Phoenix, AZ - 鄧 Yee, Tang, Ong, & Toy Ancestors
Great grandmother Mah Shee or Sleung “Mary” Yee, arrived as a “paper-daughter” voyaging on a Steamboat in Second Class. Spending the extra fee for Second Class improved your chances and hopes of being less likely to be detained at Angel Island. On Mary Yee’s identification papers it stated that her father was American Born, although this was not true making her a “paper daughter”. When she arrived in America she was pregnant with uncle Tom. The Angel Island inspector mistakenly accused her of having hookworm despite her health evaluation determining she was perfectly healthy but pregnant. She would spend nearly a year at Angel Island. Her husband Toy Sleung Yee fought the legal system relentlessly to ensure her freedom on the grounds the inspector made an erroneous error.
When great grandmother, Mary arrived she took the surname Yee but her husbands actual surname was 鄧 Tang by Chinese ancestry descent. When she was finally released from Angel Island she joined her husband Toy Sleung Yee and moved to Boston, Massachusetts to start a Laundry business. However, work was hard to come by in those days. A relative said they would be better off in Phoenix, AZ so they moved and started the “Sleung Yee Grocery” located at 724 South Central, Phoenix Arizona.
Private Collection of the Helen & Joe Chew Foundation
They had three children with the youngest being a girl, Mabel Yee. Her name means lovable and she was so. The Grocery business was hard labor. All of the children had to work. Helen recalls going hungry at times. Like her name, she loved cats and she would feed all the strays when she probably shouldn’t have. She was so smart. She learned Spanish fluently. She was the top of her class and she was beautiful. But, there was no time for marriage when she needed to tend to the grocery store to help her mother.
Private Collection of the Helen & Joe Chew Foundation
During this era, it was illegal to sell to the Native Americans but business was struggling. So the Yee family adapted and sold groceries to the Native Americans! Helen recalls they would arrive by carriage.
Eventually, Helen would spend a short time enrolled at UCLA and NYU. When the family reached their elderly years, Helen was needed at home to take care of her family instead of pursuing college. She longed to finish college. After her parents passed away, she worked at a bank. She became the family Matriarch and told her brothers to take over the family grocery store!
Her quick wit brother, George realized there’s no money in the grocery business. So, he changed the business to a Liquor Store. Business was booming but he needed help. Grand, Auntie May who married Grand Uncle Jack, sent her son, Jerry to go help out. Jerry, handsome, smart and ready for adventure, went and helped Uncle George. One day, Uncle George didn’t wake up. Jerry calls his mother May and she says “Oh dear”. Uncle George passed away in 1978. Uncle Jack and Auntie May did not continue the Liquor business but they made the lot into a retail strip. They leased the land and managed several tenants. It made sense since Uncle Jack was an Optometrist and would need an office for his practice. He died in 2003.
Younger sister, Helen was ambitious. She moved herself all the way to Sacramento, California. She lived with a girlfriend off of Broadway Street and nearby Landpark Street. She worked full time for the State Department and she dated a Dentist for a bit. But one day, while attending a good friends wedding she met her future husband, Joe You Chew. Wow, he was tall for a Chinese man. Luck would have it he was single and they were married in Carmel, CA on December 30, 1965. They had one child, Diane and one grandchild, Jessica. Her granddaughter would later wear her wedding gown at her own Chinese Banquet Wedding nuptials in 2014.
Private Collection of the Helen & Joe Chew Foundation
The 趙 Chew family already had a connection to Phoenix, AZ when Joe Chew’s cousin 趙 Hazel Yuen married William K Toy, Sr.
William was the son of Dea Hong (DH) Toy who married Lee, Chee. DH Toy would open a grocery store and expand his business by opening a restaurant located 16th Street and Camelback, where the restaurant was expanded to 450 seating capacity.
Courtesy of Wei-Ling (Yuen) Louie’s Private Collection
Phoenix would link the Chew family for a third time, when 趙 Nettie Chew married Robert Ong (Yut Geong Ong). The 鄧 Ong family had a long legacy in Phoenix. Well, it all began with Nettie’s brother 趙 Joe You Chew, he had befriended many people after being drafted into the Army during WWII. His friendships grew exponentially during the Army and he would bring the “soldier boys” or his pals to his hometown Red Bluff, CA. I suspect to court his sisters and nieces. Uncle Chris recalls “some of the soldier boys would pay him to persuade his sisters to go on a date with them”. During that time, Joe would say “all the Chinese families knew one another” and since Chinese were not allowed to marry other ethnicities the families stayed in touch. Joe’s sisters and nieces had many suitors because the family was well regarded for their humility and kindness. Like many, the Ong family took a real liking to Joe. He received pictures from all of the Ong sons: Frank, Henry, Fred, and Robert while they were in the Service. However, Nettie would meet Robert through a friend. Both of them had a charismatic and charming nature to them. They were the life of the party so it was magical when they met. By this time Robert was a widower. He and Nettie were married in Reno, NV on August 11, 1959. Nettie would become a step mom to his children but never had her own natural child. After marriage, Nettie moved to Phoenix and joined the Ong clan, although the adjustment was difficult. The Ong’s were dashing good looking, well educated, and active in the Chinese community. Nettie was social though. She enjoyed working at Turf Paradise Race Track for 34 years and met many of her lifelong friends there. Unexpectantly, Robert passed away in 1978, after an allergy reaction to penicillin. Nettie heartbroken, would never remarry or date. She would remain a widow until her death, enjoying her independence. She kept herself busy by traveling around the world, participating in social and yoga groups. She was an avid Mahjong player and hosted many games in her game room at home, as well as, card games in her neighborhood. She had many friends and relatives who graciously remember her enjoyable nature. Nettie is buried with the love of her life in Phoenix, AZ.
