So I'm frequently asked, you know, how long have you been here? How long has your family been here? When I talk about the Chinese working on the railroad and the building, the Transcontinental railroad railroad, I always say I'm fourth generation because my [maternal] great grandfather, Lee Wong Sang, that's my mother's grandfather from the Lee Village in Toi San came in 1866 as a laborer. And I'm sure at the time he didn't know he was going to work on the railroad. They didn't know what they were going to work on. But once he got here and I must say Chinatown was established San Francisco, Chinatown, he first came to San Francisco, China. That's where they landed. So anyway, he he worked on the Transcontinental railroad for several years. He was very, very fortunate in that... he had some he must have been very skillful in learning languages because he picked up English and they made him a foreman, and he was able to work with the, you know, the white bosses. And that's, that's the story that I got from my my mother. And she's the carrier of the history and the culture for me.
And she's passed this down. So so my- Lee Wong Sang, so I was saying very fortunate, as I keep saying, coming so early before the exclusion law and also being able to survive, you know, the harsh conditions and go back to Chinatown, San Francisco, and be involved with the store... Guo Seng Wo, that's the name of the store it was, they had different places, was on Commercial Street when he was manager, but he, was, he saved up enough to be able to send for his wife, because he came when he was 18, 19 and then had him engaged and betrothed to to a young woman. And he was able to send for her and she was from the Chin family. And I have her picture as an elderly woman because my mother actually knew her and got some of the stories from her. So to make a long story short, my grandfather, my great grandfather and his wife had raised a family on Du Pont Guy, which is now Grand Avenue. And my [maternal] grandfather, their second son, was born in 1878, above a store on Du Pont Street.
And because he was born here and a son of a merchant, he he was... had, you know, a leg up and he was able to carry on his father's business. And he became an importer exporter and an agent for Levi Strauss. So so that was kind of a big deal. That's why we have so much documentation, because I have photographs with my grandfather, my mother's father, with Walter Haas and his brothers, you know, who was president of Levi Strauss. And so my grandfather went back and forth to, to China, you know, and you-- a San Francisco representing Levi Strauss and the Haas brothers. The Haas brothers had a grocery store before that. And then-- then he became a member of the China Trade Corporation. And, and then going back and forth, that was a big deal. And he he was given a big party by the Haas brothers. And we have this photograph of, you know, a farewell party because he was going there to live, you know, and and not be, you know, an agent anymore. So that's why my mother and her siblings went to China and that's how she became educated in Chinese, because my grandfather said there's no opportunity for it for for the next generation to be well-educated. They're in segregated schools and they're barred from some schools. And then the... We want them, if they're going to learn anything, they will learn Chinese literature, Chinese history, you know, but they're American citizens. So they were my mother was very was educated in, about China.
They were coming-- when my grandfather was was, was 42 years old. He, he had cancer. And on one of his trips to San Francisco... or actually, coming back from San Francisco, in 1922 in September, he died. He died on board ship. And it was, he was, it was quite a very, you know, devastating to the Chinese community who, who knew him. And, you know, he was involved with trade. And so my grandmother with her, all her kids, children, said there's no opportunity for a widow in in China and no opportunity for their education. There's no opportunity here. I'm going to go back to America. So this is a big story. The Angel Island story, my grandmother, a widow, coming in January 1924, during, just before the next immigration act would be passed, brings my mother, my mother's three sisters, and two brothers back to San Francisco. The children are allowed to land. My grandmother is, her paper said...You know, she's a has reentry permit and everything. They said right away, you're a widow? Your husband's not with you, you have no status. And there's a law that went for all women. You know, a woman loses the stature of her her husband in immigration, and I guess and a lot of other things.
So like my mother was taken off the ship, my grandmother, the children were allowed to land. They lived with relatives. It was a very tragic time. They were just stunned. My mother remembers the time when they were on board a ship and they could see San Francisco and they're jumping the the sisters are jumping up and down. They're teenagers. You know, they're so excited. We're home. We're home. We're home. And then then to be stopped and and to have that devastating thing happen. Anyway. So my grandmother was... there's a board of inquiry. And they said and they said, well, you know, you're going to you have to go to the hospital. The hospital, which is now a museum, you know, to be tested, you know. And then she was have a physical exam, which is very traumatic for a Chinese woman with bound feet. And, and then, you know, she was found to have a liver fluke. You know, there's a name for it. And that was one of the the diseases or ailments, afflictions that, you know, would send the person be deport all. And so many Chinese were deported because of that. It was a very common-- it's a parasite. And so she was going to be deported, the daughters, the elder daughter-- this my aunt, she was older I guess she was 18 or 19. My mother was 15. And so she went to the Haas Brothers; I guess the sisters went together to the the office of Walter Haas. I guess at that time he was with Levi Strauss. And he immediately said, I will have my my legal team take care of this. She'll be off in no time. I have the letters and and the the... the lawyer he had assigned was Charles Fickard, who became-- who was quite well known at the time.
And he wrote a letter in its address the envelope says "Angel Island" you know and "Wong Xi" she that you know, the identity of women… you know they didn't even have their her husband's name they just put her as Wong Xi as she and then they later just called her "the detained". You know [chuckles], and but she was. Wang Xi and then Mrs. Lee. So he redressed her and say, Mrs. Lee. We are very sorry that it seems inhumane that you'd be separated from her children. Some of the boys were young. There were six and four, you know, two of the brothers and. And so, to make a long story short, there was one appeal that was turned down. And then a second appeal, her case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. And finally she was released after 15 and a half months.
And during that time, the lawyer said, you know, this, she she was treated for the ailment and she was completely cured, saying this is a curable, this is not an incurable disease. It's just, you know, you know, it can be treated. It's an ailment. So anyway, she was finally released, but it was a traumatic experience and my mother never forgot it. She visiting her mother, you know, taking the ferry and bringing food with and seeing her mother for a few minutes in the in the administration building, which no longer exists. And then when they walked back to the dock, she and her sisters, they'd see the mother. The mother said, "Look for me on the second floor, I'll be waving to you from the window," you know. So that's the image that my mother had and gave to me. And it became part of the reason why I was so passionate about being involved with the, you know, the the the saving of the barracks.
First of all, you know, with Asia, the Asian, uh, what was it, the Angel Island Immigration Station Advisory Committee. That was our first group, and it was organized by Christopher Chow, a journalist who was what, 27 at the time. And maybe he was 23. Very, very young. I'm just saying the activists and I was young then, too, you know.