Got a message asking for ancestry search
A Singaporean Chinese guy needed to come back to China to find his relatives. He wanted me to drive him to the place where his grandparents used to live. This trip was, at its heart, an ancestry search.
This was a pretty tough job. All the client had was an old mail envelope with a handwritten address that was super blurry. That worn-out envelope was yellowed, had a few wormholes, and was at least thirty years old.
The client’s specific request: I needed to find the address on the envelope first, then drive him there. He wanted to look for information about his grandparents in that village, a crucial step in his ancestry search.
As a professional private driver, it’s my duty to solve client problems. Even though I knew this wouldn’t be easy, I didn’t hesitate to take on the task.
I quickly listed out the Ancestry Search steps:
- Guess possible place names based on the handwriting, then search online to verify. After a lot of searching and filtering, I finally pinpointed the general location.
- Based on the names the client gave me, I looked up the local Civil Affairs Bureau’s phone number.
- Called the local civil affairs bureau for help. They checked for my client’s grandparents’ household registration records. Unfortunately, due to how long ago it was (the client said his grandparents left the village for Singapore in 1940), they couldn’t find any info. This initial step in the ancestry search proved challenging.
But then, things got better. The civil affairs department gave me a phone number. They said, based on the info, the people we were looking for were likely villagers from a certain place. This number was the village chief’s. We could contact the chief first, then go to the village and ask the elderly folks if they knew the client’s grandparents.
After we got through to the chief and exchanged some info, we finally found out that the people we were looking for were very likely former villagers from this place. Turns out, some of their cousins’ descendants still lived there.
At this point, the prep work for the ancestry search was done. Everything was ready; we just waited for the client’s on-site visit.
I drove to the client's hotel as planned, and our long day of searching for relatives began.
It was a pretty long drive, about two and a half hours.
On the midway, we stopped at a famous food town—Gujing Town Roasted Goose Historical and Cultural Street, and had a meal.
We tried the local famous food – The Roasted Goose in a restaruant.
After the meal, we go on the ancestry search trip. Drving to the Jiangmen city. At 2:00 PM, we arrived at our destination—MC Village, Jiangmen City.
This was the village where the client’s grandma used to live.
The old houses were neat, with blue bricks, black tiles, and carved wooden doors and windows. Back then, these were considered high-end, luxurious homes.
Now, only elderly people stay in the village. A few old men and women sat together, chatting, drinking tea, and sun-drying peanuts
Under the old tree in the village, it was hot and super buggy. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and just couldn’t take the bites anymore, so I hid in the car with the AC on.
After finding info on the client’s grandma, we also found descendants of her close relatives. Then, we learned about his grandpa’s former village—PZ Village.
After cross-referencing a lot of info with the villagers, we confirmed that the client was a descendant from here. He successfully found his ancestors. This marked the successful completion of his emotional ancestry search.
Even though his lineage was from here, this 70-something, gray-haired man was stepping onto this land for the first time. The scene of him and his relatives tearing up, crying with joy, and hugging each other is something I’ll never forget.
On the way back to the hotel, this 70-year-old guy was as happy as a kid. He even sent me a message specifically to thank me for my help.
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