Frenchman's Bay, Maine

Frenchman's Bay, Maine

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

China On My Mind

This last week, I've been thinking frequently about the country of China. Partly because Spidey ( http://whatspider.net/ellaquint.html ), whom I met via Real Live Preacher, is taking a Chinese class. And also because I have two great-grandparents buried in Chefoo, China. George Cornwell, my great grandfather who founded the Temple Hill English school in Chefoo, contracted cholera and died August 26, 1909. My great grandmother, Mary Cornwell, died six days after him. They were buried in Chefoo (I'm not sure if the name has changed, I'll have to look that up).

Ten year old Laura, my future grandmother,was sent back to New York with her brothers and sisters, to live on an aunt and uncle's farm. Later, after she grew up and graduated from college, Laura married and returned to China with my grandpa Dan. They worked in Changsha and Tungjen, both marked on the map below. When I was a little girl, grandma Laura told me many stories of her childhood in China--and I still plan on visiting there someday.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

How nice to bump into a descendant of George Cornwell, a big name, in the research I am doing. Any further information will be valuable. Not sure if you have any or are willing to share if you do.

africakidandtheworld said...

Fred,
I just saw this comment! Sorry to be so late responding. Yes, I'd be happy to share more info if you can still use it!
PS. What type of research are you doing?

Unknown said...

Laurie,

Sorry to have missed your reply for almost a year.
Anyways, I am so happy to see your reply.
I live in Canada but grew up in a city called Yantai, Shandong, China, which was called Chefoo at your great grantpa's time.
I am doing independent researches on the culture and history of the old Chefoo, especially the events related to Temple Hill
which has been a military base since 1949. In the 1970's, I learnt that the big assembly hall on the base was built on top of another old building which was called George Cornwell Memorial Hall.

That's the starting point of my interests in the local culture and history.
Any info about George Cornwell, cultural, historical or religious, text or image, would help.

My email address: fredxsun@gmail.com

Thanks,
Fred

Unknown said...

Laurie,

Sorry to have missed your reply for almost a year.
Anyways, I am so happy to see your reply.
I live in Canada but grew up in a city called Yantai, Shandong, China, which was called Chefoo at your great grantpa's time.
I am doing independent researches on the culture and history of the old Chefoo, especially the events related to Temple Hill
which has been a military base since 1949. As a middle school student in the 1970's, I learnt that the big assembly hall on the base
was built on top of another old building which was called George Cornwell Memorial Hall.

That's the starting point of my interests in the local culture and history.
Any info about George Cornwell, cultural, historical or religious, text or image, would help.

My email address: fredxsun@gmail.com

Thanks,
Fred