Hong Kong Researchers - looking for Ng Choy Ping

[Helenw52]

How can I find a Ng Choy Ping with a 10 year old son - living in 245 Wing Lok St, Victoria, Hk, 13 January 1941. Power of Attorney was granted - by lawyers Ts'o & Hodgson Solicitors, Prince's Building Hong Kong. George Kingston Hall Brutton, Notary Public , Victoria, Hong Kong. Her husband died in 1940. We are trying to locate the son - who would have been born about 1930. There is no name for the son, but the father was Wong Wing On, who was in New Zealand. 

Would love to know the Son's name and whether he had any children.

[barryd]

I am a Hong Kong researcher as I am distantly related to a family who were from Northern Ireland and one son became a Civil Servant in Hong Kong. I have never come across a Chinese name in any records that are available. However some records may be available in Hong Kong now if the British kept those records i.e. BMD for non-British or other European nationalities. There Cathedral in Hong Kong has records but only for those who baptized or married there which are again probably nearly 100% British.

The best records the British kept for all races seem to be Ceylon but again probably for the more well off people there. 

 

[Helenw52]

Thanks Barryd - the son would may have been born in Hong Kong - as no one in the Father's family in China knew that he was married / and had a son

[AMBLY]

Hi Helenw52,

The father -  Wong Wing On - did he die in New Zealand 1940? Could this be him?

Wing On  WONG - Death registered Apr/May/June 1940, Hastings New Zealand.

Also to clarify for who (& when) was the Power of Attorney granted for?

Cheers,
AMBLY

[Helenw52]

Thanks Ambly
- The father Wong Wing On, did die in Hastings, and the Probate mentioned that he had a wife and son in HK. The POA was granted to his wife. His family in China did not know of this wife. He already had one back in China - so it was a surprise to find he had a son in HK.

[AMBLY]

Hi Helen,

There is one avenue you could try,  if you can establish which firm conducted his funeral (sometimes can be found from the burial/ cemetery records).  If the funeral director is still in business, they may have their record of it, and that may name the son.

A phone call to a funeral director, with a simple, friendly request for help is often all it takes, explaining it's for genealogy  - have done this many times. It helps to have information already such as death date etc.

Was WONG the surname that would have been used, per western naming convention?  i had a look on the Hastings cemetery database but unable to see any entry
http://cemeterybase.hdc.govt.nz/

Cheers
AMBLY

[Helenw52]

Thanks Ambly. I know the man's grave - he died in an accident.
It's the son that I am looking for. His family in China did not know of the second wife, nor that he had a child.

[AMBLY]

Hi Helen,
I completely understand it’s the son you’re looking for ....my suggestion is about exploring the possibility that the son’s name might have been noted down in the file of the funeral director who conducted the father’s 1940 funeral.

I’ve successfully used this method to do exactly that sort of search.

The reason for looking for father’s grave details online : the databases often have the name of the funeral director listed - and oft times, the company is still in business. They may have paper files going back further, or else have computerised. Names of children, parents, siblings... Sometimes, they have copies of newspaper  notices. 

Asking some leading questions, in a casual but earnest sort of way, can elicit some good results if you’re lucky enough to find a FD.

Cheers
Ambly