Gerry discovered
her great-great grandparents had come over from southern China in 1851. At the
time, China had just lost the first opium war with Britain, and a man claiming
to be the brother of Jesus, had risen up against the Qing government, starting
the Taiping Rebellion. It was to be one of the bloodiest civil wars of the
century with casualties ranging from 20 million to 70 million. Also at the
time, Mexico had just relinquished California to the U.S. Gerry’s great-great-grandparents, “came over
on a junk with a sail and no engine, and just floated to the mouth of Carmel
Valley.”
Gerry also learned that her great-grandmother,
Quock Mui, was born in one of the cabins at Point Lobos in 1859. She was known as “Spanish
Mary,” because she spoke Spanish, as well as Portuguese and the Native American
Indian language of Rumsen."
“The Spanish-speaking people would have her
translate documents for them. So what that tells me is that she was a friend of
many communities, because they wouldn’t let her learn to speak their language
if they didn’t trust her.”
Gerry discovered that the village
where her grandfather lived (in Monterey) was burned down in 1906. Arson was highly suspected.
“I think after the village burned
down, some people still wanted to rebuild. My great grandfather was one of
those. He was the last one to leave the village. He was part of the resistance.
Most of the Chinese moved away to Salinas, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and went
into the agriculture markets.”
(To be continued. Next: CSU-Monterey Bay Researches Chinese Village.)
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