updated 12/14/2001
Questions for the Bill Coate's Sierra Vista School 6th grade class research for 2001-02.

Early Life in Madera

Life Prior to Settling in Madera/Borden

__ Any newspaper interviews with Yee Chung, where he may have described his life prior to Madera:
  __ Central Pacific RR: transcontinental, central valley, across mountain pass to Los Angeles?
  __ Did he lay the tracks through the San Joaquin valley? thus taking up residence at Borden upon completion?
  __ gold mining experience, when, where, fortune made, if any; bank records for cashing gold for money

Borden Store

Adobe Ranch Store
__ While orchard farming, Yee Chung also ran the store on the Adobe Ranch, owned by Brooke Morgan.  Where was this store located?  The Adobe Ranch should show up on the 1891 Great Atlas of Fresno County.

Residency
__ Are there any records of the Chock Chee papers (certificate of residency) that Mr and Mrs Yee Chung obtained in Madera in 1893-94?  They were registered in the Superior Court.  Normally, San Francisco immigrations would have had to approve the residency papers, but we find no record of Yee Chung at the NARA San Bruno archives.  Mrs Chung's 1929 testimony said both of their Chock Chee papers were left with the Superior Court of Madera in 1903, when they were planning a trip to China..  NARA San Bruno tried to find out what happened to the 1892-94 Certificates of Residence, and found evidence that they were stored by the INS in Washington, D.C. up to around 1940 -- but no trace thereafter of what happened to those records.

__ Mrs Chung said all the births of her children were recorded in Madera.  Where are the registers for their births?

Estate
__ Who was C. Charlie, and why did Mrs Chung nominate him to manage her husband's estate?   Some descendants don't recall her speaking English, nor could she sign her name in English.  Why was this person trusted?  "Charlie" was a common name used by the Chinese in America; perhaps, C. Charlie was Chinese.

__ Are there any Madera Courthouse records from the 1902 court dispute over whether C. Charlie would be the estate administrator, or the friend of the coroner.  Could they have been archived in the Superior Court?

__ How large was Yee Chung's "sizable estate" at his death?  that caused the Madera coroner/mortician Jay to contest for rights to mange his estate.  What would that be worth in 2001 currency?  Did he manage the estate fairly, i.e. was the monies distributed in accordance with the court order?  What was the estate manager's commission or fee or managing Yee Chung's estate?  Banking records?

School
__ We know the Yee Chung children (Quon Jue, Ah Moy, Ah Lin, Quon Sam, and Quon Bing) attended Howard School from Sept 1904 to Nov 1907.   Jue started in 2nd grade in 1904, Moy and Lin in 1st in 1904.  Quon You (Lee or LE Chong) did not attend Howard School, being 15 years old at the time.

__ The close proximity of the original Alpha School to the D.S. Dorn Ranch, shown in the 1895 Great Atlas would lead one to believe Quon You attended Alpha School, prior to the family moving in 1904.  The Howard School 1907-08 register showed the Chung children moved (back) to Alpha School in Nov 7, 1907.

__ The present Alpha School is fairly new, and was named after the original Alpha School, which had not been in existence for many years.  The new Alpha School has no early records from the original Alpha country school.  Can someone help locate the original Alpha School registers and records for 1895-1904, and 1907-1910.  Quon You would likely have attended those years, and Quon Jue for a year in 1st grade in 1903-04.   Mrs Chung's and Lin's 1929 testimonies said all the children attended school in the Madera area; that must include Quon You, who must have attended Alpha School.  Might the records be in the Madera country district offices?

Schools and Ranches
__ Based on their schools, the family lived on the D.S. Dorn Ranch for many years while Quon You and Quon Jue attended Alpha School.  When they moved to Emma Ranch in Sept 1904, the children attended Howard School.  In Nov 1907 the family moved to the Roberts Ranch, and the children then went back to Alpha School, according to Howard School records.  Although its suggested the Emma ranch was the Emma Roberts ranch, that does not preclude their moving to another Roberts family ranch in 1907.

__ Did any of the children work after Yee Chung's death in 1902?  Did Quon You get a job to help out?  However, we do know from testimonies that none of the children started a business in Madera.

__ Information on the children, in order:  Lee (12/21/89), Moy (4/17/91), Jue (10/3/93), Lin (12/15/94), Sam (1/10/98), Bing (1/17/00), Look (7/26/02).

Ranches
__ Yee Chung farmed on the Dorn Ranch, actually Dorn Ranches.  If he also farmed vegetables, what type?  What type of fruit orchards did he farm, and how many acres.  How did they transport the produce to market?   Might the  ranches have artifacts, framed pictures, or gifts from Yee Chung?  Note that his children later got into farming pears and other crops near Isleton, using their family's heritage.

__ The 1929 testimonies stated that the Osborne family was their nearest neighbor when they lived on the Dorn Ranch, about 1/4 mile away.  Also, the newpaper article on his death reported that Joe and Clarence Osborne brothers were at their house the next day, when a jury or several white men was sworn in to testify on the cause of death.  The 1895 Great Atlas shows the Dorn ranches bordering both the north and west sides of the Mordecai ranch.   The Osborne ranch must have been the next ranch to the west or north.  If we can locate the Osborne ranch in 1902, then the Yee Chung house was located between that ranch, and the Mordecai ranch.  Perhaps, we can locate the house they lived, and investigate whether the family left artifacts, pictures, safe boxes, or other remembrances of the Chung family.

__ A survey of old ranch houses on the former D. S. Dorn ranch properties shows that there are very few ranch homes on the properties, even today.  There are no stately mansions or ranch homes on the former Dorn properties west of the Mordecai ranch.  The area is planted in grapes or orchards.  However, the old, dilapidated house at  9637 Road 25 is a prime candidate for being the house where Yee Chung lived with his family.  The current owner, an Mexican immigrant, purchased the house and vineyard 10 years ago in 1992; at that time, the deed records said the vines had been there for 86 years, i.e. since 1906.  Its quite possible the vines replaced the orchards in 1906.  The house appears to be older, and easily from the late 1800s.  A check of the property and wooden shed did not turn up any artifacts or relics that would indicate a Chinese family had lived there 100 years ago.  But among the very few houses on the Dorn properties, its the only one that looks old enough to be where they lived. The present house has 5 bedrooms, one upstairs in the small tower.  Originally, there was a second tower in front, but that was torn down by the current owner, along with a 2-story garage to the rear.  Perhaps there are other deed records that might have shown who leased the property.

__ After his death, the family moved to the Emma Ranch in 1904, and then to the Roberts Ranches in 1907.  Those ranches also might have artifacts or pictures of their experience, particularly if still owned by the same familes.

Lin's marriage
__ What was Fat Len's occupation, the man who alleged he paid to marry Moy?  What was he really like?

__ Did Sun Kow actually pay Mrs Chong $800 to marry Ah Moy, or was that just an allegation by Fat Len.  So Sun Kow was Ah Moy's white knight, so to speak (actually Chinese-American, though born in China)?

Yee Chung's personality
__ As you complete your investigation, it would be interesting to create a profile of Mrs Yee Chung as though you were a person in the community, i.e. what was she like?  personality?  stern?  friendly? good shopper? did she speak any English?  recall she was born in China in 1871, and lived in Borden from age 16 to 39 (1887-1910).  Did she ride a horse, and carry a gun -- as family members heard she did in the 1915-1930 time period?

__ Personal profile on Yee Chung, the Madera pioneer of Chinese origin.  What was he like?  personable, good English? generous? ambitious?  business-sense?  manner of dress (normal American, or Chinese type clothese)?  prominence is Madera society?  Who were his friends?  He was said to be the "whitest" of the Chinamen in Madera (a compliment, but using the jargon of the times), meaning very American though of Chinese origin.  There must be other recollections to describe him as a person.

Ashes
__  If he was buried at Borden Chinese Cemetery, were his ashes later recovered and sent back to China, like many others at this cemetery?   or is he still buried at the cemetery?  apparently, there is no ledger with records of where each Chinese person was buried at the cemetery.

Move from Madera
__ Accounts of why and when the family moved from the Madera area to San Francisco in 1910.  Mrs Chung testified they left by train from Madera.

__  Was his father of the "ragman" class in China?  perhaps there is a personal account in the newspapers on his history, we will have to get from his village in China.  What were his parents names in China?

Chinese discrimination
__  To what degree was there discrimination against Chinese in Madera?  Or was Madera one of the better towns to grow up with Chinese ancestry than in other early California communities?  The Chung children attended the Howard School from 1904-07, and were the only Chinese children listed in the school registers.

Other
__  Old pictures are highly desired!   pictures as a gold miner?  as a RR worker?  arrival papers?  1894 Chock Chee papers.

__  Picture of Leong Chong holding the Gold Spike while it was being driven  in?  just kidding...

__ The Forgotten Fields:  The Forgotten People stated:
   __ Yee Chung was on 1880 census records as a store owner or merchant;  Can we find what year the Yee Chung Store started in business?  What year did it close?
   __ What finally caused the family to move from Madera area to San Francisco in 1910?  Is 1910 the correct year they left?  Did they simply ran out of money, or need employment for the children?   Was their leaving reported in the newspapers?
   __ There are quite a few references to Yee Chung in the book; these articles need to be re-investigated and reviewed for accuracy.
   __ Man Wah owned four stores, that provided employment for many Chinese.  The Borden 1880 census showed that there were four Chinese store owners in Borden.  If the Yee Chung Store existed in 1880, then that store could it have been one in partnership with Man Wah?
   __ If indeed Yee Chung had a Borden store in 1880, then when did he really arrive in Borden. Could he have arrived in the 1870's -- this could require investigating newspappers from 1870-1880 -- of course, if he made the news then, we may even be able to prove that he was a gold miner and when he worked on the railroads.

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