Many, maybe most of Richmond’s residents are unaware of the influence of the thoroughbred horse racing industry had on Richmond’s history, or of Richmond’s contributions to the horse racing industry. There is little doubt that not long after men learned to mount a horse and ride it, the first race occurred. Over centuries, the sport developed worldwide into an organized event, leading to selective breeding of horses, strict rules and betting. The modern era of racing is generally considered to have started in the late 1700s when the first of the classic English races were established.
Horses break from a manual starting gate at Brighouse Racetrack in 1924. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1978 11 3.
One of the problems with racing horses is having a fair start and false starts and disputes about them were common. Early races depended on jockeys keeping their horses behind the start line, marked by a tape, chalk line or wooden structure, until the starter waved his flag to commence the race. Often an assistant starter would stand farther down the track to wave his flag in the event of a bad start.
The first automated starting system was developed in Australia in the 1890s and consisted of a spring-loaded wire that stretched across the starting line. When the race was started the wire would spring up and away from the horses. Various versions of this starting system were used in Australia and around the world up into the 1930s, an improvement over previous starting methods but still subject to false starts and broken equipment by overeager horses.
An early version of the Puett starting gate in action at Lansdowne Park Racetrack. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2014 12 2.
Enter Clay Puett. Born in Texas in 1899, he quit school in grade seven, went to work as a ranch hand and then got interested in horse racing. He worked his way up the ladder from groom to starter at racetracks, adding to his already considerable knowledge about horses and their behavior. He recognized early on that a consistently safe and reliable method of starting races was needed in the sport and began to tinker with designs to allow this. His early conceptions didn’t work out too well but in 1933 he built an experimental hand-operated a two-stall gate with breast plates which worked fairly well, although jockeys were occasionally thrown when their horse hit the breast plates a bit too hard.
Some more years of tinkering and perfecting the design ensued until a model was patented and built. This trial unit also had two stalls, operated electrically and was experimented with at Hollywood Park near Los Angeles. The design incorporated narrower stalls than previous gates with a backstop at the rear to prevent horses from backing out and “V” shaped tubular gates in front. Held closed by electro-magnets, the gates sprung open simultaneously when the circuit was broken by a master switch. Individual gates could also be opened independently of the others if necessary.
Once the race was started, the gate had to be removed from the track. Draft horses were used to carry out this task until they were replaced by tractors. In this photo from 1953, Richmond’s Don McKay drives Bonny and Smoky while Ashley McCallan stands by. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2014 12 3.
A full-sized version was built and used in a race for the first time on July 1, 1939, at Lansdowne Park Racetrack in Richmond. A report in the Daily Racing Form stated, “Clay Puett’s new starting gate, introduced to organized racing for the first time at Lansdowne, last Saturday, is being hailed by horsemen as the greatest and most beneficial contribution to the turf since the advent of the totalisater.(tote board)”
Prominent California owner and trainer Elmer O’Connell, who was racing at Lansdowne said, “For thirty years I’ve been to the races, and this is the biggest single improvement I’ve ever seen in the business, including the photo-finish machines.”
Starter Don McKay (Centre), George Dunn (L) and Tom Kendall (R) stand in front of the Puett starting gate at Lansdowne Park Racetrack. Two draft horses, in this case Nelly and Flossy, were used to move the gate around. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2014 12 7.
Vancouver Province reporter Johnny Park described the first race using the Puett gate. Instead of unruly horses, jostling and misbehaving at the starting line, “Nine of the youngsters paraded in the special, and acting like perfect little ladies and gentlemen, showed more experienced horses how to act at the post and run straight and true. They walked right into Puett’s stalls, stood still for a moment, and broke as a team.”
Clay Puett was the starter at Lansdowne and Exhibition Park tracks for 24 years. His starting gate became the standard for flat racing world-wide and, while modifications and improvements have been made over the years, all of the gates used today are based on his original design which was used first in Richmond. As for Puett himself he said. “I have enjoyed being the inventor of the starting gate, but I have never capitalized on it. Oh yes, I am an extrovert and I love talking about it, but I have always been smart enough to know it would be just a short period of time before the gate just became a piece of equipment used all over.” Clay Puett passed away in 1998.
This photograph from August 17, 1984, shows three starters at Exhibition Park, Clay Puett, Chip Fortin and Don McKay, standing in front of the Puett designed starting gate. City of Richmond Archives, May/McKay Family Records, Accession 2026 44.
Genealogical research often takes you to unexpected places. The twists and turns on the road to discovery are numerous and family historians know this well. So I experienced during my search for LAM Ching Ling, CHEW Gore and their family. They are, of course, synonymous in Richmond’s written record with Hong Wo & Company General Merchants and were the subjects of the first story in this series about the early Chinese Canadian settlers of Richmond. https://richmondarchives.ca/2025/11/06/richmonds-early-chinese-canadian-settlers-lam-ching-ling-and-chew-gore/
LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives #2026 5
My close look into their lives began in mid-2024, and uncovered facts previously unknown or forgotten. We now have the dates of their first arrival in Canada, the ships on which they sailed, the addresses of the homes in which they lived, the names and birthdates of the children–all details that add to our knowledge of their history.
Certain discoveries I made along the way however confused the picture. First, while reviewing LAM Ching Ling’s biographical file that is held within the City of Richmond Archives, I came across the 2013 obituary of Samuel Milton LAM. The statement that he was born in Steveston part of the Hong Wo Lam Family made me pause. I knew of Mary, George, Jessie and Dora, and later learned of Fannie and John, all children of LAM Ching Ling and CHEW Gore, but Samuel wasn’t, as far as I could tell, part of this family group. What was going on here?
More puzzle pieces appeared. In recent years, thousands of records related to Chinese immigration to Canada were released by Library and Archives Canada and made available to the public. Chinese Canadian historians – family and professionals alike – rejoiced, despite the dark origins of these records.
For example, under section 18 of the Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, the Canadian government created and maintained a list of Chinese who registered as native born. The LAM Ching Ling children, all born in Steveston, B.C., were included in this list, and for each a Chinese Immigration C.I. 44 certificate was created indicating their status. Also registered was Miss Constance LAMB, born on 12 November 1904, in Steveston, B. C., and on her certificate her parents were identified as LIM Saw and LAUNG Shee.
Was Miss Constance LAMB actually Constance LAM? The LIM and LAM surnames share the same Chinese character. Interesting. Here we had children who were born in the same town, around the same time early in the twentieth century, and were similar in name. I wondered, was there a connection to be made here?
Chinese Immigration C.I.9 travel documents were also the source of valuable information. Any Chinese person travelling outside of Canada, who had an intention to return, were required to apply for these papers. In September 1923, Constance (Connie) prepared for a trip to Hong Kong and on her document was the notation she was
personally known to LAM Ling of Steveston to whom I would refer you for correctness of statements herein made.
I thought, was this the LAM Ching Ling, proprietor of the Hong Wo & Co. store?
Other records revealed that Connie had an older sister, Nellie Lim. Nellie’s C.I.9 certificate from 1932 stated that she was born in Canada and her current place of residence was Steveston, care of the Hong Wo Store! The evidence was mounting. I was now confident in thinking that a link of some kind existed between these two families.
A search into the records of Constance and Nellie’s father, LIM Saw, revealed more clues. I learned that he entered Canada in 1894 under the name LUM Won Saw and that he was known most often in later life as LAM Tuck Yew. Admitted as a labourer, he eventually gained merchant status while operating a general store, but which one? How many general stores were Chinese operated in Richmond during the 1920s? The Hong Wo & Co. store was the best known and had reportedly been in existence since 1895.
The General Register of Chinese Immigration indicated that LIM Saw brought his wife LAUNG Shee over from China in July 1912. From a variety of documents I examined, I concluded that together they had at least ten children, including their eldest son, Samuel Milton, born in 1919 at
Lulu Island (No.3 Road, near London, B.C.)
the man whose obituary I found in LAM Ching Ling’s biographical file!
LAM Ching Ling died in 1939 and in his death notice it was mentioned that among his survivors there was a brother living in Steveston. The brother’s name however was not given. LIM Saw died in 1943. His obituary appeared in the newspapers of the day in September 1943, and he is identified as Tuck Yew LAM,
the proprietor of Hong Wo and Co., Steveston.
Vancouver Daily Province, Tuesday, October 5, 1943 page 5.
Finally, all the bits and pieces had come together. These two men were brothers, and LIM Saw had succeeded LAM Ching Ling in the running of a business. The success of the Hong Wo & Co. general merchant store and farming operation stemmed from the hard work of two families rather than just one!
All this investigative work had taken over a year to complete. I understood the basic connection between the LAM Ching Ling and LAM Tuck Yew families but of course many details were still unknown. I continued my search and in March 2025 and again in August I posted comments about my research in the Facebook page of the Genealogy for Asian Canadians group.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1923544271050858 I was puzzled about apparent disconnects in names within the LAM Ching Ling family and needed help in translation, and various members made comments and suggestions. The responses were much appreciated. What I hadn’t noticed until a few months later was a reply that read in part:
My Grandfather was the brother of Lam Ching Ling. He also helped run the Hong Wo store and farm in Steveston. His name was LAM Tuck Yew.
Good fortune had arrived! A LAM Tuck Yew family member had reached out and could help put the pieces of the Hong Wo & Co. store story I had collected, into their proper place.
So, since November 2025 I have met with Maisie LAM several times to hear her talk about her side of the “Hong Wo family.” Maisie is the daughter of Samuel Milton, granddaughter of LIM Saw, and grandniece of LAM Ching Ling. She expressed surprise that so much material about the LAM Ching Ling family was stored at the City of Richmond Archives and that people were interested in learning about the life and contributions of the LIM Saw family line. Some of the details were even new to her. Thanks to Maisie and her extended family, our knowledge of her grandparents LAM Tuck Yew and LEUNG Yuet Wah, and of their important contribution to the Hong Wo & Co. business, is more complete than ever.
Photograph believed to be of LAM Tuck Yew, taken circa 1905 by R.H. Trueman in Steveston. Steves Family Collection, City of Richmond Archives photograph #2024 9 29
Details about LAM Tuck Yew’s early life in British Columbia, however, are scarce. Seven years after his landing in Victoria, he is recorded as living with LAM Ching Ling and family in the 1901 Census of Canada.
LAM Ching Ling, his wife and their two elder daughters are listed on the first four lines of this excerpt from the census record, while LAM Tuck Yew, recorded as LIM Saw, at the bottom, is described as a lodger rather than a brother. They’re residing in some household in Richmond, B.C., possibly within quarters situated along the Steveston waterfront, amongst many other Chinese people. It may have been the living space above the Hong Wo store – Maisie believes the building was built by LAM Tuck Yew himself, having the skills of a carpenter – and the two brothers may have already been in partnership in the operation of their retail and farming business.
LAM Tuck Yew travelled back to China in 1911 or thereabouts, and returned in the summer of 1912 with his wife, LEUNG Yuet Wah, and according to the General Register of Chinese Immigration records, they were accompanied by a son, Gong Yim, eleven; and two daughters, nine-year-old Nellie and five-year-old Connie. Neither wife nor children were required to pay the $500 head tax as they were family of a Chinese man who had merchant status.
LEUNG Yuet Wah, LAM family collection and City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 39 2
Gong Yim is absent from the LAM family history records, and Maisie is unsure if he was a son of LAM Tuck Yew and LEUNG Yuet Wah. Perhaps he was LAM Tuck Yew’s nephew or younger brother, or just another member of the LAM clan, and he may simply have gone his own way once he landed, losing contact with the family as the years passed. Gong Yim worked as a clerk, travelled back to China in 1921, and was last known to be living in Steveston in 1924, working as a farmer.
Nellie and Connie were recorded in the General Register of Chinese Immigration as Yong Luig and Hung Jiu. Most people registered in these ledgers were arriving as new immigrants, yet both Nellie and Connie later claimed to have been born in Canada. This was important as Chinese who were native born were permitted to freely travel outside of Canada without any time restrictions. Immigrants from China who settled in Canada could not and risked being denied re-entry if they stayed outside the country beyond the two-year time limit. Extensions to four years were sometimes permitted in times of war.
Life started anew for the family in Steveston, a place that certainly must have felt very alien from their home of Sun Chan village, Sun Woy (Xinhui) county, Kwangtung (Guangdong) province in southern China. The family expanded quickly nevertheless, with the births of May 1912, Rose 1913, Edith 1915, and Alice 1917, followed by Samuel Milton in 1919, taking place in the living quarters above the family store.
LEUNG Yuet Wah and children, circa 1917. LAM family collection
Business of the Hong Wo & Co. store and the Richmond Gardens operation also appeared to be prospering. Growing and selling cucumbers to the companies who used them to make dill pickles was well under way.
Order Book, Hong Wo & Co. Richmond Gardens 1919, City of Richmond Archives accession #2019 60 11
The business shares were divided along a five-ninths to four-ninths line, with the larger portion going to elder brother LAM Ching Ling, who reportedly established the business circa 1895. While LIM Saw may have been the junior partner in the operation, he was more than just a farmer and general store merchant. He practiced Chinese medicine and signs displayed within the store premises advertised the services and products he offered.
LAM family collection
This glass sign announced that LAM Tuck Yew (first three characters, second column from right), was an “expert physician – external medicine/surgery – who trained under a Mr. LI Chung, covering everything from skin diseases and venereal diseases to bone-setting and pediatric ailments.
The metal sign is a companion signboard listing specific medicines and products sold at the clinic: pills, plasters, and powders for pain relief, itchiness, cuts and abscesses. Harold Steves has collected various artefacts from the Hong Wo & Co. store, including bottles, jars, and small tins. Many have labels on which are written Chinese characters, (awaiting translation!). Perhaps some of them held the medicines used by LAM Tuck Yew?
LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives accession #2026 5
As for any concern about adapting to life in Canada, Nellie appeared to have had little difficulty. She reportedly completed her high school education locally, but whether it was in Richmond or Vancouver has not yet been confirmed.
LAM family collection
Although work at the store and on the farm was probably life’s major focus, LAM Tuck Yew and LEUNG Yuet Wah came to know other members of the Chinese community living in the region, including other LAM families working in the farming industry. An important connection was made with THOM Tong Chue, also known as T.C. Thom, a missionary working in New Westminster, and one of the earliest Chinese Methodist ministers serving Chinese Canadians in British Columbia. He assisted the family in reporting Connie’s birth to the District Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. A friendship also developed with WONG Kung Lai, who in 1913, founded Modernize Tailors on Pender Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
In early October 1919, the family, with the exception of Connie, returned to China, moving first to a home in Canton (Gwang2 zau1 or Guangzhou) before settling in Hong Kong. LAM Tuck Yew then married for the second time. This was still a common practice amongst traditional Chinese men, to have one legal wife and one or more concubines. The name of this woman has been lost to the family, and much of her time may have been spent caring for LAM Tuck Yew’s grandmother. Three children were born from this relationship, including daughter Bo Kam, in August 1921.
To LEUNG Yuet Wah, a son, Paul, was born in December 1921, but LAM Tuck Yew was absent for this occasion, for he had returned to Steveston the preceding August. It’s likely he did so before his two-year certificate of leave expired. He did travel back to Hong Kong for another two-year period though, from February 1927 to January 1929. Another son, Peter, was born in January 1928. The last son, Tommy, according to Maisie’s father Samuel Milton, died in a childhood drowning accident back in Canada.
The LAM family circa 1928: back row, l. to r.: Rose, Nellie, Mae; middle row, l. to r.: Alice, LEUNG Yuet Wah, Peter, Margaret, LAM Tuck Yew, Edith; front row, l. to r.: Paul, Samuel Milton. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 39 3
For the next six years, LAM Tuck Yew lived apart from his family. Connie, after a brief stay in Hong Kong, had left Canada for the United States in December 1925. She moved to New York, then pursued studies in Sociology at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina. After graduation in 1933, she was awarded a fellowship at the New York School of Social Work. In 1936 she returned to China, living and working in Hong Kong, assisting refugees during the war.
Back in Steveston, LAM Tuck Yew continued working alongside his brother LAM Ching Ling (also known as LAM Duck Hui). The Hong Wo & Co. store and Richmond Gardens were doing a profitable business.
On the farm, LAM Tuck Yew (right) with his son-in-law, Albert Chan. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 8
While work undoubtedly occupied most of his time, LAM Tuck Yew still involved himself in local LAM/LIM clan affairs. He joined the Lim Sai Hor Association, which was based in Vancouver’s Chinatown, but originally established in Victoria in 1908. The current association, the LIM Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association, has occupied the same building at 531 Carrall Street since 1946.
In December 1935, Samuel Milton, age 16, returned to Canada. Whether he was called back by his father or did so on his own accord, Maisie and her family do not know.
Milton, as he preferred to be called, soon began attending class at Vancouver Technical Secondary School, travelling there by the interurban tram from Steveston. His command of the English language was good enough to enable him to enter straight into the tenth grade. Subjects he enjoyed were many, including English, math, science, literature, history, philosophy and religion. This interest in obtaining a good education reflected his father’s similar outlook, and this road was travelled by several other of LAM Tuck Yew’s children.
Time on the weekends for Milton was often spent helping at the Hong Wo store and farm operations.
Milton (right) with Victor Lam. LAM family collection and City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 9
From another LAM clan family friend, he learned to drive a tractor and a truck, eventually delivering groceries to customers in New Westminster, North Vancouver and Vancouver. Perhaps this was all viewed as preparation for his eventual inheritance of a share in the family business.
Milton learned to drive a tractor from a family friend. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 3
On 20 August 1939, LAM Ching Ling died. His death was noted in the Vancouver press, who remembered him as a prominent merchant of Steveston. LAM Tuck Yew may have then become the senior member of the Hong Wo store staff, but the business arrangements between his family and his brother’s heirs remained unchanged.
Maisie and her family are unaware if LAM Tuck Yew ever returned to Hong Kong and China after 1929. His wife, LEUNG Yuet Wah, had been living there since 1919, and her Canadian immigration certificate of leave had expired in 1923, making her ineligible for automatic re-entry into Canada.
The children were all growing into adulthood and striking out on their own.
Nellie had attended Hackett Medical College in Canton, then did post-graduate studies at the New York Columbia Medical School for one year in 1930. After working at several postings in the United States, she returned to China in January 1933 to serve as a professor of gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics at the Kwang Ha Medical College in Canton. Nellie later engaged in private practice in Nanking before settling in Hong Kong.
Mae trained to become a nurse and then worked in real estate after her return to Canada in 1953.
In Hong Kong, Rose, also a nurse, befriended John Davis, a British police officer who led intelligence forces in Japanese-occupied Malaya in 1943. She had spent time there in the late 1930s.
Edith helped her husband operate a ferry service in Hong Kong after the war and then worked as a seamstress in Vancouver.
Alice graduated with a Master of Arts degree in psychology from New York’s Columbia University in 1950. After practicing at a private school for boys in the U.S. she returned to Vancouver for a career in the real estate industry (Family lore also has her involved in some international intrigue, perhaps a subject for a future post!)
Margaret taught music after immigrating to San Francisco.
Paul transferred from school in Hong Kong to UBC and graduated in commerce circa 1946. At some point, he provided bookkeeping help at the Hong Wo & Co. business, tracking sales and orders. He proceeded to Temple University in Philadelphia for graduate studies in business administration and finished his PhD course work at New York University. One of his classmates at Temple was David Lam, who went on to experience great success in business and became the 25th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. By the mid-1950s, Paul had established his import-export business, Continental Trading Enterprises Ltd. in Vancouver’s Chinatown. He returned to Canada permanently in 1957.
Peter went to McGill University in Montreal in the early 1950s and graduated with a Civil Engineering degree. Some of his early employment included work on dam projects in Quebec and then in B.C. with Alcan and B.C. Hydro.
LAM Tuck Yew did not live to see how his children born after Nellie and Connie prospered later in life. He surely would have been pleased to know about the schools they attended, the training they received and the degrees they earned. He died on 27 September 1943 in Steveston.
LAM Tuck Yew, circa 1940. LAM family collection and City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 39 1
At the time of his death, his son Milton was the only immediate family member who was living in Canada. Milton had enrolled in engineering at UBC circa 1941, along with Jack and Bill Wong, whose father was operating Modernize Tailors in Chinatown. Maisie remembers her father recalling the times he and the brothers commuted to school together and how he once drove them all to UBC in a farm vehicle. Their mathematics professor was very much amused at the sight. The Wong brothers graduated circa 1946/47. Their degrees however essentially proved worthless, for a Chinese person could not legally enter the engineering profession in BC during these years. To obtain a license required being eligible to vote in the provincial election, which the Chinese were denied until after 1947.
Upon LAM Tuck Yew’s death, Alice volunteered to lead the family in fulfilling their responsibility in the running of the Hong Wo & Co. store and Richmond Gardens. Milton however left his studies at UBC to take on this role.
The farm greenhouse operations. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 15This cheque, dated 13 July 1945, is signed by two people, including Milton Lam. Milton took on an active role in managing the Hong Wo & Co. business. City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 12
He continued to do so until he married in 1948, at age 28. Milton had met LAU Mo Ying at a party hosted by friends he had made during one of his trips to Hong Kong to visit his mother.
Milton, Mo Ying and LEUNG Yuet Wah in Hong Kong, circa 1948. LAM family collection and City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 39 7
They returned to Canada soon after and LAU Mo Ying was introduced to life on the farm in Steveston.
Mo Ying (Maureen) working on the farm. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 7
The transition to this new way of living proved to be a challenge however, and so, Milton retired from the Hong Wo & Co. and Richmond Gardens business. In early 1950, the LIM Saw (LAM Tuck Yew) family shares were sold to the LAM Ching Ling family, and Milton’s cousins George, Mary and Jessie Lam took over the operations of the firm.
Agreement document, 1950. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5
The doors of the Hong Wo & Co. store closed permanently in 1971, and the building sat vacant for another six years. Demolition occurred in 1977.
Final days of the Hong Wo & Co. store. LAM family collectionand City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 20
Milton had sponsored his mother’s application for immigration to Canada and approval was granted by the Canadian government in November 1949. LEUNG Yuet Wah however passed away in 1950 in Hong Kong. She had lived a full life there, strongly connected to a wide variety of people including those in business and government, who accorded her great respect.
Milton and Mo Ying, who had adopted Maureen as her name, began raising their family. By the early 1960s there were five children: Eunice, Nathan, Michael, Brian, and Maisie. Maureen found employment as a nurse’s aide at Vancouver General Hospital and volunteered her time playing piano at the Christ Church of China in Chinatown and then the Vancouver Chinese Pentecostal Church.
After leaving the Hong Wo & Co. store, Milton worked at the Post Office sorting mail. He later began training as a social worker, taking some classes at UBC and working for a variety of federal, provincial, and local agencies around the province. His job was eventually centred in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Downtown Eastside (often referred to as Skid Road during Milton’s time working there) where he assisted many elderly Chinese with pension and social services applications and language translation services. He was well suited to this work, as Milton was an intelligent, honest, kind, generous and compassionate man.
Maureen died in 1999, and Milton passed away in 2013.
Today, the family of LAM Tuck Yew and LEUNG Yuet Wah has grown to its sixth generation. The key role their elders played in this important chapter of Richmond’s history was remarkable, but knowledge of these events has mostly been confined to LAM family conversations and memories. With Maisie and her brother Michael‘s great help however, the connection between the LAM Ching Ling and LAM Tuck Yew families and their partnership during the first half of the twentieth century have now been revealed.
LAM family gathering circa 1973, l. to r.: Josephine, Eunice, Mary, Pamela Wong, Mae and Jessie.LAM family collection and City of Richmond Archives photograph #2026 5 5
The LAM family records, photographs and artefacts they have donated to the City of Richmond Archives have been received with much gratitude and these will soon be available for research purposes. And though it has been exciting to receive so much new information about the Hong Wo & Co. store, there is more to learn and tell. The City of Richmond Archives looks forward to working with the extended LAM families in this endeavour.
The next instalment in this series of stories about the early Chinese Canadians settlers in Richmond will focus on YUEN Jae Tong and his family. The land they farmed was located at Jacombs Road and Bridgeport Road, the site of present-day Richmond IKEA.
In late 2017, after almost fifteen years of research, I completed a book that explored the history of my mother’s family in Canada. Driven by curiosity and passion in equal measure, the work enabled all in our extended family to better understand our roots in this land and strengthen the bonds that keep us closely connected. It was satisfying to finally get the project done.
My maternal grandfather, YEE Clun, left his home village in Hoi-Ping (Kaiping) county, Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, China, and arrived in Victoria in September 1902. He paid the head tax of $100 to enter the country. Working first as a labourer, he eventually earned status as a merchant, owning and operating a number of restaurants and cafes and an import-export business in small towns and cities across Saskatchewan. This enabled him to bring my grandmother, ARNG Woon Goke, to Regina in late 1919, exempt from the head tax. There they raised a family of six children until their return to China in 1932. They reunited in Regina in 1941 and finally settled in Vancouver in the fall of 1947.
My journey to uncover these details led me down a countless number of trails: some productive, others complete dead ends. I arranged many conversations with my mother, aunts and uncle; organized a small part of our collection of family photographs; visited libraries and archives in B.C. and Saskatchewan; read dozens of articles and newspaper stories on the internet; and requested and received documents from various provincial and federal government agencies. Of great value early on were the materials held by the Vancouver Public Library Chinese Canadian Genealogy section. The records held by Library Archives Canada were also very useful, particularly the Immigrants from China database, and they continue to be an important resource for family historians and professional genealogists alike.
The year 2023 was recognized as an important date by many members of the Chinese Canadian community, for it marked the one hundredth anniversary of the passing of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. This federal legislation, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, more or less ended immigration of the Chinese people to Canada. There were few exceptions to this legal form of discrimination. For a quarter century until its repeal in 1947, this unjust and cruel law kept thousands of men living and working in Canada apart from their wives and children who remained in China. Some of these so called “bachelors” never reunited with their families, and they died alone in a country that may have welcomed them at first but then denied them a chance to fully participate or contribute towards the growth of this society. The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, an exhibit curated by Catherine Clement, explored this dark period in our history and was featured at the Chinese Canadian Museum, located in Vancouver’s Chinatown, for eighteen months that began on 1 July 2023. A digital archive of the documents displayed at the exhibition is held at UBC Library, Rare Books and Special Collections.https://rbscarchives.library.ubc.ca/paper-trail-collection
These historical facts have led me to think more about Richmond. I worked within its local government for almost three decades and I’ve resided here since 1991. My aunt, uncle, and cousins lived near the corner of No. 1 Road and Francis Road in the 1960s, but recently I began to wonder about the Chinese people who settled here over a century ago. Who was present when the Exclusion Act came into force in Richmond? The stories of the Chinese fish cannery workers and farm labourers have been documented, mostly single men who worked these seasonal jobs, and then perhaps retreated to Vancouver’s Chinatown during the wintertime. But what of the families who may have lived here? How many men and women were fortunate enough to stay together, earn a living, and raise a family on Lulu and Sea Islands?
My research these days focuses on discovering the identities of these people, and I begin with LAM Ching Ling, proprietor of the Hong Wo Store in Steveston. His career as a general merchant, farmer, and labour contractor is well known, and has been highlighted in an informative and interesting post from May 2023, researched and written by John Campbell, Social Media Coordinator with the Friends of the Richmond Archives. https://richmondarchives.ca/2023/05/11/peace-together-ling-lam-and-the-hong-wo-store/
To start my search, I visited the City of Richmond Archives last fall. Knowledgeable staff there pointed me towards an impressive number of municipal and community records available for consultation. These included Council minutes, voters’ lists, and directories. Most important was A Thematic Guide to the Early Records of Chinese Canadians in Richmond, prepared for the Archives by Claudia Chan in August 2011. It is an excellent summary of all the records pertaining to early Chinese Canadians held by the Archives at that time. Reading this led me to the biography files of some of the early Chinese pioneers of Richmond, LAM Ching Ling among them.
His connection to the fishing and farming industries was well documented, but more personal details about his life with family and community were scant. Using the array of genealogical resources now available, my goal is to begin adding extra layers of details to his biography, so that we may better come to know this important figure in the story of our City. I see this as the first in a series of similar stories about the other Chinese Canadian pioneer families of Richmond.
LAM4 Zoeng1 Ling6 (in Jyutping Cantonese romanization); LIN Zhang Ling (in Pinyin Mandarin romanization); LAM Ching Ling.
LAM Ching Ling was born on 1 August 1873 in Sun Wui county, Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, China. Sun Wui is also known as SunWoy and as XinHui in Pinyin. The village where he is from has been written as Goo Chung, Goo Dung and Kwo Jung in various Canadian government documents.
Ling LAM (City of Richmond Archives Accession 2013 52.)
He arrived in Vancouver, B.C. in March 1890 aboard the vessel S.S. Abyssinia, and registered with the authorities on 7 March 1890. Prior to departure from Hong Kong, he had paid the $50 head tax to enter Canada.
His name was recorded in the General Register of Chinese Immigration as JUNG Ah Tuen and his entry is given the Ottawa serial number 6242, in row seventeen about two-thirds down the page.
The Register recorded various details about each individual; name, port, place and date of registration; number and date of issue of any certificates received; amount of head tax paid; sex; age; city or village, district, province of birth in China and last place of domicile; occupation; and the port and date of arrival and name of vessel on which the immigrant arrived.
LAM Ching Ling or JUNG Ah Tuen as he was then called, was listed as a “Canneryboy” and it’s notable that his height of five feet one inch was recorded and various facial markings such as moles and scars were listed under column nineteen, Physical Marks or Peculiarities. The Canadian government went to great lengths to identify and keep track of all these immigrant to the country.
During his lifetime in Canada, LAM Ching Ling was known by various names. These included JUNG Ah Tuan, JUNG Ah Leun, LAM Ling, LEM Ling, CHUNG Chong, LIM Chong Ling, Hong Woo LAM and Hong Wo LAM. He is listed as LAM Duck Hew on some documents issued to his children.
He was commonly referred to as LAM Ching Lam, which may be spelled in Jyutping as LAM4 Zoeing1 Ling6. (The numbers refer to the Cantonese language tones.) The Chinese characters for this name are shown on his Chinese Immigration C.I.9 travel certificate issued in 1927, and are read from left to right.
On his grave marker at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, his name written in Chinese characters can be spelled in Jyutping as LAM4 Dak1 Diu6. This may be his name taken after marriage. LAM is the first character of the column, Dak Diu are the third and fourth. The second character, Gong, is an honorific used to respectfully refer to the deceased male.
CHEW Gore was born on 9 April 1875, in Sun Wui (Sun Woy, Xinhui) county, Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, China. Some documents list her birth village as Sue Kai; others list it as Kwo Jung, the same village where her husband was born.
She had travelled to Canada with her husband, LAM Ching Ling, recorded this time in the General Register as LEM Ling, and their seven months old daughter, LEM Kim Fon. LAM Ching Ling had returned to China sometime in the late 1890s.
He was now classified as a merchant and head tax payments for himself and daughter LEM Kim Gon were later refunded. It would be expected that JEW Gow, being a merchant’s wife, would have been exempted from the head tax payment as well, but she was classified as a housewife upon entry and pays the $50 fee.
After marriage JEW Gow would often be referred to as LAM Chew Shee, meaning “a woman born of the CHEW clan and married to a LAM”.
LAM Ching Ling and LAM Chew Shee had six children:
The eldest child and first daughter was Kim Fon, also known as Fanny. She was born in 1898, in China. She died in 1918.
The next five children were all born in Canada. Names are shown in English, Jyutping, and Pinyin romanization.
Mary (LAM4 Ping4 Ngoi3, LIN Pingxi) born, 31 October 1900, died 1990;
George (LAM4 Fuk1 Tin4, LIN Futian) born, 20 March 1904, died 1970;
John (LAM4 Fuk1 Coeng4, LIN Fuxiang) born in 1908, died 1922;
Jessie born on 24 October 1910, died in 1995; and
Dorathea (LAM4 Cai4 Mei5, LIN Qimei, ) born on 9 September 1916, died in 1947.
Mary LAM was born in Steveston. A doctor was present at her birth. LAM Duck Heu is named as her father and it is recorded that she is the second child born to CHEW Shee. Their address is given as 1452 East 11th Avenue in Vancouver.
An entry for the LAM Ching Ling family has been recorded in each Census of Canada for the years 1901, 1911, 1921, and 1931. (The microfilm records of these documents are often of poor quality, making the deciphering of the census taker’s handwriting difficult. Sometimes the handwriting itself is almost illegible. The names given are taken from the Ancestry.ca website, and often represent their researcher’s “best guess”.)
In the 1901 Census of Canada, LAM Ching Ling is listed as LING Lim, 28, living and working in Richmond, B.C. as a General Merchant. Named, as well, are his wife, Gem Ling, 26, and two daughters: Com Fung Lung, 2, and Ping Wye Ling, 1., lines 39-42. http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=33558608&lang=eng
In the 1911 Census of Canada, he is listed as HONGWO, Isac, 37, and residing at 9 Broadway E. in Vancouver. His family includes wife Laren, 35, and five children: daughters Mung, 12, Mary, 10, and Bessie, 8 months; and sons George, 7, and Charot, 2., lines 22-28. http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=6818361&lang=eng
Entry for the LAM Family in the 1911 Census of Canada.
In the 1921 Census of Canada, he is listed LING Lenn, 48, and residing at 605 Broadway E. in Vancouver. His spouse is Chee Ling, 46, and their five children are George, 17, John 13, Mary, 20, Jessie, 10, and Dora, 5., lines 44-50. http://central.baclac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=66466013&lang=eng
In the 1931 Census of Canada, he is listed as LAM Hongwo, 57, and living at 1452 East 11th Avenue in Vancouver. He is classified as a merchant working in a general store. Family members include wife Stell, 55, and four children: Mary, 28, Jessie, 20, George, 26, and Dora, 15., lines 42-47. http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=85837223&lang=eng
On 28 June 1924, in Vancouver, LAM Ching Ling, and his family, registered as per Section 18 of the Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Act of 1923. Every person of Chinese descent or origin (i.e. immigrant or native-born) was required to register his or her presence with a government official. These were often local police officers or postmasters. LAM Ching Ling was issued C.I.44 certificate number 52656. Note that he is referred to as CHUNG Chong.
On this document, his family is listed as: wife LIM Chew Shee, 1 son LIM Fook Ten (George), 3 daughters LIM Ping Oy (Mary), LIM Chu Yen (Jessie), and LIM Tie Mee (Dora). Daughter Fanny (Kim Fon) had passed away in 1918, and second son John in 1922.
The Canadian government implemented an expansive system of paperwork to record, track, monitor and control the movements of the Chinese people travelling to, from and within Canada. Upon arrival and after registration, a new immigrant would receive their head tax certificate, known as the C.I.5 or C.I.30 if exempted from payment, which served as the primary means of identification. If lost or destroyed, a C.I.28 was issued as a replacement.
JEW Gow’s C.I.5 certificate is replaced by C.I.28 certificate no. 12219, on 1 December 1924, although it had been endorsed as early as 28 June 1924.
During this time, any Chinese person wishing to leave Canada temporarily had to apply for a special travel document known as a C.I.9 certificate. On 7 July 1927, the LAM family received theirs for an intended trip to Seattle, Washingtonby CPR Local rail. On LAM Ching Ling’s C.I.9 no. 59670, his proper name is given as JUNG Ah Luen. https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_t16601/382
In the 1931 Census of Canada, LAM Ching Ling and his family are listed at 1452 East 11th Avenue, District 235 Vancouver Burrard, sub-district no. 52, Vancouver City, p.9. He is named as LAM Hongwo. Occupations are listed for each family member: LAM Hong Wo – merchant; his wife Shee – homemaker; Mary – teacher; Jessie – stenographer; George – laborer; and Dora – student.
LAM Ching Lam died on 20 August 1939. His obituary appeared in the Vancouver Daily Province, 21 August 1939. page 13.
The funeral procession was noted in the Vancouver Sun, 24 August 1939, page 12.
Services for LAM Ching Ling were described in the Vancouver Daily Province, 24 August 1939, page 24. Note the mention of a brother living in Steveston.
LAM Chew Shee died on 20 February 1947. Place of burial is Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, B.C. Her obituary appeared in the Vancouver Daily Province, 22 February 1947.
Most members of the LAM family are interred or commemorated at Mountain View Cemetery, in Vancouver, B.C. Photographs were taken on 22 March 2025.
Translation of the Chinese characters is approximately as follows.
On the left side, four characters: Woman of the CHEW clan who entered the LAM household.
On the left side column: The grave of Mrs. LAM Dak Diu.
On the right side column: The grave of Mr. LAM Dak Diu
Frank Shong is the husband of Mary Mah.
Conclusion
The City of Richmond Archives has a significant number of records from the Hong Wo Store. These records, currently being cleaned by a conservator, will be accessible to researchers, possibly by the end of 2025. A preliminary review of some of these documents, as well as others, leads me to believe that LAM Ching Ling’s brother was involved in the store’s operation. That idea, the achievements of some of the children of LAM Ching Ling and CHEW Gore, and the stories of Richmond’s other pioneer Chinese Canadian families, will all be the subjects of posts in the future.
The place now known as the City of Richmond is located in the traditional and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (Hunquminum) speaking people. They lived on and moved throughout the area using the many natural resources available to support themselves and their culture.
The arrival of non-Indigenous settlers in the 1800s began changing the land into what we know today. Mostly farmers, they began the process of dyking and draining and the construction of roads. Eventually they organized and submitted a petition to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council requesting the incorporation of a municipality under the name of the Township of Richmond, allowing them to collect taxes to help pay for continued development.
Richmond, North Yorkshire was the first place to have the name. It was founded about 800 years before Richmond, British Columbia. Photograph from https://www.richmond.org/Visit.
Richmond is believed to be the most common place name in the world. There are at least 105 locations on the planet called Richmond, six in Canada including this one. The original Richmond was founded in 1071 in what is now Yorkshire by Count Alan Rufus on lands granted to him by William the Conqueror after the Norman Invasion of Britain in 1066. The name comes from Norman French, “Richemonte,” meaning “Strong Hill.” Count Alan built a Norman Castle on the banks of the River Swale and the town grew up around it. The area became the seat of the Dukes of Richmond whose descendants travelled around the world naming the places they found after themselves. Other places were named Richmond by people who had a connection with older Richmonds, spreading the name even further.
The naming of Richmond, British Columbia is one of those historic events in which the reason for choosing the name was not officially documented. We know when it took place and who the participants were but not the motive behind it. This is further complicated by there being a number of people involved who had a connection to other places named “Richmond.”
Hugh and Jennie McRoberts – Richmond, New South Wales, Australia
Hugh McRoberts is acknowledged to be the first non-Indigenous settler in what is now Richmond. He was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1814 and emigrated to Australia with his wife in the 1840s where his daughter Jennie was born. In 1849 he set off for North America and made unsuccessful attempts at gold mining in California and at Yale on the Fraser River.
Hugh McRoberts, BC pioneer and Richmond’s first farmer. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1978 2 29.
After failing to make his fortune gold mining, he was awarded a contract from the Colonial Government to build a road between Yale and Boston Bar and a trail from New Westminster to the river mouth, earning enough to bring Jennie to British Columbia and to buy some land. Around 1860 McRoberts pre-empted 1600 acres on the Vancouver side of the North Arm and on Sea Island where he built a house and established a farm, built the first dykes in what is now Richmond and raised crops such as wheat, apples, plums, cherries, pears and potatoes and raised cattle.
A sketch of “Richmond View” by an admirer of Jennie McRoberts done in 1863. He described it as “a poor attempt to represent on paper one of the most lovely spots in B.C.” City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 30 6.
Before long he owned nearly half of Sea Island, which people of the day referred to as “McRoberts’ Island.” His daughter Jenny named the house he built at the farm “Richmond Place” and their farm “Richmond View” because it reminded her of “Richmond” New South Wales, near where she grew up. This was the first time that the name “Richmond” was associated with the place we now call Richmond.
Hugh McRoberts’ house on his Sea Island Farm, Richmond View. By 1862 Richmond View Farm was harvesting wheat and other crops for sale in New Westminster. The farm was acquired by Thomas Laing in 1894. City of Richmond Archives photograph RCF 23.
Hugh McRoberts had sold his farm by the early 1870s and moved to New Westminster where he had a dairy business. He passed away in 1883, “Leaving a long and interesting record as a pioneer, a good sturdy man of the best type,” in the words of early Richmond historian, Thomas Kidd. Jennie had married and moved to Victoria in 1864 so neither she or her father could be credited with influencing the original petitioners to name the new municipality Richmond, although they and their farm were well known, which may have had some bearing.
Hugh and Mary Boyd – Richmond, Yorkshire, England
Hugh Boyd was born in 1842 in the same part of Northern Ireland as Hugh McRoberts and came to British Columbia in 1862. He, like so many, made an unsuccessful attempt at gold mining in the Cariboo. Returning to New Westminster, he worked building the trail from New Westminster to the mouth of the Fraser River in association with Hugh McRoberts, the McCleery Brothers, Alexander Kilgour and J. Mackie. In 1866 he partnered with Alexander Kilgour and they homesteaded on Sea Island on property abutting Hugh McRoberts’ Richmond View Farm. The property was known as Rosebrook Farm.
This map of McRoberts (Sea) Island shows the locations of Hugh McRoberts’ Richmond View Farm and Hugh Boyd and Alexander Kilgour’s Rosebrook Farm. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1997 42 4 56.
In 1873 Hugh Boyd married Mary Ann McColl, the daughter of Sgt. William McColl of the Royal Engineers in New Westminster. Miss McColl was born in the original Richmond in Yorkshire, England. On November 10, 1879, when Hugh Boyd and the 24 other petitioners signed the request for the incorporation of the Township of Richmond, they did so in the dining room of the Boyd’s house at Rosebrook Farm. Hugh Boyd was selected as the first “Warden” (Reeve) of the new Municipality and Council meetings were held in the Boyd’s dining room for the next year until the first Town Hall could be built.
Hugh Boyd, the first Reeve of the Township of Richmond. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1978 2 5.
The Boyds left British Columbia and returned to Ireland in 1887 where they lived until their deaths, he in October 1931 and she in January 1952 at the age of 97 years. They named their home in Bangor, Northern Ireland, “Richmond.” Mrs. Boyd maintained that Richmond was named in her honour. In a letter to Major Matthews, the City of Vancouver Archivist, in 1944 she said, “The name of Richmond was decided on as an honour to me, and the name of the town I was born in somewhere in Yorkshire; also for allowing my dining room as Council Chamber until a hall was built.”
Mrs. Hugh Boyd, nee Mary Ann McColl, whose dining room was used as Richmond’s Council Chamber for a year before the first Town Hall was built. Image cropped from City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 49 1.
W.D. Ferris- Richmond, Surrey, England
William Douglas Ferris was born in Richmond, Surrey, England and immigrated to Eastern Canada where he lived for many years before moving west to British Columbia, settling in New Westminster. As Thomas Kidd said in his book History of Richmond Municipality, Ferris had “all the spirit of a pioneer” and in 1866 at the age of 51 years he took a farm on Lulu Island, moving there with his wife and family. In 1877, now in his sixties and feeling too old to continue farming, he sold his farm to J.W. Sexsmith and moved back to New Westminster where he served as a Justice of the Peace and was elected as Mayor in 1879.
The petition, handwritten by W.D. Ferris, asking the Lieutenant Governor in Council to incorporate the Township of Richmond. City of Richmond Archives image RCF 39.
He maintained an interest and friendships with the settlers on Lulu and Sea Islands and, although he was not eligible to sign the document, he drew up the hand-written petition urging the Lieutenant Governor in Council to incorporate the Township of Richmond. Thomas Kidd related that he “has a dim remembrance of being told at the time of circulation that Mr. Ferris had chosen the name of Richmond for the Municipality to commemorate the name of his own native place in England.”
W.D. Ferris in 1879 when he was Mayor of New Westminster. New Westminster Archives Item IHP 1874.
John Wesley Sexsmith – Richmond Township, Lennox County, (Upper Canada, Canada West) Ontario
John Wesley Sexsmith was one of the most influential people in Richmond’s early history. He was born on May 10, 1830 in Richmond Township, Lennox County, Upper Canada where he grew up, attended school and worked on the family farm. At age 25 he went into business, opening a dry goods, grocery and hardware store in the Hamlet of Selby with his brother and brother-in-law and running a cheese factory with a partner. He also became active in public affairs and was the Treasurer of the Township of Richmond, Lennox and Addington for 18 years. In 1876 he and his family moved from Ontario to British Columbia and purchased 160 acres from W.D Ferris on the North Arm of the Fraser in 1877.
John Wesley Sexsmith, Richmond Reeve, farmer, businessman and community leader. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1994 18 1.
In 1879, he and his son, Charles Garret Sexsmith, signed the petition for incorporation. There is little doubt that J.W. Sexsmith’s experience and leadership had a great bearing on the formation of Richmond. As a rural area with small pockets of population here and there under a single administration, Richmond certainly followed the Ontario model of the Township Municipality from the 1800s. Mr. Sexsmith’s 18 years of experience in the municipal government of Richmond Township before moving to BC must have made him a leader in the discussions around incorporation.
The Sexsmith family home on River Road with family members standing in front, ca. 1890. J.W. Sexsmith and his wife Alice Mary Tuttle Sexsmith on the right. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1999 8 6.
J.W. Sexsmith was the only one of the aforementioned people who stayed in Richmond and took a lifelong part in community and business life here. He served as the Reeve of the Municipality for four terms and was the first Postmaster. He helped build, support and preached at the Richmond Methodist Church (now Minoru Chapel). He was one of the first School Board Trustees and founded the North Arm School District in 1877, the Lower Mainland’s first, and founded and was first president of the Richmond Agricultural Society. In business he built and operated a cheese factory on his farm, was one of the partners in the construction and operation of the Provincial Cannery, operated a steamboat service between Richmond and New Westminster, and was a financial backer of the Easterbrook Flour Mill. As Reeve and as a private citizen Mr. Sexsmith led and supported many of the significant developments in Richmond’s history, including the first telephone, bridges connecting Lulu and Sea Islands to the mainland across the North and Middle Arms, the railway to Steveston and the supply of electricity. He retired in 1908 and lived the rest of his life in his home on River Road, passing away in 1920 after a long and productive life. Descendants of Mr. Sexsmith maintain he that named our Richmond after his birthplace.
The first Richmond Town Hall, located near the intersection of Cambie and River Roads, ca. 1888. As a School Trustee J.W. Sexsmith applied for use of the hall for school purposes. This image shows school children playing outside, including four Sexsmith family members. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1984 17 77.
The Corporation of the Township of Richmond, British Columbia
It is difficult to conclude that any one person can be said to have named Richmond. There are twenty-five signatures on the petition requesting incorporation so, obviously, a suggestion was made and a consensus was reached and, ironically, these flat, boggy islands were given a name that means “Strong Hill”. On December 3, 1990, Richmond lost its longtime designation as a Township and became the City of Richmond, having grown from a small farming district of 200 to 400 people into a diverse, multicultural city of over 200,000.
Richmond has a long and rich history of Japanese immigration and settlement. Various places around Richmond, Sea Island, Don Island and, in particular, Steveston were areas where Japanese immigrants lived, worked, raised families and contributed to the diverse cultural blend of our city.
Steveston looking west along Moncton Street from No.1 Road around 1940. The majority of the businesses along this street were operated by Japanese-Canadian entrepreneurs at the time. City of Richmond Archives photograph RCF 274.
Japanese immigrants (Nikkei) arrived in Steveston around the time that the English Cannery opened in 1882 and by the 1900s made up a large portion of the Steveston population. Mostly male and mostly fishermen, they were accommodated in bunkhouses built by the canneries. During the fishing season Japanese “Bosses,” who had control of twenty or thirty boats, would negotiate contracts with the canneries for them and take care of their needs such as food, clothing and other services in return for a percentage of their wages.
This image taken on November 22, 1936 shows members of the Japanese community gathered outside the Japanese Buddhist Mission on First Avenue to commemorate the ceremony of “Putting in the Buddha.” City of Richmond Archives photograph 1995 3 1.
Although the original intention of many of the men was to return to Japan after working in Canada, many decided to stay permanently. Some returned to Japan to find wives, others had their families back home arrange marriages with suitable women, the so-called “Picture Brides”. Bunkhouses were unsuitable for married couples, so canneries built small houses to accommodate families.
A group of Japanese girls pose for a picture in traditional May Day dress outside the Steveston Japanese School ca. 1926. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1978 1 36.
The Nikkei population grew, the men fishing and their wives working in the canneries and raising families. They diversified, expanding into boatbuilding, buying property, farming and starting businesses. People joined Faith communities, formed sports teams and created a rich community life.
The Steveston Fuji baseball team played in the Vancouver Japanese League with the Asahi Giants, Powell Drugs and Union Fish teams. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1977 7 12.
Contending with discrimination and exclusion, The Japanese Fishermen’s Benevolent Society was formed in 1897 to protect the interests of the Nikkei fishermen and the community, A 1906 decision by the Richmond School Board to ban children of non-property owners effectively deprived most of the Nikkei children of an education and resulted in the construction of the Steveston Japanese School. To ensure that the health needs of the community were met, the Japanese Fishermen’s Hospital was built, Richmond’s first.
The Japanese Fishermen’s Hospital on No.1 Road in Steveston, ca. 1915. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2006 39 47.
By the 1930s the Japanese population had grown to account for two-thirds to three quarters of the total population of Steveston, approximately 3500 people. Nikkei owned businesses and stores of every description lined Moncton Street from No.1 Road to Third Avenue. Grocery stores, meat and fish markets, hardware and general stores, a bicycle shop, the River Garage, a billiard hall and clothing stores operated by Nikkei entrepreneurs could be found on both sides of the street. Five confectioneries (candy and chocolate shops) satisfied those with a craving for sweets.
The Mukai Confectionary stood at the corner of Moncton Street and No.1 Road and had a confectionary in the front, a pool hall in the back and ten bedrooms upstairs. It also housed a taxi business and had space used by a dentist who came to Steveston once a week. The building was lost in a fire sometime between 1942 and 1951 but the location is still known as Mukai Corner. City of Richmond Archives photograph RCF 272.
The density of the Japanese Canadian population in Steveston is very obvious when looking at the meticulous research done by Haruji (Harry) Mizuta who, using maps from the 1936 Waterworks Atlas of Richmond, marked the locations of Nikkei homes and businesses from the Scottish Canadian Cannery in what is now Garry Point Park to the Winch Cannery at the foot of No.2 Road. This is especially true with the map he marked as #30-2 1930s – Gulf of Georgia Cannery and Old Steveston Town – Steveston BC.
This map, created by Haruji (Harry) Mizuta illustrates the quantity of Nikkei homes and businesses, marked by blue and red dots, in Steveston during the Thirties. City of Richmond Archives Reference Files.
The growth of “Japan Town” came to a sudden halt with the forced relocation of Japanese Canadians from the Coast of British Columbia. Families were uprooted, stripped of their property and moved to areas where they had to start over and rebuild their lives, often in harsh circumstances. Steveston became a virtual ghost town with so many of its residents suddenly gone. In 1949 when Nikkei families were permitted to come back to the coast, those who decided to return rebuilt their lives and community again. Today the legacy of Japan Town is a cherished and honoured part of Steveston’s and Richmond’s history.
Haruji (Harry) Mizuta’s research shows some of the businesses and business owners along Moncton Street during the 1930s. City of Richmond Archives Reference files.
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