My grandfather was born in the village of Dick Hoi in Toishan County (Canton, China). His chinese name was Yee Git and his American name was Tom Yee. I have a "restored" birth certificate from San Francisco (earthquake and fire) that says his fathery's name was Yee Chee and his mother's name was You Shee, but I don't know how dependable this was. It's very possible that my grandfather took advantage of the fire and earthquake to "acquire" citizenship. He was born approximately 1880 and came to the US 1905-1907. He had a wife and son in China but I have no idea what their names were. He eventually settled in Akron, Ohio and had a Chinese laundry there. He had friends in Pittsburgh, PA (I believe his name was Billy Yat or Yot, not sure of the spelling) and a man named Hing. Any information would be appreciated.

My grandfather,Alfred(Chinese name unknown), was also born in or came from the village Dick Hoy( translation given to me by an elderly cousin of my grandfather). The name/s I have been given are Sam Fou Dick Hoy. This may be the names of two neighbouring villages where most of the people were related in one way or another. He was born around 1900/`1901 and was an artist here in Sydney, Australia. He died at about 81 yrs old. Also related to the Ben Yee clan.
Interested to hear from Lisa.
Blessings.

Sam Fou in Chinese means three cities. It is composed of three cities with Dick Hoy as one of the cities. The three cities straddled the Taishan/Kaiping (Hoi Sun/ Hoi Ping) border with Dick Hoy being part of Taishan. After the comminist takeover there was a redistribution and Dick Hoy became part of Kaiping. Sam Fou also became Kaiping's county capital. The name has changed also to Kaiping City.

Hi,

My Dad came from that same village and so some of your info is correct. The Toms were near by and so my family "purchased" their US papers to come over, with my Dad being Sam Tom, when he arrived. I do know that they tended to end up in New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and of course, San Francisco.

Good luck on your search.

Ken