, in which some disgruntled neighbor tried to portray the family as unworthy heathens.
WWII War Years
Russell City was located in present day Hayward. Much like Luzhou, it is historical farming land, being
encroached upon by housing and expanding technology. Hayward, Fremont, and Niles, were all expansive farming
country in my lifetime. It is only in the last few decades that the farms turned into housing developments and
industrial parks. The 2 younger Leongs, are being honored as 21st century links to the war years; Andrew
receiving the French Legion of Honor Chevalier Award, and Lee providing his stories, of time on Treasure
Island, to the Treasure Island Historical Society for their new Museum. Andrew was a bombardier flying
dangerous missions over Europe in a B-25, and Lee serviced PBY Catalina's in the Pacific Theater, as part of
a Pan American envoy to the US Navy.
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