The Chronicles of Chow King Leong & His Family

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In 1909, Chow King returned once more to China, hoping Lau Yung would relent and accept the challenge. This time, his oldest sister, acting as the head of the Chow household, took the bull by the horn and gave Lau Yung an ultimatum; refusal to oblige her husband’s wishes, meant approval and consent for Chow King to take a second wife, perhaps to one of the scores of flappers plying their trade in Chinatown. What a dreadful thought! In the older days, the most deplorable situation in which a female finds herself is: (1) to remain a spinster, (2) to become a widow and (3) to be abandoned by her husband. That cinched the case. Certain that she would never come home to civilization from barbaric America, she gave away most of her jewelry and other treasured belongings, keeping a few precious gold items as mementos. In ensuing years, the mementos proved to be an important asset.
Anticipating his brother’s intention of bringing Lau Yung to the States, Wing Him requested of his brother to induce his elder sister-in-law, Wai Shee, to emigrate at the same time. Wai Shee welcomed the idea.
The cleaver incident with his uncle had not escaped Chow King’s memory. It was a big factor in his decision to leave China, to try to break the pattern of hand to mouth existence. He made up his mind to provide an outlet for his uncle’s family to achieve what he had accomplished. Taking his uncle’s second son, Wing Yew, Chow King and Lau Yung passed him off as their son. The youngster was then twelve years old, a bit old for him to claim Lau Yung as his mother. In order to give him credence to the falsehood, Lau Yung upped her age by four years on her application form. (Wing Yew lived on the premises of H. William.)

Chow King and Lau Shee, along with their paper son and sister-in-law, arrived in San Francisco Bay aboard the Japanese Steamer, Tenyo Maru, on Dec 17, 1909. Click to view larger

In November 1909, Chow King and wife Lau Yung, accompanied by their “paper son” Wing Yew, and sister-in-law Wai Shee, boarded a sailing vessel of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in Hong Kong to make the Pacific transoceanic crossing. Lau Yung, Wing Yew, both young and healthy had no problems on board, but Wai Shee, ten years older then her younger sister-in-law was seasick, and suffered miserably for the duration of the two month passage.
After the ship dropped anchor at the port of San Francisco, the two women and child, along with other passengers were detained at Angel’s Island for questioning. They were quizzed about frivolous things, such as: “How many stops are there at the front entrance to your house?”, “Toward which direction does your kitchen window face?” Foolish questions? Yes, they are, but the immigration examiner was merely ascertaining that the women were legitimate wives of the merchants, and not transported prostitutes.
The early Chinese pioneers came to “Golden Mountains” as sojourners, leaving behind family and home. Prior to the arrival of their wives, Chow King Leong and his older brother, Wing Him Sum, lived a bachelor’s life. The discovery of gold; the subsequent opening of quick silver and cinnabar mines; the building of the transcontinental railroad; and the spreading of the fishing, shrimp, and abalone industries; enlivened the business of making working men’s clothing. The two brothers found a niche in the sewing trade. They, along with many of their kinsmen were employed by a village clansman, Dong Yin, who was already well established in the sewing business. Dong Yin operated a small shop turning out overalls, shirts, cooks’ aprons and caps for the miners, fishermen, railroad hands and the general laborers. It was located on the west side of Stockton Street at 1103 between Jackson and Pacific. The men, working diligently from sunrise to sunset, eked out a fairly good living.

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