Tan Family of Fujian - General Trias
In Cavite, there are a number of Chinese-Filipino families that have been living in the province for more than a century now. One of which is my own family which is shown on this old photo above. My Grandfather (Rightmost) is from Fujian Province and he traveled all the way to Singapore and then to the Philippines when he was still a teenager during the early 30's. Then he met my Grandmother (on his right at front) and they started a family in Malabon (now General Trias) in Cavite. My grandmother was a Filipino which makes my father (upper right of my grandfather) half Filipino. The man on the leftmost is my Grandfather's brother and his family.
I have always been so proud of how my grandparents raised our whole family from humble beginnings walking miles and miles to start their business which then became one of the leading hardware stores in the province during the 80's to the late 90's. Both my grandma and grandpa had passed away but their legacy will never be forgotten not just by us their family, but also all other people in our city who's lives where touched by theirs.
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Great photo of your family :-D
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ananka :) I miss my grandparents so much
DeleteWe all 'stand on shoulders of giants' ~ am not sure any of us now would survive the travails they all went through ~ Beautiful family to be proud of ~
ReplyDeleteBe Safe, Be Well,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
True True True Carol! I myself can never go to even just a quarter of what my grandparents went through especially during the Japanese Occupation of our country it was a nightmare.
DeleteThank you so much Carol!
...my mother was adopted and never wanted to search out her birth mother, so this side of my family is unknown to me. Both of my parents were only children so I have no aunts, uncles or cousins. My father's father died when he was young, so there never was much family around when I was growing up. I've always thought that I missed out on a lot!
ReplyDeleteTom I really want to thank you for sharing your family with me and us here. It sure is hard growing up without uncles and aunts especially me who become close to some of them but I'm sure it did made you stronger and independent not just physiologically but in a lot of aspects :) Proud of you Tom!
DeleteI love these posts of yours, Stevenson. Love hearing about your family. Your grandparents sounds like wonderful people.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much dear Rose! I am glad you like it and you are right, I miss them so much!
DeleteBeautiful Picture and the History of your Grand Parents. Many times I also think that how much hard work is done by our parent's and our grandparents to give us good life and how much easy are we taking it. . . Stevenson You Have a Nice and Safe Day. . . :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about how they worked hard to make it easy for us that we grew up sometimes forgetting the value of hardwork and zeal that they lived for us. Thank you so much my dear friend Manav! Have an awesome end of the week!
DeleteA beautiful family story, Stevenson.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandfathers both passed away when my parents were still young and my Dad also built up a family business from nearly nothing. From making hats (Grandmother) to making/repairing watches, jewlery, glasses and hearing aids is something, huh ;-)
I am not that courageous and even refused to take over the business, and am glad I did.
But I always honour, too, what our families did for us.
A beautiful picture you shared!
Iris thank you so much for sharing your family story with me and with all of us. You are blessed with legendary grandparents and parents that even if you haven;t seen them in person (your grandfathers) they left something like the hardwork they did and the fruits of it through the watch store that you father and brother now has. truly, our families are our biggest honour :) Thank you so much dear Iris!
DeleteWow! What a beautiful story from your family!
ReplyDeleteMy family is from the same country, but that will change for Jojo! I try to introduce him to two different cultures and I notice that he is open to that!
Your family photo is beautiful!
Thank you so much Ella! And I admire the way you plan to raise Jojo by making him multi-cultural! That is a very big treasure nowadays to live on a country and also trace roots from another culture and be immersed on it through the home. He's going to grow into a kind, understanding, and culturally sensitive man!
DeleteI so enjoyed hearing about your family SQ. I think our parents were/are made of much stronger resolve than we are. After the second world war my father decided he wanted to make a better life for his family and we emigrated to Central Africa, it was wonderful growing up there. Take care ✨
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Grace and that is so amazing to have lived in Africa. I have always wanted to see that part of the world which is much untouched by developments and cultures are still very rich! Take care dear Grace and thank you for sharing :)
DeleteThanks for sharing such a precious family photo Stevenson. So nice to be brought up in a multicultural family and to be able to keep the traditions of the ancestors.
ReplyDeleteGrandparents are so important in the family.
You are very much correct Sami, it made me so rich in culture to be part of such a colorful family :) Thank you very much Sami :)
DeleteThat's a wonderful vintage photo. It goes to show you people have always moved to new places to better their lives. And to do that and be successful is a really amazing thing! Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very historical photo and I'm glad you told us.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your family surname Tan is the same as my family's surname.