Family Portrait
According to his daughters’ memoirs, Chock Chin had a family portrait made every year when a traveling photographer came to Kapaa. However, I have not been able to find any of those pictures so far.
This 1916 family portrait is all we have. And we only have it thanks to his daughters including it in the family story they provided for the book, Chinese Historic Sites and Pioneer Families of Kauai, (compiled and edited by Tin-Yuke and Wai Jane Char and published by the Hawaii Chinese History Center in 1979-80).
That precious book — which I found on eBay previously owned by the Cooke Library Punahou School — is the primary source I have for stories about life in my grandfather’s Hawaiian home. so I am incredibly grateful to my aunties for their diligent work as family historians.
Who's Who in this Picture?
Chock Chin
Chock Chin was born on 19 November 1865 in Guan Tang, Kung Sheong Doo, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China, and died on 20 July 1933 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii. He had three Chinese wives and one Hawaiian common-law wife. He was the father of 16 children.
Chun Shee
Chun Shee was the 3rd Chinese wife of Chock Chin, and the last wife he would marry. She was the mother of his 2nd batch of children born in Hawaii, and the loving stepmother of my father and his sisters, Dorothy and Nee Chang, who survived the epidemic that took the life of their mother, Hee Shee, and two little brothers when they were children.
She was born on 22 Feb 1888 in Pen-Ts’Un, China, married Chock Chin in 1906, and died July 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is buried next to the graves of Chock Chin and Shee Hee.
George F Chock
George F Goon Fong Chock was the third child, and oldest son, of Chock Chin and Hee Shee (2nd Chinese wife). He was married to Edith Maes in 1929, and Roberta Bohnker in 1949. He had one son with his first wife, George Gordon Chock, who was killed while piloting a test flight in the skies over Germany after the end of World War II. He had three sons and one daughter (me) with his second wife.
He was born on 16 July 1899 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, and died on 16 July 1963 in Redding, Shasta, California.
Ardith Anne Yook Larn Chock
Ardith Anne Yook Larn Chock was the fifth child born to Chock Chin and Chun Shee (3rd Chinese wife). She was born on 29 April 1913 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, and married Dr. Joseph Wincy Lam in Honolulu in 1938. They had one daughter, Jo-Ann. Ardith died on 15 August 2007 in Honolulu.
Record in Family Search Tree: LDY3-2D8
Dorothy Kam Mew Chock
Dorothy Kam Mew Chock was the second child of Chock Chin and Shee Hee (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. She and her sister Nee Chang wrote the memoir that is included in the Pioneer Stories book.
Harry Toong Sung Chock
Harry Toong Sung Chock was the fourth child of Chock Chin and Chun Shee (3rd Chinese wife). He was born on 10 January 1911 in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii and married Namiko Morioka in 1940 in Lihue, Kauai. They had a son and a daughter. Harry died on 24 August 1963 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ju-Chen Nee Chang Chock
Nee Chang Chock was the second child of Chock Chin and Chun Shee (3rd Chinese wife). She was born on 17 February 1908 in Hanalei, Kauai, and married Harry Chow Wong on 25 August 1931 in Honolulu.
She and Harry never had children, but she spent her life teaching and loving children as a teacher in Lihue, Kapalama, and Aliiolani schools. She was a careful historian and worked hard to ensure that the family history was accurate, interesting, and full of important detail. She died on 17 January 2002 in Honolulu.
Record in Family Search Tree: K4GJ-8Z2
Wilfred Yau Kin Chock
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.