Traces of a Life: Searching for Georgie Haw

George “Georgie” Haw was born on September 29, 1895.  While George is referred to as “Georgie Sang Kee” in numerous sources, descendants of the family call him Georgie Haw, highlighting the challenging nature of naming for early Chinese in Canada. On one hand, due to discrepancies in language, many Chinese names were spelled phonetically and oftentimes different phonetic spellings referred to the same individual. On the other hand, many members of the Chinese community assumed different names according to context.

George was born to Chu Shee (see Note 1) and her husband Mr. Ho Sang Kee (see Note 2). According to numerous sources, George was the “first Chinese child born in Montreal” [1][3][5][12]. In the 1901 Canadian census [7], George’s nationality is listed as “Canadian” owing to his Canadian birthplace as well as his father’s purported status as “a naturalized British subject” [5], if the “George Gangkes” mentioned alongside other Ho Sang Kee family members is “George.” This is notable because very few of the Chinese community members in Canada at the time were considered ‘Canadian.’

George’s joyful entrance into the world [1] was commemorated in the months following his birth through Chinese traditions such as the Completion of the Moon, during which George’s head was shaved save for “a small tuft in the middle of the head which remains as the embryo of the queue of the future” [5] or as good fortune and happiness. Traditions such as the Completion of the Moon not only commemorated culturally important moments for George and his family but also allowed members of the rich and vibrant Chinese community in Montreal to gather, celebrate, feast, and enjoy each other’s company.

George’s status as Sang Kee’s eldest son and “heir” [1] was also commemorated by a portrait taken in November of 1895, which has not been located to date [17]. We know that in addition to the 1895 portrait, George’s portrait was taken alongside his mother and sister, Avis, in 1897 (see Figure 1). The ability to have their portraits taken indicates the prominent status of the Sang Kee family, a quality substantiated by Sang Kee’s infamous coverage by local newspapers as the owner of a boarding house on Lagauchetière street and, later, of a laundry on Ste. Catherine Street [13][18]. However, it is likely that George was largely unexposed to his father’s affairs since he seems to have spent most of his time with his mother, siblings, and their family servant, Jew Guey.

Hence, we may imagine that George lived his formative years playing, exploring, and learning on Lagauchetière Street and the surrounding Montreal Chinatown while surrounded by a strong Chinese community, both Christian and non-Christian. Considering that the educational system in Montreal was not yet formalized as it is today, George’s education very likely overlapped with both instruction at home as well as his attendance of religious programs such as Sunday school and school groups run by the church [19]. Thus, in addition to his performance in church events such as a Christmas show, wherein he and his peer Frankie Chin “recited very successfully a lengthy Bible exercise, concluding with a song of praise to God the Giver” [4], George was also active in his own education. Despite the difficulty of discerning what kind of school George attended, sources suggest that George was a top student and “bright lad, being usually at the head of his class and winning many prizes at the examinations” [3], and a letter penned by George from The Daily Witness (see Figure 2) states that he enjoyed subjects such as reading and geography, with his favourite subject being math [6].

George died on 3 March 1908, at the age of twelve, after a lengthy stay at the Children’s Memorial Hospital for what he calls “hip disease” [6]—probably bone tuberculosis, since the condition was one of the primary diseases treated by the hospital at the time [10]. George was admitted to the hospital in June 1907, just three years after the hospital’s opening in 1904 when it was still located in a house on 500 Guy Street [6][10][14]. In its early years, advocates for the hospital were endeavouring to secure funds to relocate the hospital from its townhouse location to a building with increased hospital space for better sanitation as well as outdoor spaces for the patients [11]. Despite the shortcomings of the hospital on Guy Street, George continued his education in addition to his youthful pursuits and was considered a beloved friend and patient by those around him [6]. Church records show that George, along with his mother and siblings (three sisters and two brothers), was baptized at Presbyterian Knox Church shortly before his death, indicating family members’ full conversion to the Christian faith [9][15]. George was buried just weeks before his mother passed. Sources suggest that community members gathered at the “Chinese Mission Rooms, 336 Lagauchetière street” [3][6][12] before George, and his mother a few weeks later, were both buried at Mount Royal Cemetery [2][8][9][16].

Much like the celebration of his birth, the mourning of George’s death received coverage in local newspapers and it was apparent that the grief was not only over the loss of a beloved son, friend, and community member, but also over the loss of the first Chinese-Canadian boy born in Montreal – an identity George proudly claims in the same 1908 letter signed “Your Chinese-Canadian” [6]. His short yet not insignificant life remains recorded and traceable in various archives. Were it not for these modes of record keeping and his personally penned letter, George’s life would have passed largely unnoticed to the public. But you can find traces of his life within these collections and so his status as the first Chinese child born in Montreal lives on.

Biography written by Ah-Mei Conroy, E: ahmei.conroy@ubc.ca

 

Notes

1. Chu Shee assumed the aliases of Mrs. Sang Kee or Haw San/Sang Kee, Chan Kee, and Jew Nuey. The name used in the article, Chu Shee, is the name used by descendants of the family today.

2. Ho Sang Kee assumed the aliases of Sam/San/Sang Kee as well as Wing Yun according to source [18].

Sources

[1] “A Celestial Babe: Causes Joy in the Hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Sang Kee.” Montreal Daily Herald, 1 October 1895, p. 3, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4286230?docsearchtext=Sang Kee.

[2] “A Chinese Funeral: Remains of Mrs. Sang Kee Laid Away in Mount Royal Cemetery.” The Daily Witness, 2 July 1908, p. 7, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4681797?docsearchtext=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[3] “Chinese Boy Dies.” The Daily Witness, 4 March 1908, p. 1, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4681695?docsearchtext=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[4] “Chinese Festivities: Novel Entertainment Given in Stanley Street Church Last Night.” The Daily Witness, 29 December 1903, p. 10, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4704019?docsearchtext=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[5] “Completion of the Moon: Sang Kee’s Baby’s Head Shaved on His Attaining the Age of One Month.” Quebec Morning Chronicle, 25 October 1895, p. 2, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3615942?docsearchtext=Sang%20Kee.

[6] “Funeral of Sang Kee: Little Chinese Boy was Great Favourite with Nurses and Patients in Hospital.” The Daily Witness, 5 March 1908, p. 1 and p. 14, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4681696?docsearchtext=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[7] “George Gangkes in the 1901 Census of Canada.” Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/8826/records/14402391.

[8] “George Sang Kee in the Canada, Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current.” Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/60527/records/2440006.

[9] “George Sang Kee in the Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.” Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/1091/records/2877535?tid=&pid=&queryId=f4607d77-46e0-4572-ad08-e2ba0db34dcb&_phsrc=WOW255&_phstart=successSource.

[10] “History.” Montreal Children’s Hospital, https://montrealchildrenshospital.ca/history/.

[11] Kalbfleisch, John. “From the Archives: Children’s Hospital Founder Faced Opposition.” The Gazette, 26 June 2017, https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article482933.html.

[12] “La Mort D’un Jeune Chinois: Cetait Le Premier Enfant de Cette Nationalite a Voir le Jour Dans Notre Ville.” La Presse, 5 March 1908, p. 14, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3213755?docsearchtext=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[13] “Laundryman petition.” 1900, Archives de la Ville de Montreal.

[14] “Montreal’s First Children’s Hospital Opens.” McGill Bicentennial, 1904, https://200.mcgill.ca/faculties/faculty-of-medicine-and-health-sciences/montreal-childrens-hospital/.

[15] “Sang Kee in the Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.” Baptism records, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/1091/records/23375882?tid=&pid=&queryId=aee3be05-59dc-43ff-9a07-19d84d8f840a&_phsrc=WOW250&_phstart=successSource.

[16] “Sang Kee in the Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.” Burial record, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/1091/records/2877572?tid=&pid=&queryId=d81a1ee7-7daf-4a85-922f-4b2d383a0840&_phsrc=WOW252&_phstart=successSource.

[17] “The Baby Photographed: An Event in the Life of Sang Kee Junior.” The Montreal Star, 28 November 1895, p. 8, Newspapers.com by Ancestry, https://www.newspapers.com/image/740894123/?match=1&terms=George%20Sang%20Kee.

[18] “The Eternal was Touched for $24.” The Herald, 22 September 1898, p. 7, BAnQ Numerique, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4577225?docsearchtext=Wing%20Yun.

[19] Wang, Jiwu. ‘His Dominion’ and the ‘Yellow Peril’: Protestant Missions to the Chinese Immigrants in Canada, 1859-1967. 2000. The University of Ottawa, PhD dissertation.

Wm. Notman and Sons. Mrs. Sang Kee’s Group, 1897, McCord Stewart Museum Montreal , https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/142147/le-groupe-de-mme-sang-kee-montreal-qc-1897.