Résumé

Employee, Twin Dragon Restaurant, Seattle, WA, 02/14/1942. This restaurant was located at 410 7th Avenue South in Seattle's International District. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 31, accessed 05/26/2023.)

Private, US Army, 1945.

Draftsman, John W. Maloney, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1951. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1951, p. 233.)

Owner/Operator, Restaurant, Yakima, WA, c. 1992.

Professional Activities

Chin became a Registered Architect in the State of WA on 07/10/1951, License #623.

College

Fon Chin likely attended high school in Ellensburg, WA, and Yakima, WA.

B.Arch., University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Seattle, WA, c. 1943, 1950-1951. In 1945, Chin had already had one year of college, according to US Army enlistment records. This document indicated that he joined the Army on 08/06/1945 at Fort Lewis, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA; Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946; NAID: 1263923; Record Group Title: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789-ca. 2007; Record Group: 64; Box Number: 14437; Reel: 14, accessed 05/26/2023.)

Relocation

Fon Young Chin was born in Canton, (Guangdong) China, on 09/01/1921. According to naturalization paperwork for Jade Hong Chin, his wife, Fon was born in Woh Lok Village, Guangdong, China. He migrated to the US on 09/27/1928, entering at the Port of Seattle. Census records for 1930 and 1940 noted that Fon's father, Chin On, had been born in WA State, giving him at least some level of US citizenship. Asian-Americans faced considerable hurdles to own property or live outside prescribed, redlined areas of WA State. His father's US citizenship may have made it easier for Fon to obtain his.

In 1930, Chin lived in Lee Kee's lodging house in Ellensburg, WS, at 116 South Main Street. At least eight others with the Chin surname lived in this isolated boarding house that allowed Asian-Americans inhabitants, including his father Chin On. All of the lodgers were male, and all worked as waiters or cooks in an Ellensburg restaurant. It is possible that the men sent back money to other relatives living in China. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 0008; FHL microfilm: 2342240, accessed 05/26/2023.)

Evidence seems to indicate that Fon traveled periodically between China and the US during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1937, he returned to Guangdong, China to marry Jade, who was not able to accomopany his back to the US immediately. One passenger manifest had Fon Young Chin returning to Seattle on 05/18/1938 from China aboard the Priness Victoria, Empress of Canada. This passenger arrival record indicated that he was a US citizen. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration; Immigration and Naturalization Service, Seattle District, Chinese Passenger Arrival and Disposition Volumes, 1903-1944; Arrival District: Seattle, Washington; Arrival Date Range: May 17, 1938 - Dec 28, 1938, accessed 05/26/2023.) An Immigration and Naturalization Service record noted that a "Calvin Chun," aged 19, traveled aboard the S.S. Matsonia from Honolulu, HI, to Los Angeles, CA, on 09/05/1941. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Departing From Honolulu, Hawaii, Compiled 06/1900 - 11/1954; NAI Number: A3510; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 - 2004; Record Group Number: RG 85, accessed 05/26/2023.)

The 1940 US Census located Fon living with his father and likely a brother or cousin at 18 1/2 East Yakima Avenue in Yakima, WA. His father and this other relative, "Chin Skee Chung," aged 24, both worked as waiters in a Yakima restaurant. (This "Chin Skee Chung" was likely Fon's elder brother, Chin Shee Chong. Fon, or "Calvin" as he renamed himself, had completed three years in high school by this point, according to the census. It also indicated that he, Chin On and Chin Shee Chong had lived in Ellensburg up to at least 1935.

By 1940, his brother and father co-owned the Golden Wheel Restaurant at 11 South 1st Street in Yakima. This was confirmed by Chin Shee Chong's World War II draft registration card, which listed his "name of someone who will always know your address" as Chin On. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 31, accessed 05/26/2023.) The Chin Family had at least one restaurant operation in Yakima, and may have had two, another in Seattle.

On 02/14/1942, Fon's military enlistment card indicated that he worked at the Twin Dragons Restaurant in Seattle, but that his permanent address was at 11 South 1st Street in Yakima at the Golden Wheel. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 31, accessed 05/26/2023.) His trips back to China, where his wife remained, were likely interrupted by service in the US Army during World War II, although it is very possible that he served in China during the war, due to his fluent language skills. By 1945, Fon had already spent one year at a university.

In 1947, Fon and his family lived at 514 North 2nd Street in Yakima, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At Seattle; Seattle, Washington; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1907-1991 Sep 30; NAI Number: 638090; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 05/26/2023.)

At age 28, Chin lived in Olympus Hall on the University of Washington Campus in 1950. His dormitory housed men between the ages of 22 and 29, many likely World War II veterans like him. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Seattle, King, Washington; Roll: 827; Sheet Number: 47; Enumeration District: 40-194, accessed 05/26/2023.) In 1951, he lived in "University Hall" in Seattle, presumably somewhere on or near the University of Washington Campus. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1951, p. 233.)

Later in life, he and his wife lived at 4606 Richey Road in Yakima, WA.

The architect passed away from complications due to leukemia at age 70 on 06/01/1992 at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima.

Parents

US Social Security Administration records indicated that his father was Chin On (born c. 1899 in WA), his mother Louis Shee. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007, accessed 05/26/2023.)

He had at least one sibling, his brother Chin Shee Chong (born 07/07/1915 in China).

Spouse

He wed Jade Hong (aka "Yuk Saung," as per a 1947 naturalization document, born 05/05/1920 in Fook Lim Village, Guangdong, China- d. 02/04/2014 in Yakima, WA) on 12/10/1937 in Woh Lok Village in Guangdong Province, China.

Jade entered the US at San Francisco, CA, aboard the American President Lines's S.S. General M.C. Meigs on 01/17/1947. Married to a US resident, she was evacuated from China during the Civil War that worsened during the 1945 to 1949 span. This former troop ship may have been pressed into service for evacuation of Chinese Nationalists and their families.

She was naturalized in Yakima on 04/13/1954. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At Seattle; Seattle, Washington; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, 1907-1991 Sep 30; NAI Number: 638090; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 05/26/2023.)

Children

Fon and Jade had four children by 1947: George Chin (born 11/10/1938 in Hoyson District, China), Gordon Chin (born 03/19/1948 in Yakima, WA), Gloria Chin (born 03/11/1950 in Yakima, WA) and Gregory Chin (born 05/11/1951 in Yakima, WA).

Biographical Notes

He went by the first name "Calvin."

According to his World War II draft registration card, Chin was Asian, with a dak complexion, black eyes and brown hair. He stood 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighed eitehr 135 or 185 pounds. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 31, accessed 05/26/2023.)

SSN: 538050841.