Thanks to Raymond Goh and Peter Pak, who discovered today, the grave of Song Chit Neo (2nd wife of my great-great-grand pa, Chia Leong Chuan) at Lao Sua near the PIE.
Song Chit Neo (1858-1911) is the mother of Chia Lim Neo, who was step-mother and step-sister respectively, of my great-grand pa, Chia Hood Theam.
grave of Song Chit Neo
This grave with the elephants contains the oldest Chia ancestor found buried at Bt Brown area to date. My great-great-grandpa (Chia Leong Chuan, d:1889) had 6 children from two wives. He came to Singapore from China when a young man in the 1850s, in order to seek his fortune, together with his brother, Leong Kiat. With hard work, he made it good here as shroff or comprador at Mercantile Bank.
From 1st wife “gemok”, Chia Leong Chuan had 5 children including my great-grand pa, his eldest son :-
(a) Chia Hood Theam (1863-1938) – grave located at Blk1 BBC
(b) Chia Hood Cheng
(c) Chia Hood Sang (1867-1925) – grave located at Blk1 BBC, near to his elder brother
(d) Chia Hood Teck
(e) Chia Wat Neo (1862-1953)
From 2nd wife Song Chit Neo, he had one daughter Chia Lim Neo (1875-1911) who married Ong Tek Lim and they had 3 sons.
I was at Bt Brown recently for the filming of “History from the Hills” Episode 3, together with Noreen.
Here are photos of the grave of Chia Hood Sang, which is located just 2 rows away from his brother Chia Hood Theam.
On a lighter note, the cause of all the problems facing Bt Brown and Singapore today.
For more episodes from Chew, go to Facebook/demoncraticsingapore
Here are the links to the next episodes of this Bt Brown cartoon series by Chew :-
episode #201- part2. episode #202-part3 and episode #203-part4
Qing Ming or Cheng Beng is observed where there are Chinese graves or communities throughout Asia, including of course China. This year, the date for Qing Ming is 4th or 5th of April, but traditionally, the family can perform the grave rituals anytime 2 weeks before and after that date.
This slide-show documents some of the activity related to this important Chinese custom that is now in progress at Bt Brown, which is acknowledged to be the world’s largest Chinese cemetery outside of China. For some of the families shown in the photos, it could be the last time that they will have the opportunity to perform this ritual at their ancestor’s grave at Bt Brown.
The photos in this article are taken from contributions to the Facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/groups/bukitbrown/
Further reading of activities related to Bt Brown can be found at http://bukitbrown.com
Bukit Brown Family Burial Record
from the National Archives of Singapore
My paternal great-grand parents :- Chia Hood Theam and Yeo Lan Neo
CHIA HOOD THEAM died 10.7.38, buried 17.7.38
s/no 327 pg 79/101 (nhb record)
age 77, Hokien
Plot Sect B, Blk 1, 314
YEO LAN NEO died 27.7.48, buried 31.7.48 (recorded 21.7.48)
s/no 22 pg 13/57 (nhb record)
age 85, Hokien
Plot Sect B, Blk 1, 315
My paternal grand father :- Chia Keng Tye
CHIA KENG TYE died 8.6.61, buried 10.6.61
s/no 9 pg 38/57 (nhb record)
age 73, Hokien
Plot Sect C, Blk V, 261
Burial ref no. BG 6/40,
Burial cert no. 185695/1577,
Receipt no. 2509
My paternal grand-mother :- Lim Tuan Neo
LIM TUAN NEO died 11.4.48, buried 13.4.48
s/no 8 pg 8/57 (nhb record)
age 53, Hokien
Plot Sect C, Blk V, 262
Burial cert no. 1761,
Receipt no. 6759
This is the link to the Chia family tree.
Following information from the Bt Brown grave register.
http://www.nhb.gov.sg/nas/BukitBrown_signage.htm
PDF File: 003.pdf (May 1938 – Aug 1938) pg 79 of 101 Record of Ser# 327
CHIA Hood Theam
Date of burial 17/7/1938, died age 77 yrs on 10/7/1938
Grave location: division# Section B, blk1, plot# 314
Grave Site of CHT and YLN
These are the pictures of my paternal grand parents’ (Chia Keng Tye and Lim Tuan Neo) gravesite at Bt Brown.
The graves are located at Blk5, numbers 261C and 262C respectively.
Chia Keng Tye – born: 18th May 1888, died: 8th June 1961
Lim Tuan Neo – born: 8th July 1890, died: 11th April 1948
The GPS location of Chia Keng Tye’s gravesite is
N 01 deg 20.202’ E 103 deg 49.265’ (or in metric, N1.33670 E103.82108)
elevation: 30m
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- Chia Keng Tye
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- Lim Tuan Neo photo taken in 1940
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- Grand parents with my father, photo taken around 1912
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- CKT with his grand children in 1952
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- Enter this undergrowth to find the graves
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- grave site of CKT and LTN
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- grave of Lim Tuan Neo
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- grave of Lim Tuan Neo, detail 01
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- grave of Lim Tuan Neo, detail 02
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- grave of Chia Keng Tye, detail 01
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- grave of Chia Keng Tye, detail 02
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- Other Bt Brown graves – marked for removal
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- Other Bt Brown graves – marked for removal
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- Other Bt Brown graves – marked for removal
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- Graves of CKT and LTN
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- Chia Keng Tye’s grave after cleaning up
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- Grave #261 (Chia Keng Tye)
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- Lim Tuan Neo’s grave after cleaning up
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- Grave #262 (Lim Tuan Neo)
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- Children of CKT and LTN listed on the grave
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- This is found on the extreme right wing of the grave
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
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- series of photos taken on 15th March 2012
Went down to Bt Brown today (22nd Feb) with cousin Barry and obtained the GPS location, scrubbed/cleaned up the stone and cleared some of the vegetation, in order to obtain the following photos. Compare this first photo with some of the earlier ones which were overgrown with plants and with most of the inscriptions on the grave-stone illegible. (Note: Click on the photos below to obtain an enlarged or magnified view, if required. Otherwise, download and save the image file, in order to view on your computer, without using the browser).
Graves of CKT and LTN
Closeup of Chia Keng Tye’s grave stone is shown in the next photo #01.
The main inscription consists of 9 characters, flanked by “4th month, 25th day” and “Year 50 of the 民 国 Republic of China, 1911″. Therefore, after converting the lunar calendar** and 50+1911 = the date of death, 8th June 1961.
The 9 Chinese characters inscribed vertically on the stone are :-
Xian 显 (combined with 考 = “late father“)
Kao 考
Kang 慶 (name = Keng)
Tai 泰 (name = Tye)
Xie 谢 Surname = Chia written last, in order to link to “gong” => Sir Xie
Gong 公 Sir
Zhi 之 the 3rd last character (modern Chinese is 的) is just a possessive article
Jia 佳 = excellent
Cheng 城 = city (combined together with 佳城 = cemetery or tomb)
On the left panel, the English inscription on the stone reads “In Loving Memory, Chia Keng Tye“.
On the right panel, the English inscription on the stone show the dates of birth and death (as shown above).
photo#01 Chia Keng Tye’s grave after cleaning up
** link to website showing example of lunar calendar conversion for the year 1961
http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/calendar/pdf/1961e.pdf
What are the 2 characters 前宅 flanking the photo on grand-pa’s grave stone (similar also on grand-ma’s, so apparently she was from the same home town) ?
Based on the Chia ancestral village being Tong An 同 安 in Fujian, which is close to Quanzhou (almost on the border). This also follows the modern administrative divisions; in the past Tong An was a county and Xiamen would have been part of it :-
厦门市 (Xiamen City)
同安区 (Tongan District)
大同镇 (Datong Town)
田洋村 (Tianyang Village)
前宅 (Qianzhai) [24.742271,118.137145].
Therefore, the 2 characters 前宅 (Qianzhai) denote the ancestral birthplace in Fujian.
Closeup of Lim Tuan Neo’s grave stone is shown in the following photo #02.
The main inscription consists of 9 characters, flanked by “3rd month, 3rd day” and “Year 37 of the 民 国 Republic of China, 1911″. Therefore, after converting the lunar calendar and 37+1911 = the date of death, 11th April 1948″.
The 9 Chinese characters inscribed vertically on the stone are :-
Xian 顕 late
Bi 妣 mother
Xie 謝 married surname, Chia
Men 門 (house of)
Ling 林 (Lim = maiden surname)
Shi 氏 (denotes that it is mother’s Family name, above)
Duan 端 (name= Tuan)
Niang 娘 (name = Neo)
Mu 墓 tomb or grave
On the left panel, the English inscription on the stone reads “In Loving Memory, Lim Tuan Neo“.
On the right panel, the English inscription on the stone show the dates of birth and death (as shown above).
photo #02 Lim Tuan Neo’s grave after cleaning up
The names of Chia Keng Tye and Lim Tuan Neo’s surviving children were found in the center of the 2 adjoining grave stones. Thus, only the names of 2 sons and 3 daughters are shown engraved on the stone. Their other two daughters Amy and Grace had already passed away earlier (in 1911 and 1946 respectively).
Children of CKT and LTN listed on the grave
This inscription was discovered on the right wing tip extremity or right corner of the grave, after Barry and I cleared the vegetation around the grave. Noticed that some of the other graves in the area also had the same thing.
What does it mean and what is its significance? These 2 mysterious characters are the name of the “God of Earth” (to protect the tomb).
后 土 (pinyin pronunciation= hou tu)
This is found on the extreme right wing or right corner of the grave
Click here to view or download Chia Keng Tye’s Bt Brown details in Microsoft Word Docx format.
Click here to view or download Lim Tuan Neo’s Bt Brown details in Microsoft Word Docx format.
The proposed road misses this grave by less than 50m, and there are only two rows of other graves between this grave and the road to be built thru Bt Brown, as shown in the following series of photos.
1}. The first photo shows the front view of the grave of my grand-parents and the neighbouring grave on its left.
2}. About 50m to the left of my grand-parents’ grave, all these graves are marked for removal.
3}. The wooden stake at the right of this picture indicates the path of the proposed road, and it is about 50m away from the grave of my grand-parents, which is hidden in the undergrowth (towards the left of this picture).
4}. My grand-parents’ grave is about 25m behind the red shrub in the undergrowth, and this red shrub is about 25m from the wooden stake (which is now to the right of this photo, and outside of the frame) seen in the previous photo.
5}. This is a picture of the one grave in between the road and my grand-parents’ grave; seen when entering undergrowth near the red shrub, and walking towards my grand-parents’ grave. The red shrub is actually growing out from the back of this grave.
These are my pictures of Yeo Lan Neo (my great-grand mother), the wife of Chia Hood Theam at the Bt Brown grave site. Her grave is next to Chia Hood Theam’s.
Born 10 March 1865, died 27 July 1948
The GPS location of Yeo Lan Neo’s gravesite at Bt Brown at Blk1, grave number 315B is
N 01 deg 20.182’ E 103 deg 49.343’ (or in metric, N1.33637 E103.82238)
elevation: 83m
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- grave of CHT and grave A remain, while grave B will be removed
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- YLN and CHT
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- Yeo Lan Neo grave
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- Chinese inscription on YLN grave stone
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- Chinese inscription (bottom 7 characters “Xie Men Yang Ru Ren Shou Yu”, meaning, “member of Chia family, Mdm Yeo’s domain of longevity”).
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- YLN born 10 March 1865 died 27 July 1948
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- In Loving Memory of Yeo Lan Neo (nonya tawee)
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- YLN grave 315B
Great grand-mother’s (YEO Lan Neo) tombstone did not indicate her birth place, just this in translation from the inscription from Chinese to English:
Xian 顕 late
Bi 妣 mother
Yi 謚 in respect of (for lady only, male used 諱) **
Ling 鱗 middle name, Lan
Niang 娘 name, Neo
Xie 謝 married surname, Chia
Men 門 family
Yang 楊 Yeo (maiden surname)
Ru 孺 (these two characters are …
Ren 人 equiv of ‘gong’ for female)
Shou 壽, Yu 域. (domain of longevity)
The additional characters at the bottom of the inscriptions are just there to make up the total number of characters to either 6,7,11,12,16 or 17 which are auspicious and using feng shui principles.
.. location: Blk1, grave 315 B
Note: ** same principle as some Orthodox Christians cannot refer to God by name, but instead as YahWei or the special symbol (://:) found in the old bible; we cannot call our dead parents directly by name to show respect, since the grave stone was installed by the children of the deceased.
On closer inspection of the grave stones of both CHT & YLN, the characters 前宅 can barely by made out, flanking the photos of the deceased. Therefore, the 2 characters 前宅 (Qianzhai) denote the ancestral birthplace in Fujian, similar to that found on the grave stone of their son Chia Keng Tye.
Click here to view or download Yeo Lan Neo’s Bt Brown details in Microsoft Word Docx format.
The proposed road misses this grave by about 10-15m, and there is only one other grave between this grave and the road to be built thru Bt Brown, as shown in the following photo. The grave labelled A remains, while grave B which is marked with the wooden post (arrowed) will be exhumed, due to the proposed road construction.
grave of CHT and grave A remain, while grave B will be removed
