Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Charles Jung Kear of Amoy (update)

 For those who read the previous post on Charles Jung Kear of Amoy, here is another letter from the descendant seeking to learn more about him. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Bill Brown

 Bill, it was so good to received you email.  Many thanks.

As we are going away for a few days, i actually posted the information to you and the address I mailed it to :  Mr Bill Brown, Box 1288, Xiamen University, Xiamen Fujian China 361005.  So fingers crossed that you will receive the A4 size padded bag when you get back from your trip. I mailed postcards to my family from Xiamen and happy to report all arrived approximately 3/4 weeks later.

It was difficult to decide what I should send.  I went through numerous paperwork and found anything that I thought would/may help the Chinese end.  Im not sure how many  old Churches still stand in Xiamen but we did think that would be a start (hence why we were outside the old Presbyterian Church). Luck was with us that day.  The other strong clue was my gran telling my mother that her father could speak "Scotch and Chinese".  Did Charles attend a Missionary school?  Obviously he was well educated for someone of that period as he worked for a time as a court interpreter acting for the Chinese Miners one would assume in the Hill End/Bathurst region was full of Chinese mining for gold. He may have been a full blood Chinese and adopted the name "Kear" on arrival in Australia.  Or his father could have been Scottish, a missionary or a naval man.  We are betting on the missionary part although cousin Helen has done research on line and have not found any Kears coming to Amoy. Old residents in Mudgee insisted that Charles was a "full blood"  and we were told that he and his sons dressed in traditional clothing and had pigtails. And given the strong chinese features of my gran Hannah Vashti and other relatives, it seems that could be so.

All of Charles's children had biblical names. (see letter from David Kear, NZ - check out on Google his background)

However,  the Kears come from the Forest of Dean in the UK, and have resided there for hundreds of years - all well documented.  It seems puzzling that Charles's wife Jean Shergold (Shurgold) came from Wilshire, very close to the Forest of Dean.  David Kear in New Zealand has made a lifetime search of the Kears and has made a comprehensive and organised file of the family.  He generously has shared it with us.  You will see his notes to me, so logical and organised.  David is now 92 and it appears no longer is using a computer when he wrote to me late last year.  His son in Melbourne is now taking up the Kear research.  I have yet to contact him.

Whist in Xiamen, we stayed at the Swiss International Hotel opposite the Island and actually walked past the University.  So close.

Obviously Kear/Chinese research has been picked up by us all and put aside given personal circumstances and it was really when I retired some 9 years ago that I had a bit more time and though I should get a move on.  Both MK and HM my cousins have done the same whilst a lot younger .

So fingers crossed that there are some researchers who may help us further.

We are happy to reimburse copying costs/postage where/as needed.

Longing for more news.

Many, many thanks
J. 
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Seeking Charles Jung Kear of Amoy (19th Century)


Below is the latest letter from an Australian lady searching for info on her great grandfather, Charles Jung Kear, born in Amoy. If you have any info, please let me know and I can have her contact you!

Jan. 9, 2015
Dear Bill,
I have just finished photocopying a lot of material that you might find fun to read on my long search for information  on my great grandfather, Charles Jung Kear born in Amoy.  If nothing else, if you enjoy reading puzzles, it will give you something to think about. Would you please send me your mailing address so I can post?

This last trip to China seemed to be difficult.  Perhaps because I am now 74 and was traveling with energetic daughter J and partner S. Oh, and fit husband M.!  We did a huge amount of walking.  We flew into Shanghai where we have been a few times and always enjoy, then 8 hrs rail to Xiamen, followed by a flight to HK and home.  I now wish we had spent a week in Xiamen, particularly after the amazing luck of bumping into A.F. outside the Presbyterian Church.  How lucky was that and that she spoke English!  We had been to the Museum and no one could speak English and we had just about given up on the whole idea. I was very despondent. And for A. to tell me that she knew you.  I had read all of your blogs and emailed you previously but assumed you were very busy.  (I worked at M. University for some 30 odd years on and off).  What a pity we could not have met.

I was overwhelmed when we got to Xiamen.  I had read about the village of 600,000 people but found a high rise city of perhaps 3 million? I wanted a village with colonial houses and streets that I could meander around. Yes, I know.  Dreaming. 

We first visited China in 1983 - Beijing and have been back perhaps 25 times and to different regions.  Even as a kid I was fascinated with everything oriental without knowing anything about my grandmother's parents.  Whilst gran lived with us for some years, she never ever spoke of her parents and my mother told me that gran had burnt her birth certificate at some stage.  Being Chinese was not highly thought of in Australia in those days. My own search such as it was, was when I was about 18 years old and I went to visit Mudgee, NSW (west of Sydney) where my great grandparents lived to search records.  In those days it was all manual and not well kept.

It has been only over the last few years when I put an add in the Sydney Morning Herald looking for family connections that I met HM and M Kear - both younger than me - 2nd cousins, who have also been researching.  So now we are in touch and every now and again, try researching another angle.

The puzzle is only Xiamen that we cannot "crack".

It would be wonderful if we could find some relatives/information/whatever.  I would be back to Xiamen in a flash!

Cheers and many thanks

Sincerely
JC, Australia

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