As you all already know, the key to understanding all our Hmong traditions come from knowing who our ancestors are, family heirarchy etc. We always have big get-togethers every weekend or a few times a month etc to do different things. Our Hmong families are HUGE and some of our relations to certain relatives may come from ancestors that lived generations ago.

I want to ask each of you:

How far back can you trace your family tree to?

Have you or anyone in your family made an effort to keep track of your family tree or trace back to a certain point in time to understand how you are related to a certain person you know? (I know the OG's know it orally, but they don't really give us the details unless we ask sometimes )

Also anyone know any good Geneology programs?

Reason I am asking is because I am curious. Growing up I had tons of relatives but never knew exactly how some of them were related to me( ex. Because they were from a great great grandpa's brother or something etc). I want work to create an "official" reference for anyone in my family (family at large, mainly the youngsters) so we can all look at it and see how exactly we are all related. So far my family can only trace their history back to our first relative who came to Laos from China. After I get this cleared, I would like to try to find out where HE came from and if we still have family with old ties in China today. (That would give me a reason to visit China! )

They only way to find out more about who we are.

Okay, I know my family tree.

My Great Great Grandfather left his relatives in China and fled to Vietnam and then into Laos. He was the only person from his family and relatives that emigrated out of china into indochina. Forgot his name. Well, he cames to Laos, married my Great Great Grandma.. got 10 sons, but eventually, because my Great Great Grandfather was a stupid, he went to see a Buddha Monk about his future and the Buddha told him that all his sons are going to leave him except the youngest son.

And so..... 9 of his sons passed away except my Great Grandpa who is my Great Great Grandfather's youngest son.

Not long after that, my GG Grandfather passed away, my GG Grandmother passed away.. my Great Grandpa didn't have any relatives.. so, he lived all by himself as a orphan..

Every newyear, the Lor Clan would asked for my Great Grandpa, "where is that orphan, we should go invite him to come celebrate with us." every years they invited my Great Grandpa to come down to town and stay with them.

Anyways, my Great Grandpa was an orphan and he didn't have a home so some Lor family asked him that he could live in their shack at the ricefield and gaurd their vegetation. Btw, my G. Grandpa is a Lor as well but we're a different Lor Tribe.

My G. Grandpa and Lo Kiatong became friends. blah blah blah...... continued..

And so, as he grew older, he married my Great Grandma. They got 5 sons and a couple of daughters.
the 5 sons became all my grandpas. all of them died except 2 who are not my biological grandpa.. i just called them grandpa because by hmong tradition and hmong class rank.

My biological grandpa got 4 sons and 2 daughters... 1 son died.. 1 daughter ran away with a lao guy. my aunti is still alive and she lived in minnesota. the eldest son is my daddy. and the rest are my uncle.
my grandpa died. my grandma is still alive.

that's my dad's family tree.


i can tell you about the origin of my family tree from the beggining in china but its very long...

in on my mom's side..
my grandpa as well fled china into laos and married my grandma and they got my mommy, uncle and aunti..
the end. lol..

well, many of the Hmong Lee are able to trace their origin back to China and are able to find their long lost relatives in china.

it's simple...

the funeral burial ritual.. each hmong clans burial rituals are different...

i am able to trace my origin and where i came from and who are my distant blood cousin.. but, it would take forever.. since i got to talk to my relatives and it will take an entire lifetime to find all my blood cousin..

i know that i have some BLOOD cousin that came down to THAILAND.. but, my dad told me not to ask for their well-being because many of them are opium lovers.

sad..

That's good to know. I on the other hand can't even traced a century back. The tree will have to start with my generation.

wow xeemlauj you really know your family history.

my hmong teacher told me that she was able to trace her husbands (hmoob lauj) side to hmong lor/lo tribes in china. it's a certain name or something you have to ask them and they'll know if you are from their tribe (of same last name) or not.

i don't remember my gg grandparents name (on my dad side) but my mom does. that's as far as i could trace back. i don't know whether they were already in SEA at the time or left china to SEA. on my mom side, she said that her grandfather (my gg grandfather) was from china. she doesn't remember his name tho. i should probably ask the elders in my family about the family history. my grandpa's (on dad side) first cousin is still living and he knows our family history...he has a good memory for his age.

i have stories of how my grandparents grew up but not anything on my gg grandparents.

Our Lee family was able to find our relatives in China, after more than 200 years of separation, all thanks to a legend about our specific "branch" of the Lee clan.

Sweet

OH MINE NGAAD!!! cas yuav mus sweet ua luaj lis lloOOo!!!

sigh....long journey 4 me

I actually started my family tree about 2 years ago. My dad was able to trace his roots to the first generation that migrated from China. Why did I choose to do this? Because, my dad is getting old. One day, he's not going to be there anymore. Everytime that I can, I try to unlock information from my dad's mind. He's not just going to spill it out for you. You have to be curious enough to ask. To my surprise, he enjoys talking about history. You should try it too.

We have a pretty large genealogy And.. my dad added me and my sister to our family tree <3 Such a sweety.