Immigration and Naturalization Service Records at
NARA's Pacific Region (San Bruno) in
San Bruno, California

 San Francisco District Office (NARA San  Bruno)
 

• Arrival investigation case files, 1884-1944 (1,060 cubic feet.) Most early files document the investigation of people arriving from China to determine their eligibility for admission under the Chinese exclusion laws. By the early 20th century the scope of individuals investigated expanded to include people arriving from India, Japan (especially picture brides), Korea, and other Asian countries, and Russia.
• Chinese partnership case files, 1894-1944 (40 cubic feet.) Maps of some Chinatowns in California, descriptions of business activities, photographs, and lists of business partners. Arranged by file numbers representing cities (mostly California) or, in the case of San Francisco, street names. Indexed on microfilm.
• Case files of investigations not resulting in warrant proceedings in the San Francisco District and investigations within the San Francisco District at the request of other service offices, 1912-1950 (16 cubic feet.) Case files of individuals investigated for possible immigration fraud.· Case files of immigration fraud investigations, 1914-1924 (2 cubic feet.) Materials from the Vauer and Densmore Investigations. Included are village maps, extensive family genealogies, photographic logs of recent deportees, passenger lists, interrogations of immigrants and suspect INS employees, and coaching papers.
• Passport and travel control files, 1918-1924 (1 cubic foot)
• Return certificate application case files of Chinese departing, 1912-1944 (275 cubic feet)
• Return certificate application case files of natives departing, 1903-1912 (7 cubic feet)
• Return certificate application case files of lawfully domiciled laborers departing, 1903-1912 (2 cubic feet)
• Return certificate application case files of lawfully domiciled merchants, teachers, and students departing, 1903-1912 (3 cubic feet)
• Return certificate application case files of Chinese departing, 1894-1912 (18 cubic feet)
• Case files of investigations resulting in warrant proceedings, 1912-1950 (6 cubic feet.) Case files of individuals arrested and held for deportation.
• General immigration case files, 1944-1955 (254 cubic feet)

All San Francisco District Office case files listed above are arranged by case file number. A database to the case files is being compiled.

• Administrative records (3 cubic feet.) General correspondence, 1915-1941; historical files relating to Angel Island, 1894-1941; boat files, 1911-1941, containing information about vessels used to ferry staff members and immigrants from Angel Island to San Francisco; telephone cable files, 1910-1940; and construction and maintenance files, 1912-1913.
• Certificate of identity books, 1909-1936 (½ cubic foot)

Microfilmed Records

• General index to immigration case files, c. 1910-1979 (unnumbered microfilm.) Index to the arrival investigation case files, 1884-1944.
• San Francisco Chinese mortuary records, 1870-1933 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Certificates of identity for Chinese residents, 1909-c. 1946 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Records of war brides with children, 1946-1948 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Register of Chinese departure case files, 1912-1943 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Records of miscellaneous [Chinese] immigration cases from other ports, 1911-1912 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Registers of Chinese departing from and returning to the United States, 1882-1908 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Passenger lists of Chinese, 1897-1905 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Registers of alien students admitted under the Immigration Act of 1924, 1924-1946 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Index of court certificates related to Chinese, c. 1885-1905 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Records of natives [United States-born Chinese Americans] departing,1909-1913 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Alphabetical index of Chinese partnerships in and outside of San Francisco, California, no date (unnumbered microfilm)
• Daily records of applications [by Chinese laborers] for return certificates, 1903-1912 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Daily records of applications [by Chinese merchants, students, and teachers] for return certificates, 1903-1912 (unnumbered microfilm)
• Register of "Chinese" partnerships in California, 1894-c.1940 (unnumbered microfilm.) Microfilm of the card file register provides case file numbers of the Chinese partnership case files, 1894-1944.  It is arranged by city (mostly in California) and there under alphabetically by business name.  Entries for San Francisco are arranged by street name and thereunder numerically by business address.  cabinet 40 drawer 9.
• Minutes of Boards of Special Inquiry at the San Francisco Immigration Offices, 1899-1909 (M1387)
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in San Francisco, California, 1893-1953 (M1410.) These passenger arrival lists are a key to the case files. The case file numbers are composed of the arrival number given to a ship entering the port of San Francisco followed by the ticket number or, after 1910, manifest page number and line number.
• Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving in San Francisco, California, 1954-1957 (M1411)
• Customs Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in San Francisco, California, 1903-1918 (M1412)
• Registers of Chinese Laborers Returning to the United States through the Port of San Francisco, 1882-1888 (M1413)
• Lists of Chinese Passengers Arriving in San Francisco, California, 1882-1914 (M1414)
• Admitted Alien Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving in San Francisco, California, 1896-1921 (M1436)
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, California, from Insular Possessions, 1907-1911 (M1438)
• Lists of U.S. Citizens Arriving at San Francisco, California, 1930-1949 (M1439)
• Lists of Chinese Applying for Admission to the United States through the Port of San Francisco, 1903-1947 (M1476)
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, California, from Honolulu, Hawaii, 1902-1907 (M1494)

 San Francisco District Suboffices at Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, Salinas, and Stockton, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii (8 cubic feet)

• General immigration case files, 1944-1955 (for Honolulu, 1944-1949)

Applications for Duplicate Certificates of Residence, 1893-1920, RG 85
                   - Entry 137 -34 boxes

Applications for duplicate certificates of residence to replace ones that were either lost, stolen, or destroyed together with affidavits on the circumstances of the loss of the original, sworn depositions of the applicant, related correspondence, reports of Chinese Inspectors, and often a photograph of the applicant. Arranged by duplicate cert. number from ca. 132503 to ca 149995, and 52080/165 to 54705/26.

Chronological Records Relating to Chinese Certificates of Residence, ca. 1893-1903.}, RG 85 - Entry 138

1. Chinese Residence Ledgers and Journals (6 vols.), arranged from 1892 to1902, consisting of four ledgers and two journals of the number of residence certificates issued to various officials.

2. Record of Chinese Certificates of Residence, 1 vol., arranged from March 8, 1894 to June 20, 1894. Record of certificates issued at the Sacramento, CA, office with the certificate number, name of the issuee, and to whom delivered.

3. Record of Chinese Certificates Compared, 1 vol., arranged from Sept. 16,1902 to June 29, 1903. Apparently, a list of the applications for duplicate certificates of residence that were compared to the originals for authenticity.  Consists of the name of the applicant, certificate number, and date compared and mailed, to whom sent and their address. All arranged chronologically.

Numerical Records Relating to Chinese Certificates of Residence, ca.1895-1901., RG 85 - Entry 139

1. Record of Return Certificates 1 to 13800, Jan 1895 to May 1901. Two volume record of certificates issued to Chinese laborers with the number of certificate, where it was sent, to whom issued, the port of departure, and date of departure and return.

2. Register of Chinese Laborers Departing from and Returning to US, certificate numbers 1 to 1363A, ca. 1895. Consists of the number of the certificate, name, occupation, last place of residence, date of arrival and departure.

3. Applications for Duplicate Certificates of Residence from Honolulu, HI, 1 vol., arranged by cert. number from 29101 to 29408? with numerous gaps.  Contains the cert. number, name, number of the certificate being replaced, and the date issued.

Misc. Records Relating to Chinese Certificates of Residence, n.d.}, RG 85 - Entry 140

No arrangement or dates. Three volumes of blank certificates and one volume with a listing of "Certificates of Residence in Steel Boxes and Cabinets According to Districts."
_____________________________________
Date:  Fri, 15 Feb 2002

CHINESE PARTNERSHIP CASE FILES AND RELATED DOCUMENTS, ca1882-ca1943

The records are arranged in two segments: 1. "Lynch Maps" and related material; 2. partnership case files. The "Lynch Maps" are arranged first alphabetically by San Francisco street name and then alphabetically by California city name. The partnership case files are arranged numerically by case file numbers representing cities (mostly California) or, in the case of San Francisco, street names and addresses. The "Lynch Maps," created by Immigration Officer John Lynch, are hand drawn maps of Chinese American business districts. Most "Lynch Maps" date from 1894 and were not updated in subsequent years.  The partnership case files include lists of business partners, photographs of the partners, and a few maps of some Chinese American business districts in California. Some documents date to the 1870s.  The U.S. Customs Service originally collected lists of business partners in Chinese American stores on a semi-annual basis. Later the Immigration Service assumed the Customs Service functions and maintained the files. The lists were collected to facilitate the identification of merchants who were exempt from exclusion under the various "Chinese Exclusion Acts."

Businesses that mainly provided a service, such as a restaurant, tailor shop, laundry, or photographic studio, were not considered merchant firms and do not have case files. This is an excerpt from the Immigration Act of 1893 concerning merchants:

Act of November 3, 1893 (28 Stat. 7) SEC. 2. The words "laborer" or "laborers," wherever used in this act, or in the act to which this is an amendment, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled manual laborers, including Chinese employed in mining, fishing, huckstering, peddling, laundrymen, or those engaged in taking, drying, or otherwise preserving shell or other fish for home consumption or exportation.  The term "merchant," as employed herein and in the acts of which this is amendatory, shall have the following meaning and none other:  A merchant is a person engaged in buying and selling merchandise, at a fixed place of business, which business is conducted in his name, and who during the time he claims to be engaged as a merchant, does not engage in the performance of any manual labor, except such as is necessary in the conduct of his business as such merchant.

The following is a form letter issued by the Commissioner of Immigration in San Francisco to Chinese American merchants:

Office of the Commissioner
Angel Island Station
Via Ferry Post Office
San Francisco, Cal.

Sir:

In accordance with instructions received from the Department of Labor at Washington, D.C., all Chinese mercantile firms in this District are requested to file with this office a complete partnership list, in duplicate, every six months, preferably on the first of April and the first of October of each year, giving the names, in both English and Chinese characters, of all members of the firm, their respective duties, and their present locations or addresses (city or town is sufficient - street numbers not necessary).  The first list filed after the receipt of this letter should have an untouched photograph of each of the active members of the firm attached to the list opposite his name. Subsequent lists should contain photographs of any new active members, together with the date they became active, but it is unnecessary to supply additional photographs of old members who already have their photographs on file. All partnership lists should be certified under oath by the manager or other responsible officer of the firm. In event there has been no change in the partnership list since the last preceding list was filed, as required by this letter, a certificate to that effect, certified under oath in the same manner as a partnership list, will be accepted in lieu of a complete list.  The purpose of these lists is to furnish a means of identifying bona fide members of the different firms and if furnished strictly in accordance with above instructions it will enable such members to establish their status when applying for pre-investigation, etc., with a minimum loss of time.

Respectfully,
__________ Commissioner.

See the entry REGISTER OF CHINESE PARTNERSHIPS IN CALIFORNIA, ca1882-ca1940 below.

Location: 3140A-G Boxes 1-99

REGISTER OF CHINESE PARTNERSHIPS IN CALIFORNIA, ca1882-ca1943

The card file register gives the case file numbers of the CHINESE PARTNERSHIP CASE FILES, 1894-1944. The card file register is not really an index - researchers should know the city or address a business to search it easily. It is arranged by city (mostly in California) and thereunder by business name. Entries for San Francisco are arranged by street name and thereunder numerically by business address. This register exists in microfilm format only. The original 3X5 cards composing the register were destroyed after microfilming in the 1950s.

Location: microfilm reading room cabinet 40 drawer 9
_______________________________________
Date:  Thu, 14 Feb 2002

We have only that one microfilm index roll for Chinese partnership case files so it appears that we do not have a file for the General  Produce Company (the one founded May 1933). I am not sure about the exact begin and end dates for the partnership files in our INS holdings. I have not been able to learn much about the administrative background behind the collection of partnership lists. It is clear that the U.S. Customs Service began collecting partnership lists some time in the 1880s. The documents were turned over to the INS in 1903 when they fully assumed the "Chinese Exclusion" functions from the Customs Service. Some partnership files were maintained by the INS up through the 1930s, but I am not sure if the INS required all Chinese American merchants to submit partnership lists by that time. Unfortunately, all of the INS administrative records that might have explained their procedures were destroyed when the Angel Island Immigration Station burned down in August 1940.

Our oldest INS "Chinese Exclusion Act" case file dates to May 12, 1884 with the arrival of the SS Oceanic. Unfortunately, we have only four case files from 1884. They are listed below:

Leong Cum (File #9228/1630) SS Oceanic, May 12, 1884
Lui Fung (File #9228/ 1601) SS Oceanic, May 12, 1884
Chung Lee  (File #   / 1792) SS City Of Tokio, June 15, 1884
Yeung Fook Tin (File #   / 2120) SS Arabic, October 31, 1884

You might try looking at the passenger arrival lists for 1884 to find Jung Shee and her daughter. The lists are available on National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication M1414, Lists of Chinese Passenger Arrivals at San Francisco, 1882-1914.  Lists for the year 1884 are on roll 1. The lists are not indexed by name and are sometimes hard to read so it may take some time to find a particular name.

Bill Greene
Archives Technician
NARA-Pacific Region (San Francisco)
Archival Operation Staff (NRHSA)
1000 Commodore Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066-2350
Telephone: 650-876-9009
Fax: 650-876-9233
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________________

NWCTB-2202786

February 7, 2002

Dear Mr. Chong,
 
This is in response to your email request of February 2, 2002,  seeking the records of your great grandfather, LEONG Yee Chong,  YEE  Chung,   LEONG Ah Bow,  YEE Chong.    We have not found any information relating to this individual, thus far.  However, we have been in touch with the Historian of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  If you can provide us with this indiviudal's date of birth, she can make a search of their Master Index.

Sincerely,

Suzanne A. Harris

Suzanne A. Harris
Archivist
NARA/NWCTB
Old Military and Civil Records
Textual Services Division
7th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20408-2001
(202) 501-5395 ext. 330
FAX:  202-219-6273
Email:  [email protected]