Meet the Family
Chun Shee
Chun Shee was the third wife of Chock Chin. She was born on 22 Feb 1888 in Pen-Ts’Un, China, married Chock Chin in 1906, and died July 1968 in
Honolulu, Hawaii.
Dorothy Kam Mew Chock was the second child of Chock Chin and Hee Shee (2nd Chinese wife). She was born 25 August 1897 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, married Sau Yee Chang on 22 April 1921 in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, and died on 22 February 1990 in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.
George F Goon Fong Chock was the third child, and oldest son, of Chock Chin and Hee Shee (2nd Chinese wife). He was born on 16 July 1899 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, and died on 16 July 1963 in Redding, Shasta, California. He was married to Edith Maes in 1929, and Roberta Bohnker in 1949.
Wilfred Yau Kin Chock was the first child of Chock Chin and Chun Shee (3rd Chinese wife). He was born 25 October 1906 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, and died February 1977 in Käne‘ohe, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. He was married to Violet Hong Fun Ching.
The Family History
As the eldest son of Chock Chin, my father, George F Chock, inherited the written family history. It had been initiated in 1140 AD and was faithfully kept through each succeeding generation. As is customary with these Chinese genealogies, it provides a detailed record of the male family members, and very scanty information about the females.
It was written on rice paper, and much of it was written in a dialect that was no longer in use by the time my mother attempted to get it translated in the early 1970s. Eventually she was able to find a translator who had experience in that obsolete dialect, and he translated the record for us. As he worked through the record, he discovered that an old letter between two of the ancestors had been tucked into the pages, and he translated that for us as well.
This translation was extremely important to us, as it enabled us (with no experience with the Chinese language) to finally put together a full, accurate genealogy of the Chock family in a format that everyone could read. You are welcome to download and read the English translation of this record — just click below the image to the right.
Where is the record now?
To preserve the original record, which was showing alarming signs of deterioration, my mother donated it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for permanent preservation in the Granite Mountain Vault, in the mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah. It houses the world’s largest collection of genealogical records, and the Chock Family Genealogy is part of that collection.
The Granite Mountain Records Vault was built in 1965 to preserve and protect important family history and historical records. The vault safeguards more than 3.5 billion images on microfilm, microfiche, and digital media. Currently, FamilySearch is in the process of digitizing the microfilms and making those digital records available through its website.
Check out a short video about the Granite Mountain Vault here >
Family records on FamilySearch.org
My brother, Galen Chock, has painstakingly created a family tree at www.familysearch.org, using the information from this translated record. He and his wife, Colleen, a professional genealogist, have taken great care to ensure that each data point from the original record has been faithfully represented in the tree. I have been working for the past years to fill in some of the missing descendants that were not known to the record-keeper at the time of the last entry in the rice-paper book.
Accounts at familysearch.org are free, so if you would like to explore the family tree there, just go create a free account and take a look at the Chock family line. Start with Chock Chin, and work your way up and down the tree from him.
His record is here: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9JWD-2JW
DOWNLOAD
Download the English translation of the Chock Genealogy, starting with
FIRST ANCESTOR, Feng, Tung-shan, born on 16 July 1140.