A Chinese Tombstone

For many years, residents of Denison, Texas, have known about a Chinese tombstone in Oakwood Cemetery. It is a small shaft of stone, about two feet high, engraved on one side with Chinese characters.

In 1968, Dr. Lloyd W. C. Tang, a dental surgeon in Dension and a native of Shanghai, China, translated the writing. Explaining that the Cantonese Chinese dialect was probably the language of the deceased man, Dr. Tang read the marker:

"The Grave of Fore-Father, Ng Seong-Ngah, died during the Royal Ch'ing Dynasty."

The inscription says no more.

City directories of Denison, and some newspaper stories, make earlier reference to a number of Chinese. From 1876 to 1902, eight "Chinese laundries" were listed in city directories. The earliest name in the directories is John Wah Chung who worked for Alonzo Hunt and boarded at the City Laundry on Main Street. Wah was noted in the years 1876 and 1877.

In 1888, Dock Lee owned a laundry on North Rusk street and John Hing ran one on South Austin. Two years later, Woo Sing was listed as a laundry operator on West Main and Wing Sing on North Austin where Lee Hop was employed. The Wing Sing laundry was also listed in 1901-2 and another had opened on North Rusk with Hong Yuen in charge. John Hing was employed by Wing Sing and Lee Hung worked, probably, for Woo Sing.

Hong Sing had a laundry on West Woodard in 1892, John Hing had opened his own laundry on South Austin, Law Hop worked at "the alley near Gandy between Houston and Austin," and Wing Sing and Woo Sing had apparently slightly changed addresses.

Quan N. Fun began laundry operations in 1893 on North Travis and the newspaper reported the arrival of Gin Sling to Denison, but with no indication of his occupation. The earlier journalist could have made up the name as a joke.

Local stories mentioned that the Chinese were probably brought to Texas for railroad work and moved into other occupations. But local stories do not mention the name of Ng Seong-Ngah.

One can easily find out, of course, that the Ch'ing Dynasty lasted from 1644 to 1912 in China.

And many of the Chinese emigrants to the United States in the 1880s were from China's south.

Dr. Tang's translation of the tombstone was reported in The Denison Herald, Sunday, April 7, 1968, in a story by Donna Hunt.

Considering the statements above an example of a historical puzzle, what can be known?