Doing Family History in Taiwan

One of the largest, most widespread hobbies in the world is doing family history. Elwin has been an avid genealogist since his BYU days. Some of his lines span hundreds of years. Coming on a family history mission is a very fitting call for him. He probably would have enjoyed going to Wales to further his search for his kinfolks, but for the love of Shirley and her ancestry, he was willing to come to Taiwan and do whatever he can to advance the cause.

Shirley is a Song and her ancestors came from FuJian, China back in the 1600's with General Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga). They settled in southern Taiwan, a village called DaJia (大甲) near Tainan, which was the capital of Taiwan at that time.

This is a statue of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga). Previous to his coming, it had been colonized by the Dutch and Portuguese, and before them by the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan. In that respect, Taiwan's history is similar to America's. The Americans settled in the Americas along the east coast beginning at about the same time.

It also means that most of the Taiwanese people face similar challenges to what people in the US faced in America when it comes to searching for ancestors. It doesn't take many generations before one has to start searching in the mother countries for their roots: Europe, for many Americans, and the Chinese mainland for the Taiwanese.

A few years ago when we were visiting relatives in Taiwan, we got hold of a Song Clan book.  It had my grandfather in it as he was a representative in the government.  It also has other information that might be of our line of the Song's, but we couldn't be sure.  After our call as family history missionaries, things started to open up.  The Spirit of Elijah has come to help, several times already.  We are truly grateful for this opportunity to come to Tainan.  So far we have found:

1. Government record of my great-grandfather, Song Lu (宋陸，meaning #6).  He's the number six son, born in 1835 and died in 1915.
2. Song Lu's record indicated that his father is Song Zhang 宋彰, his mother is Liu He （劉蚵).  No birth dates recorded.
3. My friend, Sister Lv found a thesis written by a Tainan Cultural University graduate student on the FuJian immigration to Taiwan, listing my great-great-grandfather, Song Zhang, who was born in 1791 according to his research.
4. In Da-Jia, we went to the old homestead and met a 2nd cousin, Song Wen Yan.  He told us that our great-grandfather Song Lu settled in Da-Jia and built a Song village with 8 homes with courtyards for each of his 8 sons.  I remember the old homestead as we lived there for a time when I was little.  Below are some of the remains of the old homestead.

   

   Da-Jia Train Station 

   

   2nd cousin, Song Wen Yan, Cousin Waka Song, Shirley Song and Yan's wife

   

   Cousin Song Wen Yan and me (He gave me the Song Genealogy book)

   

   The Song Homestead from 1791 AD

   

   The Song Homestead from 1791 AD

   

   Song Worshipping Hall

   

   Song Worshipping Hall with Ancestral Name plates

   

   fruit on the altar

   

   the altar

   

   the altar

   

   Guanyin Goddess 

   

   Song Old Home 

5. While in DaJia, a third cousin (related through a common great grandfather) came to visit.  He went to Zhang Zhou, FuJian, China and met the Song descendants who have been living there since our first ancestor was sent there during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD). 

   

   3rd Cousin Song who went to China to meet the cousins there. He looks like my dad
   

   
   

6. That first ancestor's name is Song Yong (宋用). He was a court physician and was ordered there with the battalion to settle a rebellion during the Tang Dynasty. He was asked to stay and helped build what is now the city of Zhang Zhou.



Song Yong's graveside @Zhang Zhou, FuJian, China
Song descendants paying respect (taken from a picture)

7. Song Yong (宋用) had 6 sons (names all listed in the clan book).  His youngest had 4 sons and we are the descendants of the youngest son, Song Su (宋數). 
8. No records (yet) found between Song Su and the ancestors who migrated to Taiwan with Koxinga in 1636, a span of 750-1000 years.
9. There are also missing links between 1636 to 1791 when my great-great-grandfather, Song Zhang, who was born in 1791 settled in Da-Jia.
10. One of my grandfather Song's brother is 畑.  We could not find the character in various dictionaries.  Finally, I posted it online (FB), especially for my Chinese friends to land a helping hand.  The answer came.  It was a Japanese word, meaning "field".  How fun it was to learn the word.  I showed it to my aunt (mom's younger sister who lives in Taipei), and she immediately recognized the word as "field" since she went through Japanese education during her growing up years.  
     

These findings have been very exciting to me.  I know the Spirit was there to help us.  When we were at the government office to get the records for my great grandfather Song Lu, 1835-1915, the man told us to go to the Archives division where they kept the records dated between 1895 and 1945.  Taiwan (including the Pescadores) was a colony of the Empire of Japan. The lady searched reluctantly, as the Japanese Occupation period was between 1895 and 1945, and I was looking at records 50 years before that. Then I heard her exclaimed excitedly; "I found it". It was incredible.  On this record was Song Lu's parents, but without birthdays.  We found his birthday through a different document (the thesis).

Yes, things are happening and we are very excited.  We'll be starting mom's side of the family.  Her sister kept a pretty good record and we are hopeful that it'll go well.  Aunt Mei Juan also has lots of stories to tell.  She's 84 and in good health condition.  We look forward to seeing her whenever we can.         

We have also contacted all the bishops and branch presidents to offer our services where we serve.  We have great responses from these leaders.  Our October calendar after General Conference was full each Sunday.  Had a great time visiting the Qishan Ward, about 20 miles northeast of Gaoxiong.  We did a mini Family History workshop after the 3-hour block.  We were amazed at the number of people who stayed.  People are interested in doing family history here.  We were asked to come back to speak at the Sacrement meeting later this month.

Brother Liu, Sister Guo (Family History Consultants),  and E/S Davis

We visited Gangshan Ward and found the people there to be quite familiar with family history research.  We are delighted.

A lot of the Taiwan members do have clan books from their families.  Those without one are usually from the mainland when their grandparents came with Jiang Kai Shek in 1949.  Since China has opened up their national libraries, we are seeing some exchanges of information going on.  Similar to my 3rd cousin who went back to mainland China, a lot of the people with mainland ties have gone back to find their relatives and also ancestors.

It's an exciting time to be here.  We are grateful.