Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 19, Number 2, Fall, 2007 Page: 22
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[and] eighteen aprons ($1. oo); one shirt, one
coat (sack), and vest (si.50); one overcoat
[and] one pair [of] pants ($2.oo); five window
shades ($1.oo); [and] one trunk
($1.00).-@
Charlie Sing's only luxury item was a music
box, valued at $0.25, and there was testament
that he had a family, from two large children's
photographs, which Sam Choi declared to the
court as being worth $2.00.39 Presumably, Sing's
music box and portraits were sent to his family
by his executor. The rest of his meager possessions-valued
at $61.60-were then liquidated,
along with his house, to pay any debts and
finance in part, the transportation of his remains
to San Francisco, and the overseas passage back
to China.
Despite the experiences of Jue Lee Hong
and Charlie Sing as well as many of the first
Chinese in Dallas, a second wave of their countrymen
arrived in the city in the 1930s, within
five years of demise of the local Klan in 1925.
They numbered between ten and thirty persons
who were the owners and employees of five
other restaurants who capitalized on the popularity
ofJim Wing's Star Restaurant of the 1900s
and 1910s.They included the Canton, Shanghai,
New Mandarin, Oriental, and China Clipper
Cafes, located at 2923 Thomas Avenue, 1004
Main, 334 N. Ervay, 1206 Main, and 3930
McKinney, respectively.4 The census of 1930
recorded only ten persons of Chinese descent
who were residing in Dallas County, still less
than one percent of the total population of
325,691.4
In 1939 an adolescent named Fay Joe emigrated
from Huangpu District in Shanghai,
because of the civil war and a famine. He came
to Dallas with an uncle, purportedly because
"they had friends in the city" and worked at the
Shanghai Restaurant as a dishwasher for $1.00
per day.42 Joe indicated that there were five families
living in Dallas during that period, that they
were all restaurant owners, and like many
Chinese settlers before him, that he lived above
the restaurant with several other employees. Joe
supported his parents in China and eventuallybecame part owner in the Shanghai Restaurant.
He returned to Huangpu in 1946 to marry and
came back to Dallas where he lived and raised a
family43 He was interviewed for The Dallas
Morning News in 2001 by a Chinese-American
reporter, Esther Wu, to commemorate
Asian/Pacific Heritage Month. The year before,
the 2000 Census recorded 5,762 persons of
Chinese descent living in Dallas County, still less
than one percent of the total population of
1,188,580 persons.44 *
NOTES
' The year 1873 is the first year of record for the
Chinese in Dallas when J.L. Chow was listed as "bds
Central Hotel."The year 194()is an arbitrary threshold
based upon the fact that the Chinese then appearing In
the city directories were different from those individuals
previously listed from 1875-1919.
2Edward J.M. Rhoads, "The Chinese in Texas,"
Solntllestern Historical Qlarterly 81 (July 1977): 1, 36; 6-7.
3A typical Chinese name consists of three names: a
family surname, followed by a first name which establishes
peer level and a second or personal name, i.e.,Jue Lee
Hong. The romanized Chinese names in the Dallas city
directories are English transliterations of Cantonese nanes
and, for the most part include a surname with only one of
the two other names. They often varied in spelling.
Consequently, "Shong, Sam" was also recorded as "Shang,
Som" in the city directory of 1875-1876, published by
Butterfield & Rundlett, and "Sam, Shang" in the city
directory of 1880-1881, published by Murphy & Bolanz.
4 F E. Butterfield & C. M. Rundlett, Director), fr the
City of Dallas for tle Year 1875 (Dallas: F .E. Butterfield &
C. M. Roundlett 1875), 9. An earlier directory from 1873
listed J. L. Chow with no pagination.
Morrison & Fourmy, Dallas City Directory (Dallas:
Morrison & Fourmy, 1878-1879), 39; ibid. 188()-1881, 158.
' U.S. Congress, Miscellaneolls Docnmienlts of the Holise of
Representatives for the First Scssion of thl Fifty-Second
Congress. "Table 19. Population by Sex, General Nativity,
and Color of Places Having 2500 Inhabitants or More"
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,Vol.
50, Pt. 8, 1891-1892), 482; "Population History of Texas
Counties from 1850-2000," Texas Almanac (Dallas: Tlhe
Dallas Morning Netws, 2002-2()03), 384.22 LEGACIES Fall 2007
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Dallas Heritage Village. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 19, Number 2, Fall, 2007, periodical, 2007; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35087/m1/24/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.