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To continue our series of Who’s Who at CGS, today we will learn about the Recording Secretary and Corresponding Secretary.
Evan Wilson, Recording Secretary, was brought to genealogy in Alabama with his grandmother’s stories and research. He has a PhD in English and Medieval Studies from UC Berkely and is adding California research to his Southern expertise. He is a professional genealogist, with social history as a passion along with writing, studying and learning about marginalized peoples. Evan is a great member of the CGS team.
Grant Din, Corresponding Secretary, is famous in the area with his tenure at the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Grant is in the 36tgh generations of Gongs and has researched his family history for forty years. Having always worked in the non-profit sectors, he’s also a speaker for many of the genealogical societies and one of his claims to fame is working on the research team for “The Six,” the film about the Chinese seamen who survived the Titanic.
Grant’s favorite ancestor is Gong Gim Hick. Grant explained that the Chinese way to write names is with the surname first and that Gim Hick was Grant’s great-great grandfather. The earliest history of Grant’s great-grandfather is from Gim Hick’s granddaughter who said that he came to the United States for the gold and then railroads. The next finding of him is in 1905 when he stated that his son was born in San Francisco. Grant would love to find something about his life in the US in the 1860s or 1870s. Due to the Naturalization Act of 1790, Gim Hick could never be a naturalized citizen and returned to China in 1905.
Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
JAN
2025