The Chinese Section of Bozeman’s Sunset Hills Cemetery
For each of the cemeteries investigated through this project, several steps were needed to find out more about the lives of those commemorated. First, the translation team rendered the individual names and village names from the traditional Chinese characters on each headstone into how the names would have sounded in the language likely to have been spoken by these Chinese Montanans (click here for details on the translation process). As the map at the bottom of this page indicates, these men were from a specific region of southern China, notably Guangdong Province. While Cantonese is the language of this region, many were from Taishan County where the language spoken is Taishanese (or Hoisanwa). Therefore, to try to find the individuals commemorated on these headstones in historic records, it was crucial to know how they would have pronounced their own names. Getting both a Cantonese and Taishanese pronunciation helped to approximate the pronunciation and identity of each individual. Then, using English-based sources, research into the lives of each individual was possible. The six examples below from Bozeman’s historic Chinese community illustrate this process.
Bozeman 2: The translation team rendered this individual’s name as Maa Jam Dak (Cantonese) or Ma Jim Ak (Taishanese/Hoisanwa). These names provided no direct matches in English-language sources connected to Bozeman’s Chinese community. However, in other regions of Montana, the family name 馬 was pronounced by people from that family as “Mar.” Considering this and the third character as Dak or Ak, varieties of this sound produced a match with a person named Mar Tock. A death certificate for Mar Tock indicated that he died on May 2, 1922 at the age of 65. He had worked as a gardener, living in Bozeman for 30 years. The death certificate notes that Mar Tock was buried in Bozeman Cemetery, also known as Sunset Hills Cemetery.
Bozeman 3: The translation team indicated that this headstone commemorated an individual from Guangdong Province, Taishan County who died in the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924). The individual’s name was rendered as Zia Gong Seoi (Cantonese) or Ciu Gong Thlui (Taishanese). By researching into the date of death, a name emerged that phonetically matched with the translation team’s results. The headstone commemorates Bozeman resident and retired cook Chew Quong Sue who lived in the area for more than fifty years.
Bozeman 4: The translation team rendered this individual’s names as Lam Waa Hou (Cantonese) or Lim Wan Haru (Taishanese). Using these pronunciations, it appears that this individual went by Lim (or Lem) Wah during his more than fifty years in Montana. The census of 1900 has Lem Wah as a resident of Bozeman where he worked as a storekeeper. Earlier immigration documents confirm Lim Wah’s residence as Bozeman in 1894 and 1905.
Bozeman 7: The translation team rendered this individual’s name as Zoeng Ging Saang (Cantonese) or Ciang Gein Saang (Taishanese) and noted his date of death as 1927. Using this date of death and approximate pronunciations of this name, it appears that the headstone commemorates long-time Bozeman resident Chong Sung. Chong came to the United States in the early 1870s and lived in Bozeman for more than forty years before his death in 1927.
An interesting trend from Bozeman emerged—specifically, all six of the translated markers indicate the date of death in the 1920s. As noted above, the dates of death included 1922, 1924, 1927 (x2). This trend continues with the headstones of Yee Sing (below left) and Hom Toy Sing (below right) both indicating death occurred in 1927. This high number of deaths amongst Bozeman’s Chinese residents in the 1920s (all of natural causes) hastened the decline of the city’s once large community. Some of the small number who remained decided to return to China, notably Bozeman restaurant owner Chin Au Ban whose farewell banquet is detailed here.
The headstones pictured below are from the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman, Montana. Each of these has been translated and the home village in southern China located. For details on each location in Bozeman, see the map linked here. For the locations of the home villages in southern China, click here (yellow markers indicate home villages for members of the Chinese community of Bozeman).
