Looking for My Ancestors - Tom Yee
I am trying to trace my grandfather's roots (can't think of a better word).His name was Tom Yee and died in 1970 in Akron, Ohio.An old family friend (from China) says he was born in Canton, China "where the three rivers meet" and was a merchant seaman and came here in the late 1800's/early 1900.My aunt says he was born in San Francisco.All I have is a document "Affidavit for Restoration of a Destroyed Record" attached to a "Certified Birth Certificate" and an Affidavit signed by my grandfather, dated October 1907 which, among other things, says "Affiant is about to travel from place to place and makes this affidavit to identify himiself as a native born citizen".My mom says it's possible that he was an illegal alien and took advantage of the San Francisco earthquake and fire to legitimize himself.His Chinese name was Yee Git, his father's name was Yee Chee and his mother's name was You Shee.I don't know of any relatives of his. His birth certificate (replacement) says he was born July 9, 1880 in San Francisco.My grandfather didn't know English very well and spoke very broken English, which leads me to believe that he was not born in San Francisco.If anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it.