Chinese Roots Buried in Chongqing
I am 9th generation American. My 3rd generation American grandfather had twelve children, seven of whom were born in Chongqing, China. After his first child was born in Philadelphia, his next five were born in Chongqing beginning in 1794. They were Sarah, Martha, Robert, William, and Joseph. Joseph, who was born in March 1802, died in November 1802 and was buried in Chongqing. You see, I told the girls, my Chinese roots are right there in China.
But the next child, Charles, was born in 1805 - in Pennsylvania. Then it was back to China for the birth of Henry and Elisha in 1808 and 1810.
Well, as luck would have it, Charles, the child who was born in America with the Chinese born siblings before and after him, is my ancestor out of that generation of my family. It was his son, James Kelly Brewster Solomon who broke away and moved to Texas. He wasn't a born Texan, but he got here as fast as he could, after being born in New Jersey. He and his Pennsylvania born wife had a bunch of kids too, as farmers tended to do in those days.
One of those kids was the now infamous Daniel, who fathered my grandfather and his three siblings before making his escape to Oregon to start another family.
But that wasn't to be the last great escape to be made in the family.
My father's oldest brother went to California when he was around 30 years old. He was never heard from again and was presumed dead. He left behind a wife and two children, one of whom became curious about the father she never knew and began searching for him. Somehow she was able to track him down. He was living in Arizona with a different wife and family, none of whom knew anything about his previous wife and family. She found him after his parents and my father had died, though, and he died shortly after she located him.
So where, I wonder, will Cici choose to put down her roots?
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