When undertaking family history, the subject of the enquiry usually has parents, siblings and children to help identify them. This is particularly important when dealing with people with the same or similar name. However, when researching the Chinese in Queensland, by far of the majority of the deceased were single men. But were they completely without relatives and friends in the colony?
In the documentation generated by a death, the names of the witnesses are an often overlooked source of genealogical data in family and diaspora history. Followers of this blog have been introduced to a variety of these sources. On a Queensland death certificate, in addition to the deceased, Chinese names may populate a number of fields such as the place of death e.g. a Chinese operated boarding house; the person who notified the local registrar of the death, and the witnesses to the burial. Locally married Chinese should also have the names of the spouse and any surviving children.
On hospital admission records, the biographical information collected on admission is used when in notifying the death if the patient died in hospital. This information can be sparse, if the patient was in no fit state to provide the information themselves. Always take note of the name of the subscriber ticket holder by whom the patient was admitted.[1]
Coroners’ inquests rely on the evidence of witnesses to help determine the cause of death. These witnesses are often the other Chinese who lived or worked with the deceased. A number of inquests in an area will give a pool of names.[2]
Who paid for the funeral? The information contained in undertakers records is another source of relationships for the Chinese who died in more urbanised settings.[3]
In compiling the Queensland Chinese Death Index (QCDI),[4] I collected the witnesses from the above sources to create a sample of 300 deaths. Each death may have had multiple witnesses and these relationships have emerged.
| Relationship of witness to the deceased | Number of instances |
| Brother | 25 |
| Cousin | 24 |
| Parent / Child | 15 |
| Uncle / Nephew | 7 |
| Other relative | 8 |
| Friend / Workmate | 51 |
| Accommodation house keeper | 12 |
| Other (interpreter / hospital ticket holder / funeral arranger etc.) | 24 |
| Not stated | 223 |
By sorting the witness column in the QCDI, I found three cousins living in Rockhampton in the 1920s. Thomas Wong of Gladstone Street, was the informant for the deaths of his cousins Wong Way Hong[5] and Wong Loy.[6] Wong Way Hong was a 63 year old gardener who died at the Rockhampton Hospital on 25 April 1922 after a cart accident. He had recently returned from Canton where had married Sue See. Wong Loy was a 50 year old storekeeper who died of asthma on 2 March 1926.
A witness can have different roles over time, e.g. relative and friend. For example Louie See, merchant of Flinders Street, Townsville, was the informant of the death of his friend Kee Joy in May 1911.[7] He next appears in the sample as a cousin registering the death of Hop Sun Sam in November 1922.[8] Louie See makes another appearance registering the death of Way Hock in April 1925.[9] However, on this occasion the relationship is not stated.
Five months after returning from seven-year absence in China,[10] Louie See died on 12 July 1934 at 314 Flinders Street, Townsville.[11] On this occasion, the informant of the death was his brother Louie Tim So of the same address. As the informant was an immediate member of the family, comparatively rare for the Chinese in Queensland, details of parentage, birth place, his wife and six children in China have been provided.
If a person was a witness on multiple occasions it is possible to see if they changed of their address. Jimmy Say Hing was living in Targo Street, Bundaberg when he was the informant on the death of his friend, gardener, John Ah Duck in October 1919.[12] Seven years later, Jimmy Say Hing is living at Gracemere, just north of Rockhampton. His cousin Wah Chong, a fruiterer, had succumbed to pneumonia at the Rockhampton Hospital in September 1926.[13]
The deceased did not live in isolation. They were part of a network of friends, relations, workmates and businesses. By recording the witnesses to a cluster of events at a location at a particular point of time will grow the number of names connected to the person you are researching. Maybe they are the ones who left behind records and photographs of events which your target person may have participated in. A research goal should be to make writing about the Chinese experience less generic, more personalised and connected to a place.
Having said that, also examine the relationship of the witness to the deceased. As mentioned, biographical data collected solely by hospital staff is sparse at best, inaccurate at worse. Ages were usually guesses, rounded off to the nearest five or ten years. We are fortunate that Jimmy Say Hing was able to be the informant in addition to the hospital dispenser Mr Mackinnon on the death of his cousin, otherwise their relationship may not have been revealed.
[1] See previous blog post cemetrees.wordpress.com/2022/06/09/died-in-a-hospital-far-from-home/
[2] For an example of the use of coroners inquests see cemetrees.wordpress.com/2022/05/14/the-grim-reality-a-lonely-chinese-suicide-in-the-bush/
[3] Please see cemetrees.wordpress.com/2022/05/07/paying-the-undertakers-bills-the-role-of-brisbanes-chinese-merchants/
[4] For an introduction to the QCDI see cemetrees.wordpress.com/2022/04/05/naming-the-dead-introducing-a-resource-for-researching-chinese-in-colonial-queensland/
[5] Queensland Death Certificate 1922/C1968 Wong Way Hong Charlie a 63 year old gardener died at the Rockhampton Hospital on 25 April 1922 after a cart accident. He had recently returned from Canton where had married.
[6] Queensland Death Certificate Wong Loy 1926/C0988
[7] Queensland Death Certificate Kee Joy 1911/C4580
[8] Queensland Death Certificate Hop Sun Sam 1922/C4436
[9] Queensland Death Way Hock 1925/C2696
[10] Louie See Certificate Exempting from Dictation Test. (NAA Item ID 9582899)
[11] Queensland Death Certificate See Louie 1934/C3528
[12] Queensland Death Certificate John Ah Duck 1919/C5020
[13] Queensland Death Certificate Wah Chong 1926/C3542
Cemetrees 