On the way back, we spent a few days in Kuching, where we had dinner with some other relatives. One of them included members of the Lim family (Lim being the surname of my paternal grandmother). It was only then that I realised that Felix Lim and I are actually third cousins. Felix is, as many of you already know. also a 1959 lad, formerly from St Joe. In fact you might have read in earlier postings on this blog that he has kindly agreed to use his talents to add to the musical entertainment at the Grand Reunion on 23 Dec.
Felix Lim & me after the dinner (Nov 2009)
Robert Chin and I also found not long ago that we are also linked in the family tree.
I guess at the end of the day, Kuching still isn't that big a place, and if we trace back enough generations, almost everyone is linked to everyone else :-)
Anyone else been tracing your family trees? Any interesting discoveries? Any experience to share?
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interesting! how is the link between you & Felix, WJ ?
ReplyDeleteWJ,
ReplyDeleteRobert and Lawrence are cousins, so you are also linked to Lawrence?
The World is becoming smaller...gee...we are all related one way or the other...
Lee Kien, you are also linked to RC. And so you are also linked to WJ (if WJ is indeed linked to LC as you mentioned). Yes, a smaller world is emerging.
ReplyDeleteLeo,
ReplyDeleteIndeed you are right.RC is my nephew's Godfather and uncle...
A few months ago i went to this saloon in KL.The owners were the Lim sisters...chit chatted and later found out they were related to my husband!!
Dear WJ
ReplyDeleteYour sharing on genealogy stirred up an interesting subject - in fact I'm of the belief that "all men are brothers." - whether we accept it or not. Historically, biblically or socially, mankind is related, in one way or another, although such statements may not go well with some less-minded people. ( except, perhaps Class of '76 , Josephians & friends )
When Ghenghiz Khan and his Mongol horde swarmed across Asia & Europe, covering almost two-thirds of the known world then, they left their DNAs in the respective conquered lands. There was a professor who theorised that two thirds of the World's people would have some mongol blood in them. The same goes for Alexander The Great and the Greek army - how do we explain the fair-skinned and beautiful Hindustani Bollywood film-stars who look more "western" than Indian ? Luckily for us, the Japanese conquerers invaded our country for only 4 years !! Cannot imagine how we would be had they prolonged their stay. We would be eating sushi and drinking sake and our faces would be as round as the "red sun" on the Japanese Flag !!
On a lighter note, why do many countries carry the Chinese surname "Tan?" - Pakis-Tan, Afganis-Tan, Ubekis-Tan, Khazak-Tan ? Any coincidence that they are neighbours to China too ?
And how about Americans and Europeans having the surname "Lee" - Lee Marvin, Lee Evans..etc. And we know that "Tiong", "Chang" & "Teo" are similar surnames, just spelt differently for dialectal reasons. Same for "Bong', "Wong" and "Ong"
In a nut-shell, many good things have resulted from our Grand ReUnion - pre & post. From an intended ex-School & Class-mates ReUnion, it has extended into a "relatives" ReUnion too. Thumbs-up to WSJ and the Organising committee.
WSJ, I wish you all the best in your genealogy studies and research - just update us should you discover any more blood relatives among us - we have to update our children too - just in case they end up marrying their own long-lost cousins !! hehehehe, just kidding.
My apologies if I may have offended anyone, but rest assured, it's not intentional.
Cheers and Have a great week-end !!
Edmund AS Lee
If you go back long enough into pre-histoy, ALL of us are AFRICANS. So it is quite appropriate that the Leader of the Free World is now Obama.
ReplyDeleteFrom all these revelations, JY and Bob Chew are also related.
ReplyDeleteBob's my uncle???? LOL
ReplyDeleteDon't laugh, James, it might actually be true!
ReplyDeleteThat's fine. Many of us have already been calling him Uncle Bob anyhow.
ReplyDeleteSince Robert and Lawrence and Mark are cousins, I'm probably linked to all of them - whether by bloodline or by marriage somewhere in the tree. KC, are you in the same Chin Clan?
ReplyDeleteI'm related in some way to RC, LC, MC and EC - though I do not know the specifics. My grandfather used to live near where their families live next to St Paul's. It's quite amazing how many Chins there are in our year, not to mention PC though I don't believe he's related.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Bob's my uncle and Andrew Kang was my cousin too.
Wow..its going more and more interesting, more "ching langs" being found.
ReplyDeleteOur dentist in KL is also a Chin (family from Ipoh) & Lawrence said there are Chins relations in Ipoh though we never explore the links..
Don't think PC is related cos he is Teochew, right PC?
ALL COME FROM ADAM & EVE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, WHAT?
ReplyDeleteELAS > Maybe Leo SIA's people also have much influence also cos you have countries named like
ReplyDelete- MalaySIA
- IndoneSIA
- PolyneSIA
- RhodeSIA
Even Thailand was once called SIAm. What you think Leo?
Darwinists would not agree with you, Kopi-O-Pok. They'd say we're all related to the apes and monkeys.
ReplyDeleteThere's a concept called "Six Degrees of Seperation" which states that anyone is connected to anyone else by AT MOST five links, (eg. between strangers A and F, A might know B, who knows C, .... who knows F). Although this concept is mathematically yet unproven, it has been borne out by many tests and experiments.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if such a rule might also be relevant to family relations as well?
By the same logic, statistically it is possible...
ReplyDeleteI think I m direct decendent of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi !!! LOL
ReplyDeleteEr.. anyone out there who's related to me through the 'huan chu kin' on not? If so, please let me know, and I'll give you an 'angpow' too.
ReplyDeleteKopi Peng,
ReplyDeleteRhodesia happens to be an unrecognised African State named after Cecil John Rhodes. Today it is called Zimbabwe.
Polynesia (as I know) is a group of islands in the Pacific.
Indonesia needs no introduction being the world 4th populous nation located geographically at an area prone to the wrath of nature.
Malaysia - now how did the name come about? How come SIA was added to Malay to form the name of our country?
BTW, there's also MelaneSIA and MiconeSIA among others.
Any coincidence that (together with Polynesia) these are mainly islands within the Pacific as well. Influence by my fore-fathers? Unlikely.
Of course there is also SIA - Singapore Airlines.
You got big share in SIA, yes Leo? Hehehe
ReplyDeleteWhat software applications do you use (if any) for tracking your family tree, WJ ?
ReplyDeleteI use the software called Family Tree Maker. It's very good.
ReplyDeleteLeo> The name Malaysia came about when the Federation of MALAYA admitted SIngapore. So the name of the new nation became MALAYSIA. And it stayed that way even after Singapore left two years later.
ReplyDeleteI thought Brunei was also admitted into Fed.of Malaysia? How come not MalaySiaNei?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Historian is entirely correct, although some Malayan politicians might have used that line with Singapore prior to 1963, to try convince them to join.
ReplyDeleteWhat I read was that the name "Malaysia" was already around in the early 1900s, with scholars referring to various areas around the Malay archipelago as Malaysia. In fact, at one point the Philippines wanted to adopt the name, but Malaysia got to it first.
Anpther name that was considered prior to 1963 was "Langkasuka", but it was not eventually chosen. Imagine, we all almost became Langkasukians ! LOL.
Langkasukians sounds like a fruit ! Hahaha !
ReplyDeleteMy, Felix has lost some weight since the last time we met, how are you my man? See you on the 23rd!
ReplyDeleteLangkasuka sound like Buah Langsat. Boy, what a name!
ReplyDeleteWJ is also cousin with Martin Ho.
ReplyDeletewhere is Kuala Penyu? penyu mean turtle, right? got banyak penyu ka?
ReplyDelete