Worker's Bunkhouse
How does the Master Plan help us tell the stories of the many Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Mexican, and other laborers who worked for the California Nursery Company?
The Chinese Bunkhouse Preservation Project asked (and were given permission) that the Shinn bunkhouse be allowed to be moved to the California Nursery. We wished that the history of the Chinese workers could told with a physical object rather than one or two history panels in the park.
However, we realized that the Shinn bunkhouse would lose its significance at the CNHP and was better told the stories of the Chinese workers and contractors who worked at the Shinn Ranch. But thank you, COF, for considering our request and giving us a place near the orchard, even though it was misguided!
The orchard is a great place to tell the stories of the people, many who were immigrants, who worked here.
Why tell the history of the nursery workers?
Who provided the labor and expertise to run this enormous nursery?
It is pretty easy to find information about the owners of the nurseries. They are in the newspapers and in the archives.
However, without the help of skilled and unskilled labor, the nursery operations would not have been possible. The records of the people who worked for the nursery are scattered across census records, rare photos (like the one above), photos in catalogs, memoirs, payroll books, ledgers, bank records, oral histories, maps, and newspaper articles. We know that there was a China Camp, a Japanese Camp, and an Italian camp where workers could live at the nursery. There were a couple of families who also lived in houses on the nursery property - Fong and Kawaguchi.
Finding the Lost Histories
In 2019, the Chinese History Project held an exhibit and speaker series at the Fremont Main library. The history of our historic towns and communities needs to include the people who are largely forgotton now. We told the stories of the Chinese immigrants who helped build our community in the Washington Township (the current day towns of Fremont, Union City, and Newark).
Two of the 20 panels related to workers at the California Nursery. See them here.
The purpose of the "Chinese Roots" exhibit was to uncover this lost history of the early Chinese immigrants.
We had many positive comments on these forgotten histories. Visitors were surprised and delighted to hear about the stories. They wished for more of this kind of history that is not taught in school. Several people asked that their family histories be included.
Ah Yen - John Rock's era and beyond - 1884 to the 1920s
Ah Yen's Story is included in the Chinese Roots exhibit.
George C. Roeding included his picture to advertise the nursery's fruit trees in the 1926 catalog and in the newspaper (find this).
Ah Yen's family lived in China. We don't know much about his family, except that Ah Yen did not see his son until his son was 25 years old. He returned to Niles after his trip home and we do not know if he ever returned to China.
Bing Hong Chan - George C. Roeding era
Bing Hong Chan's picture in a rose field is also on the Chinese Roots panels. Bing Hong taught Bruce Roeding and his brothers everything that he had learned from their grandfather, George C. Roeding. GCR died before Bruce was born and so they never knew their grandfather, but they knew his skills and perhaps some stories about him.
We don't know too much about Bing Hong Chan yet, but there is a movie where he is seen with the Roeding family, perhaps for an engagement party. That is quite a different family story than for Ah Yen.