Pow Nee’s father, John Wong Ee Chin was the 23rd generation Hakka or Kejia descendant who came from Nibei zhen (???), a town located at the central south of Xingning. Xingning (??) is a county-level city, under the jurisdiction of Meizhou, in the eastern part of Guangdong province of the People’s Republic of China.

Ee Chin then aged 12, was known to have first settled in Balik Pulau in Penang where he lived his foster parents who were farmers in a rural countryside in Balik Pulau, Penang Island in Malaysia.

Balik Pulau roots: Ee Chin’s Foster Family
Pow Nee’s father lived in Balik Pulau, Penang with his foster parents, Wang Liang Xu and Claudia Yu, upon his migration to Penang as a young man. He led a very hard life, cultivating his foster parent’s land in Balik Pulau and hauling down the produce on his shoulders over the hills of Balik Pulau to sell at the Ayer Itam market.

Church of The Holy Name of Jesus, Balik Pulau: Located just 5 minutes walk from the Balik Pulau Market, this church is also known as the Holy Name of Jesus Church. This Catholic church started in attap roof building in 1845. Built in 1854, the architecture is reminiscent of the Anglo Indian style, with fanlights above the tall wooden doors and louvers.
The inner sanctum of the church is adorned with imported stained glass which when backlit, bathes the interior in jewel tones. There is also a school under the same name in the compound.The bottom photograph is a more recent photo of the Balik Pulau Church. Taken on SUN Jan 24, 2010 when the author went there to trace the tombstone slab.

Together with Ee Chin, the latter had a foster brother by the name of Wong Ee Lim and two foster sisters by the names of Nina Wong and Jin Niang. Wang Liang Xu passed away in 1906, and his burial site was traced back to the Catholic Cemetery at Western Road, now known as Jalan Utama, Penang together with members of his wife and children. They were all Catholics by religion. Their descendants are still living in Penang.

The remains of Pow Nee’s foster parents were exhumed sometime in the 1920s, witnessed by Pow Nee’s eldest brother, Pow On and in the presence of some feng shui masters who saw the tombstone slab and predicted that someone from the family will become a prominent person. Little did anyone realize that Pow Nee, was to be that person to rise to the occasion.

The marked graves on the right side of the church had to make way for the construction of the Sacred Heart High School classrooms. The tombstone slab of Wong Liang Xu was left unturned on the small burial plot on the school grounds for almost 60 years until 1957 when the school was opened. It was the only tombstone slab left behind that was relocated to the right side of the Church, waiting for the descendants to claim it.

The author made subsequent visits to trace the inscriptions on the tombstone slab. He managed to make contact with Anna Phong Lee Lin, the great-granddaughter of Wong Ee Lim. Through her, the author was able to make some startling discovery on the other family side of his great-grandfather, Wang Liang Xu.

The author flanked by Paul Lim Han Yong aged 83, an active Balik Pulau Church Committee and Anna Phong Lee Lin, inspecting the marked graves of Wang Liang Xu and family. Photo was taken on SUN Jan 24, 2010.

Ee Chin’s Biological Parents

Standing L to R: Wong Bee Hwa, Wong Ee Chin, Wong Ah Boo
Seated L to R: Wong Ghee, Wong Li Fei, Wong Jiu Jing

Ee Chin’s father, Wong Ghee had four children – a boy and three girls. He was also a farmer by tradition, and the whole family were Hakka-speaking Catholics. It was not known whether his parents followed him on the journey to Penang, but Ee Chin was said to have come over to Balik Pulau at the young age of 12.

After some years, Pow Nee’s father left his foster parents’ home to begin a new life in Bukit Mertajam. Following more years of hardship, he started a small sawmill in Bukit Mertajam and became a timber merchant. His break came when he won the contract to supply the Railway Authority with wooden sleepers for the Bukit Mertajam-Kedah railway line. His venture was a success and he went on to become a building developer, constructing his own houses along Straight Street, Bukit Mertajam. Home was a brick terrace house at 118 Straight Street which is now called Jalan Datuk Ooh Chooi Cheng.

Pow Nee said that his father lived a very frugal life. He was very thrifty and prudent. He worked very hard to build for his family a better future. He passed away at the age of 47 on 7 October 1922, after seeing the birth of his first grandson, Benedict Wong Tet Chong. Pow Nee recalled that his father had accomplished much and found comfort in the community’s appreciation of his achievements.

This photo is Pow Nee’s only childhood shot taken circa 1915, when he was about 4 years old (in sailor suit) with his father, Wong Ee Chin, Mother Foo Nyuke Yin, holding daughter, Pow Kim, and maternal aunt Foo Nyuke Kim. Behind are brothers, Pow Teik, Pow On, and Pow Keat. In front is sister Pow Nyong (Youngest brother, Pow Mun not yet born at the time)

Ee Chin was believed to have first married with two sons; however this marriage has yet to be verified. He was then married to the sister of one Matthew Goh – together, they had two sons and a daughter by the name of Rose Wong Fook Nyong – all three children died young. Rose Wong Fook Nyong married a Dutch man by the name of Seaton, and they both had a daughter named Nelly, married to one Siew Chin.

Wong Ee Chin remarried a few years later, to Cecilia Foo Nyuke Yin from Bukit Mertajam. Cecilia Foo was Pow Nee’s mother, and together with Cecilia Foo’s younger sister, Rose Foo Nyuke Kim, these loving ladies managed the household chores and looked after Ee Chin’s seven children, namely, Anthony Wong Pow On, Andrew Wong Pow Teik, Henry Wong Pow Keat, Pow Nee, Rosalind Wong Pow Nyong, Anne Wong Pow Kim and, Paul Wong Pow Mun. They were all born in Bukit Mertajam, and baptised in the Church of St Anne, Bukit Mertajam. And they all lived at No. 118, Straight Street, Bukit Mertajam.