1906
The photograph was taken at the Young Cheong studio - 容昌- in Ipoh.
Ipoh was written in Chinese as 壩羅 – Balo - instead of 怡保。
Seated in the middle was great grandfather and great-grandmother & their family. Grandfather the 3rd son was seated on his far left .
As the photograph was not dated, the year 1906 was derived at from the age of the baby seated on the lap of the lady dressed in peranakan attire on the far right of great-grandmother. The nyonya lady was grandfather’s wife.
According to the record in the family genealogical record – grandfather’s son was born in the year of Emperor Guangxu - 光緒乙巳年 – in the 7th lunar month. That would be Aug 1905.
Assuming that the baby to be about 6 to 8 months’ old, that would make put the photograph to be taken between Feb – Apr 1906.
Grandpa was born in the year 1883 – and he would be 23 years old.
What a dashing scholarly figure he looked - in his traditional garb, wooden cloth shoes with thick soles and complemented with a round fan. Being the 3rd in his family – he was known as
Gu San - 古三– to his town folks in later years.
It was common then for young men to marry local peranakan ladies. Grandfather's first wife the nyonya maiden was from the Xie Family- 謝氏.
The Gu family genealogy - 古氏族谱- recorded that she gave birth to two sons and died at an early age of 22 years old. Only the first son survived to adulthood.
Grandfather's two other brothers were in the picture. 2nd granduncle was seated next to great-grandfather, and the one next to grandfather was 4th granduncle.
2nd granduncle's wife was seated next to great-grandmother. She was from China.
As a Hakka’s it was not a custom for the womenfolk’s to have dainty bound feet – for the Hakka women folks had to work in the fields, tending to the housework bringing up kids, and attending to the elder in-laws, while the husband venture out to work in distant land.
What was the occasion for this family photograph? Why was great-grand father and great-grandmother & all the family members here in Ipoh. Grandfather and 2nd grandunlce and their families stayed on, while great-grandfather, great-grandmother and 4th granduncle returned to China. How long was their stay in Nanyang, and when did they return to China?
If I remember well, I heard from dad that great-grandfather initially went to Burma, that is Myanmar, but later made their way to Malaya. As such grandfather could have left the village for Nanyang - 南洋 - in the late 1890/s or early 1900/s.
Photographs of great-grand fathers’ and great-grandmothers’ graves in China, used to hang in the old house together with this photograph.
These questions of when the early generations left their village and what was the occasion for the gathering in Ipoh / Menglembu - were family history lost in antiquity.
Perhaps, some living elders who still have the answers, be it here or back in the village in China.
1926
This wedding photograph was badly soiled when it was salvaged from the old house 1A.
As a wedding memento - it was clearly dated and the event and date recorded in ink at the back of the photograph -
映於〡〩〢〧年乃民國〡〥年 六、二六号
陰暦 丙寅五月十七日
It was taken on the 26June1926, the 15th year of the Republic in the lunar year of
binyin on the 17th day of the 5th lunar month. The bridegroom, age 21, standing in the middle of the photograph in black suit and bow tie was the baby in the 1906 photograph.
Grandfather was seated on the right of the bridge, a maiden from the Liang family -
梁氏. Grandpa would be 43 years old.
Seated on this right was his 2nd wife, and our immediate grandmother. His peranakan wife – as we heard died at a young age and subsequently grandfather re-married. Grandmother was born in China and she was from the Zou family - 鄒氏.
Seated on grandmother’s lap was a baby - about six months’ old. He would be our 3rd uncle, while the groom being the eldest son of grandfather was our 1st uncle. The first of grandfathers’ sons from his 2nd wife, was dad. Dad was on the far right among the children seated on the floor in the front row. He was 2 years old then.
All in grandfather had six sons and 6 daughters that lived to adulthood - one from his firt nyonya wife, and the rest from his 2nd wife.
2nd granduncle and his wife, were seated on the right of the photograph. The adult womenfolks were his daughters, as we know that 2nd grandmother had three girls, and did not bore any male.
The house where this photograph was taken was in Menglembu. It was probably behind 1A across Jalan Lee Man Hin. That was before they moved to another house where the current police station is located. When I was small, I heard that dad was born in that house - and it was probably this house in this wedding photograph.
Interestingly, there were two big lantern's - one was written with the characters - Gu Family and the other - Welcoming the bride. It was the custom and tradition of then, and these red character lanterns were too seen in the peranakan wedding ceremony.
Grandfather returned to China in 1946 after the the Pacific War ended. By then he would have left his village close to 50 long years. His vision then was to bring his brood back to China.
However, before it could materialise, he passed away in 1948, and his wife, his children and the grandchildren remained in Nanyang...
Postscript:
This 1926 wedding picture, together with the 1906 photograph, was left behind in 1A when the family moved house in 1983. In the late 1980/s or early 1990/s went back to 1A and found these two photographs on the floor in dad’s room, beneath the windows. The photograph frame had rotted badly after years of exposure in a dank and humid room where water would seep thru the windows during heavy rain.
The numbers written in the back of the photographs consisted of Shuzhou numerals蘇州碼子– which was the numerals for Chinese accounting then -
Reference:
1. Chinese calendar – 万历年
http://www.51baozhi.com/wannianli/
2. Shuzhou numerals蘇州碼子 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_numerals
3. 古氏族谱- 革公派 - Gu Family Record - Ge-gong branch -
卅五世 ( 35th Generation)
顺元公之子
鴻慶號雁如諡謹慈配李氏
生四子永明永亮永禎永祥
卅六世 (36th Generation)
鴻慶
長子 永明
幼亡係錦榮錦麟錦桂房承鼎
次子 永亮
清光緒辛巳（１８８１）年十？月廿三丑時生配李氏光緒庚辰八月廿六日生生一子錦麟嗣半子錦宏妾孫氏現生一子錦添
(2nd granduncle died in Lahat, Perak, and 2nd grandaunt in Menglembu. They were buried in the 'old hill' cemetery, Menglembu.
三子 永禎
清光緒癸未年（１８８３）十月十七曰子時生配謝氏操烈廿二歳生二子錦榮錦鑫継妻鄒氏光緒壬辰（１８９２）八月廾日丑時生現生三子錦宏錦環錦琳 （後錦朱錦昌）
民國卅七年戊子年五月卄五日寅時去逝於梅縣松口諡慎詒公
民國卅七年戊子金秋月吉曰葬
Grandfather passed away in his home village Songkou, Meixian, in 1948, and buried there. While grandmother passed away in Menglembu in 1961 and buried in 'new hill'.
All their sons and daughters have too since passed away.
四子 永祥
光緒戊子崴 （１８８８）四月廿七自曰配李世
(4th granduncle and family remained in China. The elders from China mentioned that one of his daughters migrated to Malaya too).
Update -
12.04.2012 - replace photographs re-taken on 13Mar/Menglembu
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