Boston, MA - Searching for Dr. Tom Wing
To our surprise in searching for Dr. Tom Wing (Tom Duck Sam or Tom Foo Yuen) of the Foo & Wing Company, we came to learn that many Chinese lived outside of Chinatown. In fact, Tom Wing operated his herbal practice in an entirely white neighborhood and he would not be buried in the Chinese Section either. Some of the other Chew relatives also did not live within the Chinatown city limits.
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Dr. Wing was born to Dr. T Gee Son in 1855 and his mother was the sister of Dr. Li Po Tai. Dr. Wing arrived with his father in 1890 to continue Dr. Li Po Tai’s practice. By 1893, Dr. Wing was well known from coast-to-coast for not only his education at the Imperial Medical College in Peking but serving as an Imperial Physician.
After moving to Boston to expand his herbal practice, he moved to a non-Chinese community quite far from any Chinatown. Dr. Wing lived at 564 Massachusetts Avenue with his partners. Their herbal practice was on the first floor and living quarters were upstairs. The neighbors were completely non-Chinese and the patrons were white. The building still stands today with Chinese residents.
Foo & Wing Company located at 564 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA
Dr. Wing eventually married Ho Yee Chan born in 1891. They had four children: Marjorie (1909), Isabel (1911-1911), Frank (1912), and Thomas Wing (1915-1927) who went to Latin School and Radcliff College in Boston, MA. The rest of Ho Yee (Lau) Chan’s family settled in Cuba during 1908.
After a long and successful career Dr. Tom Wing died in December 17, 1919 and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston. His daughter Isabel died shortly after birth and his youngest son Thomas Wing died in 1927.
Before Dr. Tom Wing died, Red Bluff’s Dr. Chew Yuen sent his eldest son from his first wife, moving from Los Angeles to Boston, MA to take over the Foo & Wing Company. Too See Wee (Peter A Chan or Too Pei Chan) (born 1891) moved to America in 1909. Per his father’s direction, he eventually became a sole proprietor of the Foo & Wing Company located at 564 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. Just 4 years after Dr. Wing died, Peter and Ho Yee were married in 1923. Peter would adopt the remaining surviving children: Marjorie (1909) and Frank (1912) who would move to Canton, China.