Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Great Grand Mother: Yeo Boey Neo


So far I have 12 relatives at Bukit Brown
1) Tan Kim Ching - son of Tan Tock Seng
2 Tan Swee Lim - son of TTS
3) Tan Boo Liat - great grandson of TTS
4) Mrs Tan Boo Liat - (next to it is Mdm Fang, actual birth mother of Lim Bo Seng. Lim Loh is also next to Mdm Fang)
5) Tan Wi Yan - grandson of TTS (at the immediate upper left is the tomb of actual grandmother of Tony Tan - Mdm Wee Chai Neo)
6) Tan Bin Cheng - grandson of TTS
7) Yeo Wan Neo (4th wife of Tan Wi Yan)
8) Lim Thean Gow father of Lim Boon Keng
9) & 10) Mr & Mrs Lim Mah Peng, parents of Lim Thean Gow



11) Lim Yu Loo, sister of Lim Boon Keng (found by Raymond and Lawrence Ang 14th January)
Blk 3 sec A tomb 811

12) Today I "unearthed" another: my great grandmother: Mdm Yeo Boey Neo:
Died 23 February 1929, buried at Bukit Brown Section III Lot 639



Documentation of this search begins with request Khoo Ee Hoon on our Heritage Singapore Bukit Brown Cemetery Facebook Site: (She had started a post on 27 January on Chinese Boy's School that lead to a thread of more than 250 comments including great interest in "mon ka chean he")

 Khoo Ee Hoon posted
Anyone has the book "One Hundred Years of Chinese in Singapore". I need some scans of SCGS girls, my friends mom is a student in one of the image that I'm trying to lay hands on.
Tuesday 31st January 2012  at 11:01 

This lead me to searches for online versions of the book which I failed to find, online versions of the photos which I found at www.a2o. 
The discussions of SCGS lead to the premises at 37 Emerald Hill Road: 
I found some floor plans for that: leading on to search for 117 Emerald Hill Road plans. 



The name  Alsagoff was on the plans for alteration (addition of stables) 1908.

From a search of newspaper archives I learned that the property was earlier purchased by Alsagoff
(and put on lease by the previous owner circa 1906)



Browsing the archives for 117 Emerald Hill Road I found a newspaper obituary February 1929 for Mrs Seow Chye Watt, aka Mdm Yeo Buay Neo: which I realized was my great-grandmother, 
a2onArchives provided burial plot data: 

That she had 3 sons and 3 daughters is news to me
The family database lists her sons as Seow Poh Kooi, Seow Poh Leng, Seow Poh Quee (is that same as Poh Kooi?) and her daughters as Yee Soh and Koh Tengah

Now I need to go search the actual tomb, and see Watt names are recorded


My friend Su Lin kindly went this morning and located it:







Mdm Yeo (杨梅娘) had 3 sons: Bao Ling (保龄Bao Ling) = Poh Leng , Bao Gui (宝贵Bao Gui)  = Poh Kooi& Bao Heng (宝兴Bao Xing); Dialect (Hanyu Pinyin)
3 daughters: Kim Neo (金娘Jin Niang) , Keng Neo (根娘Gen Niang) & Qui Neo (月娘Yue Niang);
6 grand-sons: (秀金Xiu Jin)  (顺仁Shun Ren), (秀仁Xiu Ren), (清仁Qing Ren), (友仁You Ren) & (思仁Si Ren); and


3 grand-daughters: (月桂Yue Gui), (月清Yue Qing) & (月明Yue Ming)
Piecing this together


She had three sons Poh Leng, Poh Kwee and Poh Seng
She had three daughters: the two names I have are Koh Tengah and Yee Soh


Consultation with my cousin Gordon reveal that Koh Tengah and Yee Soh are the same person, Qui Neo (月娘Yue Niang) aka Seow Guat Ying. Koh Tengah :  was the wife of Chia Yee Soh their children were named Phyllis, Mary, Charlie, Nellie, Robert, Alice, Elsie,   Winnie, Ronnie, Harold, and Lionel. 




Winnie & Lionel were adopted by Dr. Lee Choon Neo (Singapore's first lady Physician) & Teo Koon Lim and took the surname Teo.


I know of her grandchildren
Poh Leng's children
Duke Sieu Jin
Eugene Eu Jin
Amy Guat Cheng
Betty Guat Beng
Rosie Guat Kheng



7 comments:

  1. Jeffrey : she had 3 sons, 3 daughters: nama apa?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I knew that Chia Yee Soh and clan were related to us, but I forgot how. I just knew Amak visited a lot (and played mahjong??). Now I know. How did mandarin Yue Niang become Hokkien Quee Neo? Oh, later I see aka Guat Ying -- well halfway right again I guess. How did she get "Koh Tengah" (Middle sister??)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Look at this
    http://peranakan.org.sg/forums/discussion/214/how-we-used-to-address-or-call-our-elders-and-relatives/p1
    Song
    August 2008 Permalink
    Posts: 1
    HI All
    I am a baba melaka, born and brought up in Melaka but now making a living in Singapore as a PR.
    My peranakan parents came from a very big family and there for I had to remember so many names to address them all.
    Just to list a few of them here:-
    Ee Cik = youngest aunty (mom side)
    Tua Ee = oldest aunty (mom side)
    Ji EE / Ee Neo / Ee etc = other aunty (mom side)
    Engku = Uncle (mom side)
    En Teo = aunty's husband (mom's brother in law)
    Engkim = Uncle's wife (mom's sister in law)
    Eng Cek = Uncle (father's side)
    Mak Eemm = Uncle's wife (father's sister in law)
    Ko ko = Aunty (father's side)
    Ko Poh = Grandmother's sister
    Ee Poh = Parent's aunty
    Ma Ma = Grandmother
    Ah Khong = Grandfather

    And consider my theory that "Koh" as in "Koh Tengah" was not a surname,
    but an honourific title, addressing her as Aunty, father's side,
    and Tengah because she was the middle (second) of three Aunties!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Song,
      As Peranakan, i would prefer addressing grandpa as
      "En-Kong" (more peranakan) than "Ah Kong".
      Yes, Koh Besair, Koh Tengah, Koh Chik all referring to their sequence of birth among siblings.If born last, address her "Koh Bongsu" :)
      Don't leave out "Mak Ko" beside "Ko Ko" calling ...depends on who is older, your dad or his sis

      Delete
  4. Good advice!

    my "Peranakaness" has been influenced by much "England" and have lost the true nuances of correct way of addressing elders:

    ReplyDelete