Can you precisely locate the Arcola School in 1895-1903, Howard School 1903-1907, and Alpha School 1907-1910.
The Arcola School flyer says the original school was built 1874, 1/2 mile due north of the old Dr Bordon Place (Bordon town?) and 1/2 mile east of the old Capwrighty Homestead. The building was moved to its present site in the early 80's (i.e. 1980's ??). Where is that Arcola School with "Arcola 1910" on its tower?
We earlier suspected the Yee Chung kids might have attended the original Arcola School, but ...
From the 1891 Great Atlas of Fresno County, the original Alpha School (note the circle at NW corner Road 25 and Avenue 11) was located near the Dorn Ranches, which were located primarily east of Road 25 along Avenue 10, and south of Avenue 10 along Road 25. Their ranch house was at one of these locations. Therefore, I believe the Chung kids never attended Arcola School, and we should concentrate on finding old records from Alpha School.
The Howard School registry showed the kids first attended Howard in Fall 1904, and "moved" to Alpha School on November 7, 1907.
So now we can relate the two school changes with the three ranches identified in the testimonies. Yee Chung's children recall they first lived on the Dorn Ranch. A year or so after his death, they moved to the second ranch, Emma Ranch, and later they moved to the Roberts Ranch.
Hence, they attended Alpha School while on the D.S. Dorn Ranch until fall 1904, attended Howard School while on Emma Ranch, then returned to Alpha School when they moved to Roberts Ranch in November 1907.
Do you think we can wish the Madera school district offices might have the Arcola box of records from prior to 1906. The Eastin-Arcola School had records dating back only to 1907 (unless there was an improperly marked box). You taught at Eastin-Arcola, according to the receptionist, who had been shown a copy of my e-mail. I had sent Mike Lennemann an e-mail last Wednesday in ancipation of my trip to Madera and the schools, so they were anticipating me, but the Lennemann was not in and the vice principal was showing district officials around.
When I stopped by Howard School, I was met by Darrell Yates, who showed me the "boxes" of old Howard School registries. Yates is going to send you a brochure of Howard School's history, that you can save or send me. I copied all the relevant records.
By the time the family moved to Emma Ranch and to Howard School, Quon You (LE Chong) was nearly 15. That is why he did not appear in the Howard register with his siblings. In China, boys would commonly marry by that age, or take the ship to Gold Mountain.
From the proximity of the Dorn Ranches and the Mordecai Ranch, its natural to conclude GW Mordecai was quite familiar with Yee Chung. They were neighboring ranchers. Normally, Mordecai's deep southern, Alabama origins might not have made him likely to be friends with Chinese, but Yee Chung was known as the "whitest" Chinaman in Madera according to the Madera Mercury, and a prominent and wealthy one at that. Yee Chung was smart, and had become very American. The two became good neighbors, and earned Mr Mordecai's respect. Given our family traditions, Yee Chung often used the fruits of his orchards as complementary offerrings to his neighbors and friends. General Produce heirs did the same, whenever visiting friends. Even George Chong passed out produce from the company to friends of the family, though not a partner, and we had all the fruits and vegetables we could use.
Money and wealth does change the color of one's skin. At first, Yee Chung was probably rebuffed by Mr Mordecai, but over time they learned to share their ranching knowledge and experience with one another.
The Chinese were good farmers, and were known to teach white farmers and Maderans the art of achieving good crop yields. All the early Chinese were good cooks, whether or not they work as cooks, or just in the home. We recently learned LE Chong had been a cook in the cookhouse (for the farm workers) at the Wolf Ranch near Ryde, among the many other tasks in running a ranch. Where did he learn from? more than likely his mom and dad. The Chinese workers on the RR's were known to eat a balanced diet of Chinese foods. I can easily imagine Yee Chung being a host to local guests, if not to his neighbors Osborne and Mordecai.
Recall that story of when the Mordecai family got a bunch of Chinese to save all the furniture from their burning home? What year was that. If before 1902, Yee Chung and Quon You could have helped! There must have been many Chinese workers on the farms in the area.
Yee Chung closest neighbor friend were the Osbornes, who were at his house after he died. If Yee Chung lived on the Dorn Ranch to the north or west of the Mordecai Ranch, the Osborne's also lived north or west of the Mordecai Ranch (could not have been the other side of Mordecai Ranch if just 1/4 mile distant). I don't see any "Osborne" marking on adjacent land plots, unless they obtain their plot after the atlas was printed. The testimonies said their "closest" neighbor were the Osbornes, who lived 1/4 mile away.
After leaving Madera and settling near Ryde, LE Chong quickly learned to rent white-owned farms, and move into the main ranch house. LE first moved to Ryde, where he llived on the Bellamy Ranch, EL Shelly, and settling on a ranch at the south edge of Isleton. The latter was a four-story mansion, with a grand ballroom on the 3rd floor, parlor on 2nd, and storage on 4th. LE's brothers and Ah Moy family moved to the McCarthy Ranch on Grand Island just north of the Isleton Bridge. In the 40's, LE lived on the Pollock Ranch near Clarksburg. In each case, they lived in the main house on the ranch -- though at McCarthy Ah Moy's family lived in the main house, and her brothers Look, Sam, Jue, and Bing lived in a bunkhouse.
My belief is that they lived quite comfortably in the owner's original ranch house--which were usually large, spacious homes, and sometimes quite stately. At one time, I thought the family may have lived in a bare-wood bungalow on the ranch, while the owner lived in the main house. But now I have learned that when they rent a ranch, they get the whole place. The wealthy owner usually lives in town. No sense leaving the main quarters idle, and not living well. Yee Chung did the same, and this experience taught Quon You how to live well on another's property. And live well and high he did, with fancy and expensive cars, trucks, worker motels, etc. He was not wealthy, but spent as if he was.
If you do investigate the ranches to the north and west of Mordecai, and particularly if you can locate the Osborne ranch, look for the main ranch house and its age. Perhaps some properties did not have a main ranch house, and the current tennant would have a newer structure. Of course, the original structure could have burned down like Mordecai's original house. Very likely, Yee Chung lived in the main ranch house on one of the Dorn Ranches, while the wealthy owner Dorn lived in town. My guess is he lived in a Dorn ranch house very near Cottonwood Creek, near the corner of Road 25 and Avenue 10½. If you lcan ocate Osborne Ranch, the Yee Chung house was between the Osborne's and Mordecai's ranch.
The family was still living on the Dorn Ranch when there was an attempted arson attempt in August 1904. The newspaper called it "Mrs Yee Chung's house" and "residence". The article said it was about 4 miles from town, in an old building. (probably built 1868 like Mordecai's) And the family was thus still living on the Dorn ranch when Ah Tye (who worked on Yee Chung's "place", or ranch) was peppered with bird shot in August 1903 by Jean Chailleau, the Frenchman who owned a small orchard southwest of town.
And upon visit, someone may stumble into a treasure trove of Yee Chung artifacts left behind in a heavy lock box or safe. Sun Kow had a safe to keep his important documents for the Sun Sun Wo Store; the box was open by the Sun descendants many years later. As a store owner, Yee Chung had a lock box, and kept the same for his orchard documents. The heavy, massive box was much too heavy for the family to take along on the train. We would like to think the heavy lock box still resides on the Dorn ranch he resided, and that the family did not move to Emma and Roberts Ranches, nor to San Francisco.
From the 1910 census we know the family was still in Madera, and the testimonies confirmed they left in 1910. They probably took the train from Madera to San Francisco, taking along only what they would carry in train luggage customary for the times. Being that no descendants had any old pictures from Madera, let alone of Yee Chung, perhaps they traveled lightly and left all non-essentials. Though I'm surprised they would not have taken any pictures of their father--unless they had none. That is surprising with Yee Chung's earlier wealth and local reputation, having left the family with estate money to last 8 years. How sad that must have been, after living a good and prosperous life in Madera, and having to depart for San Francisco to live in "house keeping rooms" in Chinatown among new immigrants. LE had to work at Sing Chong Company to support the family, though its uncertain whether Jue at 16 also worked, or whether he completed more schooling.
Darryl