Our Family Tree

My mom handed me the death certificate of my father Lee Hon Kheong (name was misspelled in death cert, pic) yesterday and it got me spending hours online. Mom was going though her stuff and upon checking the document realised that Nicole's Chinese middle name was similar to her great grand father's. I was attempting to uncover any information about my paternal grand parents, Lee Yen Fat and Yap Nyet Tai. I knew it was a long shot but the fact that my grandfather's name was spelled Fat instead of the more common Fatt meant I had a chance.

Mom shared whatever information she remembered about both grand parents. Yen Fat originated from Kuala Kangsar where his family was in the charcoal trade. On my dad's death cert it states that Yen Fat's occupation as auctioneer & financial agent. Mom does not know how he ended up marrying Nyet Tai in Kuala Lumpur (KL). As for grandma, she was one of the Yap Kwan Seng's daughter - the Last Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur. The famous Kapitan died in 1902 and had by then amassed a fortune from his tin mining and other businesses. 

Grandpa worked in one of the late Kapitan's company handling property management and finance. Mom also remembers that he worked in the now defunct Lido cinema in Brickfields. It was named Cathay cinema up until 1951 when Shaw Brothers bought it and renamed it Lido. In fact Brickfields got it's name from the Kapitan's brick kilns - he had an eye for business and realised that  KL was flourishing and that bricks were going to be in great demand as more houses and commercial buildings are built.

I had no luck in matching grandma's name online (bummer) which was no surprise since the Kapitan had only five wives (or more). My guess is my grandma's mother was one of the secondary wives. Grandma died in the early 1970s at a very old age. I remember visiting her a few times in the house around Jalan Peel (Peel Road). I must have been about eight or nine years old then.

Next I googled "Lee Yen Fat" and I got two pages matching my query. Thanks to the fine job by Singapore National Library in archiving Straits Times and other dailies. If (emphasis added) this is my grandpa, he was Honorary Secretary of Selangor Recreation Club and represented the club in lawn tennis - Next I searched "Lee Yen Fatt" as Fatt is the common spelling and chances that his name was misspelled would be likely. Bingo! The smoking gun as it detailed a proclamation of sale of properties by auction dated 10 march 1924, seventy-one lots of properties belonging to the late Kapitan. It has to be my grandpa - he was an auctioneer!

The one article that fascinated me most was one where he wrote to a daily, The Weekly Sun chronicling his holiday in Indo-China (territories make up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam today) a French colony up until 1954. It was titled The Far East - An Impression dated 4 February 1911. After reading his article I must say his eloquence is top class - very Victorian. And herein is another clue that he may be my grandpa. In paragraph three, he wrote "Having determined to make a start of my trip from the Northern Settlement, early in October I proceeded by rail from Kuala Kangsar to Penang." In 1911 he would definitely still be in Kuala Kangsar.

My grandad died from a heart attack during the Japanese occupation of then Malaya. As the country was in flames a coffin was not available and his body was wrapped in a mat and buried. I only managed to locate one photo (below) date unknown.

As this is only one branch of the family tree, I shall continue updating our family tree as and when more information becomes available.