About this Site
Chock Chin was the patriarch of a large Chinese family who lived in the early 1900’s in the beautiful Hanalei valley on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
He had a remarkable life of adventure, courage, and entrepreneurship. Befitting his responsibilities as eldest son and heir of an old aristocratic Cantonese family, he set out to save his family by earning money abroad during a time of great financial hardship and famine in China. and sought a new life in the West. In 1883 at the age of 18, he sailed to take his first place as a paniolo on one of the King’s cattle ranches in Ka’u on the Big Island. At some point he moved to Kauai to be near relatives of his grandmother’s clan, and built a series of businesses that eventually employed many residents of Kauai.
Most importantly, he was a devoted father and grandfather. He had four wives and a total of sixteen children, not all of whom survived to adulthood. His plantations, stores, restaurants, gardens, and vast household were all excellent arenas for teaching children to be responsible with assignments, hard workers, smart money managers, and focused on achieving excellence.
As one of his granddaughters, I am immensely proud of the legacy of this great man, and feel so lucky to be a part of this family. He has dozens of grandchildren, and there is now a large, and expanding list of descendants. This site is designed to help us all understand the history of this family, the great life of Chock Chin, and perhaps find threads and patterns of similarity in our own lives.
Our story is the story of many Chinese immigrants who came to Hawaii and other places seeking income for their families during those years. And we share the same challenges of finding your way to the proper clan records in China from our Western world, with no language skills, no contacts in mainland China, and no knowledge of where and how to begin looking.
This site can be of help if you are stuck, or simply don’t know where to start. The records are not lost anymore. Don’t give up!
We hope you enjoy our site.
— Susan Leihana Chock Salgy
Contact:
Susan Chock Salgy | ssalgy@gmail.com
Galen K. Chock | galenkchock@gmail.com