The Eleventh Generation 十一世

The procession of our clan’s Ancestral Registry is equivalent to the preservation of documented history of a country. A country without its documented history would mean the loss of its administrative records for all previous dynasties. A Clan without its Ancestral Registry would be an impediment for its future generations to identify themselves to their roots.

Our first recorded ancestor 德善公 came from Guangdong Province 廣東省, Dongguan County 東莞*, “Big Well” Village 大井村, and settled here. It had been 13 generations since his arrival. Our ancestors heard bout the nice environment in this area and came during the Ming Dynasty Reign of Xian Zong 明朝憲宗成化年,  1465 AD to 1487 AD, to Zhong Shan County 香山(中山)縣, “Green Humble” Village 翠微村, and launched a textile bleaching (dyeing) business.

In the year 1557 AD (Ming Dynasty Reign of Shi Zong 明朝世宗嘉靖戊午年), they** came to White Leaf Forest 白葉林 and built a residence which was very primitive. After 2 generations, the family began to expand in numbers and worked hard to build a fortune.

Shortly after that, they experienced a trend of declining family memberships and this concern caused the 8th generation master 與京公 (Descendant from Branch #1, 2nd generation 世華公 lineage) (See Chart, Pg 1) and others to migrate to 會同鄉 Village and lived there for over a decade. Since then, the population trend had reversed and grew.

As well, 與京公 was a scholar and came first in County Examinations. 沛超公 (9th generation) also came fifth in County Examinations when he was 29 (Qing Dynasty Reign 清朝乾隆庚辰年 1760 AD). All these achievements were the result from the grace of our ancestors. These events motivated the first and second sons to establish an Ancestral Shrine to worship the ancestors. It has been over a decade now and this stability allowed us to study and cultivate the fields and be proud of our achievements.

Yet whenever we read our Ancestral Registry, we noticed that it was deteriorating badly. Furthermore, we have not updated the Registry properly since the 6th generation. Meeting with clan members came to the conclusion that we must return to “Big Well” Village 大井村 someday and pay homage to our ancestors and then reconstruct and combine all data into one registry, updating our side of the membership since the 6th generation.

Unfortunately, years passed by and we did not make this happen. In the meantime, the old registry got into a very poor shape. We did not have the resources for that return trip and we were worried about the currently damaged registry.

The elders had authorized us to do our best and record all available data from the 1st generation to the 12th generation into the Ancestral Registry. We cannot claim that we have all the details, but we feel that what we have accomplished will suffice under the circumstances.

 – Written by the 11th Generation, 1830 AD

 

Supplementary Notes by Robert L.Y. Mok (17th Generation):

There were actually 2 extra generations ahead of the “first recorded” generation since the first recorded ancestor came along with his grandfather

*Now designated a city since September 1985

**Probably the 4th generation based on the timeline

Original Chinese Document 中文版