2018.10.14 18:58
Here are topics of three errors, one wrongdoing, Jewhan Chung’s education, father’s curriculum vitae, my lingering thoughts and legacy I will explain the reason of his absence later. III. Error 3: From Mr. Fay’s letter In 1985 on my second visit to Williston Alumni office while looking for father’s former school without success since the former school had not been recorded. One staff there, while looking for father’s record,suddenly showed me a letter of Charles Edey Fay, and asked me whether it was related to Jaone Chung, I noticed it to be related to Jewhan Chung, and immediately I recognized him to be father’s uncle, and asked for a copy of the letter. The content was very important and serious, but I was so busy with my day to day busy schedule of my practice, so that I decided to hold this matter until I have free time in the future. In 2014, when I started to post “My father’s Footsteps in America” to the website of Seoul National University Medical School Alumni Assoiciation, my alma mater, I tried to search full information, especially the amount of payment, the name of dishonest Presbyterian Missionary in reference to the Board of Foreign Missions. But I was unsuccessful in finding the Board of Foreign Missions, and eventually learned from a staff of Presbyterian Historical Society that it ceased to exist, and the succeeding organization did not have any information on my inquiry, and it refused to take any responsibility to some personal wrongdoings committed by the Missionary of the Board. Therefore as of now there is no way for me to pursue this problem. I will just review the letter of Charles Edey Fay below. His letter started as follows: Charles Edey Fay - 1027 North A Street, Lake Worth, Florida January 8, 1956 Williston Seminary Easthampton, Mass Gentlemen: Almost 25 or 30 years ago, I made the acquaintance of Jewhan Chung of Seoul, Korea, then a student at Williston Seminary. He visited my home in Stamford, Conn, and also came to see me in New York City at my Wall Street office where he told me of his financial problem resulting from the misappropriation, by a Presbyterian Missionary, of funds intrusted to him for delivery to Jewhan Chung... Mr. Fay wrote this letter on January 8, 1956, and said that he had acquainted Jewhan Chung about 25 or 30 years ago when Jewhan Chung was a Williston student. According to the Williston school record, it had been 1906 to 1910. Therefore when he acquainted with and met Jewhan Chung, it had to be 46 to 50 years ago! Almost half a century ago, he tried to help Jewhan Chung and contacted Board of Foreign Missions! All of us do not realize how time passes so fast, and Mr. Fay was not an exception! Why did it take so long before the Board took the final action to rectify their own wrongdoings and to make a check for compensation? Here is my reasoning The delay of payment Why was there such a long wait before the Board of Foreign Missions finally agreed to pay the loss to Jewhan Chung around 1956 though this problem had been presented to the Board Members from 1906 to 1910? It is hard to believe that the Board was holding this matter though the situation had been made obvious almost half a century ago. Obviously the Board had been stalling with this unfinished work as long as they could, until the time when the Board was about to end its existence by 1958. Therefore just before the demise of the Board, its members decided to solve this issue of misappropriation hurriedly not to be left with its own disgrace in the history of the Board forever, and this explains how the compensation was delayed to almost 50 years period of time. It is very unfortunate that the recipients, Jewhan Chung and Jaone Chung, were already dead, and I am the only person left in the midst of this connections. However the succeeding organizations were changed six times from 1958 to 2012 and no one knows for sure how many more times it will go through further changes in the future. [Please see the letter from the Presbyterian Historical Society below] When I contacted the last successor of the Board, the Presbyterian Mission Agency, for further and full information of this misappropriation committed by a Presbyterian Missionary, the staff there answered curtly that they have neither information, jurisdiction, nor responsibility on this matter, since I specifically wanted to know the exact amount of payment in the check, the name of the Presbyterian Missionary, the situation involving the misappropriation and anything else related to this bad situations. I have been so grateful to Mr. Fay and I wanted to offer my heart-felt thanks to him though he was gone a long time ago. I searched information on him as much as possible, and found two data: 1. He was a biographer, and wrote the famous work “the story of mary celeste”. 2. I found his burial place, which was Pinecrest Cemetery, Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. There I also found the dates of his birth and death: May 26, 1875 and May 28, 1957. This gives me room for my thought about Mr. Fay and Jewhan Chung. Mr. Fay must have been 4 years older than Jewhan Chung, and his letter was written only one year before his death, when he was eighty two years old. The address in his letter was 1027 North A Street, Lake Worth, Florida, and the cemetery was at 1724 12th Ave S, Lake Worth, FL 33460. At this point I decided to stop my further search. IV. Wrongdoing by Dr. George Heber Jones, Presbyterian Missionary. Here I found the reason why father lost so many school days in the spring 1912. The very person who committed misappropriation of the funds was a Presbyterian missionary entrusted for delivery of the funds to Jewhan Chung according to the letter of Charles Edey Fay, an acquaintance of Jewhan Chung written in January, 1956. This letter was known to me in the summer of 1985 when I made my second visit to the alumni office looking for father’s former school. The secretary showed an old letter of Mr. Fay in reference to Jewhan Chung, and wondered whether Jaone Chung, my father, was related to Jewhan Chung. I immediately recognized Jewhan Chung who was father’s uncle and guardian. I read the letter, which revealed that a Presbyterian missionary made misappropriation of the funds and the Board of Foreign Missions admitted it and eventually tried to repay the financial losses and made a check payable to Jewhan Chung. But the fact of the matter was that Jewhan Chung returned to Korea in 1914, and then expired due to some pulmonary disease, possibly pulmonary tuberculosis in 1916. The first time I read this letter was 1985, but I was in a busy practice myself, and was unable to explore this problem at that time, so decided to hold this problem for some future dates. After my fourth visit to Williston in June, 2014, I decided to look into the full information of my father’s and granduncle’s school records, and requested all the records of them. Here is the information on both of them based upon school records: Jewhan Chung, uncle and guardian, studied at the Williston from 1906 to 1910 and graduated. Afterwards he studied at Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado in 1910, and presumably graduated in 1914 though I was unable to find his school record from Colorado School of Mines as of yet. Father must have studied at a grammar school in NYC from 1904 to 1909, and then entered the Williston at 1909 as a ninth grader and left in 1913 after completing eleventh grade course without graduation or diploma. From Jewhan Chung’s record, I found a small slip of paper showing “address: care of Dr. George H Jones, Seoul, Korea. Search through Wikipedia showed most likely person with full name of Dr. George Heber Jones, who I think must be identical to “Dr. George H Jones” in the slip. I can see how important the Dr. George H Jones, Seoul, Korea was to Jewhan Chung so that the slip of paper showing his identity has been kept in the file of Jewhan Chung longer than 100 years of period. Therefore I believe that he was the very person entrusted to delivery of the funds. At this point it is impossible to prove or disprove that the Presbyterian missionary was Dr. George H Jones, but I have strong suspicion that I found the missionary. During the Williston school days, father suffered badly because of lack of money due to failure of money transfer so that he could not eat regularly, he tried to make little money by cleaning snow for some neighbors, he also lost his weight considerably. At that time obviously he was unable to pay tuition so that he could not continue his study, which explains clearly why there were so many missing school days in the spring of 1912. Whoever the Presbyterian missionary was, he must be a villain to steal the money which was to be used for tuition and living expenses of my father and granduncle. V. American education of Jewhan Chung, father’s uncle When father came to America accompanied by his uncle, Jewhan Chung, father was about ten years old, and his uncle about twenty four years old. His uncle was sent along with father to be his guardian and caretaker since father was so young. Sometime later after their arrival at NYC, Jewhan Chung decided to take education himself, and what I found out from the Williston record and my mother’s anecdote, he graduated Williston Seminary in 1910, and possibly Colorado School of Mines in 1914, and both father and Jewhan Chung returned to Korea, father temporarily, and Jewhan permanently. Jewhan Chung died in 1916 due to some pulmonary disease, most likely tuberculosis. Here is time line for their education: Years Father: Jewhan C 1903 Arrived at USA: Arrived at USA 1904 - 1906 In a grammar school: Unknown 1906 In a grammar school: Entered Williston Seminary 1909 Entered Williston: In Williston Seminary 1910 In Williston: Graduated Williston, entered Colorado School of Mines: 1913 Finished middle class and entered Penn: In Colorado School of Mines 1914 Finished freshman course of Penn: Graduated Colorado School of Mines Both of them returned to Korea in 1914 presumably together. Following is the comparison of education which father and Jewhan C had from 1904 to 1914. Father: 1904 to 1909 – Grammar school 4th grade to 8th grade 1909 to 1910 –Junior Class (9th grade), Williston Seminary 1910 to 1911 – Junior Middle Class (10th grade), Williston Seminary 1911 to 1912 – Middle Class (11th grade) : Missed a lot of school in the spring of 1912. So he did not complete the course of Middle Class and so returned to Middle Class in the fall of 1912 to spring of 1913 to complete the course of Middle Class. 1912 to 1913 – Repeat the course of Middle Class to complete 1913 to 1914 – Entered Wharton School and finished the freshman course Jewhan Chung 1904 to 1906 – Prepared for entrance of high school 1906 to 1910 – Studied at Williston Seminary and graduated 1910 to 1914 – Studied at Colorado School of Mines and presumably graduated Father had severe hardships due to lack of money provided by Jewhan Chung, therefore he could not continue to study since he could not pay tuition, could not even eat properly, and had to do some manual labor. So he missed the school year of Middle Class, and then by the next year he was able to complete the missed Middle Class. At that time he chose to enter Wharton School and completed the freshman course than tried to complete Senior Class at Williston not to lose one year. Certainly I can see the hardship father experienced in those days. Father could not have diploma at Williston Seminary and Wharton School. Finance for uncle and nephew team was completely managed by uncle, Jewhan Chung who was supposed to use the money for father’s education primarily, but it appeared that at that time he had high school and college education by using the money preferentially for himself, and then used the remaining fund for father’s education only if available. That was how Jewhan Chung himself did not have any missed school days. He handsomely had 4 years at Williston Seminary and Colorado School of Mines totaling 8 years education most likely. At this point I could not draw my conclusion for certain, but possibly Jewhan Chung used a large portion of the funds which belonged to my father, and so created deficit of money for father’s tuition. I will go back to mother’s anecdote: Father had 3 years education out of 4 years regular course in University of Pennsylvania, and one year was missing because he did not have money sent for tuition. During those destitute days, he just ate ice cream in a town general store on credit, and lost a lot of weight. He also cleaned snow for houses of neighbors. His adopted mother, Miss Ellie, spoke to him frequently, “Please come to me and eat with me.” But he was too bashful to eat her meals without payment. Now the picture became clear to me. Mother did not recognize it was Williston Seminary, not University of Pennsylvania, where he had 3 years’ education out of 4 years’ regular course after having missed one year school course from 1912 to 1913. I must say that mother born in 1899 never had modern Western or English education, so it was not easy for her to convey father’s story of American education to me and my sisters accurately. VI. Father’s curriculum vitae I tried to prepare father’s curriculum vitae as much as accurately. 1. Private Grammar School, NYC: 1904 to 1909 from 4th Grade to 8th Grade 2. Williston Seminary: 1909 to from 9th grade to 11th Grade [11th Gr from 1911 to 1912 not completed due to a lot of school missing, so repeated the same 11th Gr 1912 to 1913] 3. Wharton School: Freshman course from 1913 to 1914. I think he completed the grammar school and graduated. I made multiple efforts to find his grammar school, even with several visits to New Yok Historical Society, but unsuccessful since he must have attended a private grammar school, not a public school since he was not an American citizen, but a foreign student. But he did not graduate Williston Seminary, only having completed Junior, Junior middle, and Middle class, skipping Senior class. Then he completed freshman course only at Wharton School. From my point of view he certainly needed college diploma for his career. I thought that possibly he might try to enter some prestigious colleges such as the University of Tokyo or Waseda University in Japan available in those days. Then he could have made himself a leader in the business circles in Korea. This is just my wishful thoughts, but I could not tell how possible it could have been. VII. My lingering thoughts At the time of closing saga of Jaone Chung and Jewhan Chung, I envision two scenes: The first scene: In 1903 there were ten year old Jaone Chung accompanied by Jewhan Chung in his twenties as his uncle and guardian, and Kim Kyu-sik (金奎植 January 29, 881 – December 10, 1950) as a family friend. How am I sure that it was 1903, not 1904? While I was in my middle school in 1952 or so, I asked father about the first flight done by Wright brothers. He clearly told me it had happened during his stay at America. The day of the flight was December 17, 1903 [ from Wikipedia: They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]. So I thought he had arrived at America around summer or fall of 1903. How am I sure that he started his Grammer School in 1904? Father said that soon after he was settled in the lodging, probably an apartment, he was taken to a school for entrance examination, but he failed English test, which was not a surprise. He was told to study English for the next 3 or 6 months and come back for re-examination. He went to a local library and studied English really hard, days and nights, and then at the re-examination, he passed the test and entered the school and was able to study there. Regretably I never asked about his first school, and so have been unable to find it. As a boy, I never thought about coming to America and living here as a citizen, and obviously father never dreamed about my living in America and my continuous search of his footsteps as I have done. This is my tentative conclusion: Father arrived at NYC in late 1903, failed his entrance examination at a nearby Grammar School, a private school or even church school soon after his arrival, and studied English for several months. Early next year in 1904, he was able to enter the school and then study there until he went to Williston Seminary. Jaone Chung was in this trans-pacific liner bound for San Francisco for American education in this unknown world called the United States of America. The second scene was in the summer of 1914, when Jewhan Chung and Jaone Chung were in the similar liner bound for Tokyo Harbor, separately or together. While Jewhan Chung, supposedly the guardian of Jaone Chung, was carrying two diplomas, one of Williston Seminary and the other of Colorado School of Mines, Jaone Chung had none though he studied at Williston Seminary for 4 years but finished only 3 class including Junior, Junior Middle, and Middle class, but not Senior class. He finished only the freshman course at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania so far. He had long three years of time ahead to complete Wharton School, and had to return temporarily to Korea to solve the problem of money transfer. How unfortuante my father had been! It was the most ironic scene I can imagine. The status of these two people were reversed, which I found more than a century later. VIII. Legacy and the meaning of father’s footsteps to us, When I visited Williston Academy in 1979 for the first time, my wife and I found that this was a good boarding school, and made firm decision to send our sons, Henry and James, to boarding school for good education. Afterwards our two sons were sent to Choate Rosemary Hall and graduated there. Henry studied there from 1982 to 1986, and James from 1985 to 1989, making their stay from 1982 to 1989, seven long years. It was very rewarding experience, and we were able to send them to colleges and graduate schools to our satisfaction. Our two sons have always appreciated us for their good education and wanted to give the same good education to their children. This is our family legacy coming from father’s connection to boarding school, which is far more valuable than anything. Following are exhibits of father’s and granduncle’s school records, Jewhan Chung’s slip of paper, its typed note, a letter of Charles Edey Fay, a reply from the Presbyterian Historical Society, time line with its typed clarification, and Williston card from the head of school Wharton record of Jaone Chung Williston record of Jewhan Chung Jewhan Chung’s slip of paper Decoded typed note The letter from Charles Edey Fay Letter Page 1 Letter Page 2 The letter from the Presbyterian Historical Society INCLUSIVE TIME LINE Typed YEAR and CONTENTS to view father’s lifetime in reference to related people and events Kwan Ho Chung - October 15, 2018 |
2018.10.14 19:03
2018.10.15 02:50
Doc, your father, and grandfather lived a period of one of the most tumultuous time in Korean history.
Is it one of the reasons your father was sent to America for further education?
Was your grandfather one of the 개혁파?? (like 서재필).
Did he try to make your father someone like 서재필?
You are paying a lot of attention mainly to the American side of your father's life
but it may be worthwhile to search in this Korean direction as well.
I don't dare to tell you what and how to do but, by joining two sides, it may show something we did not know.
There may be more drama or a fundamental meaning in why your father was sent to America.
Was there a great and brazen hope by your grandfather behind all these?
Wasn't he in such a hurry for something, enough to send his very young son to the unknown country?
Can you put all these pieces together to solve the mysterious puzzle?
Perhaps, it may be helpful to know what happened in Korea during your grandfather and father's time.
조선 Dynasty
1876: Korean ports are formally opened under the Treaty of Ganghwa with Imperial Japan.
1879 (or 1884): Jewhan Chung was born here.
1882: Imo Incident: Mutiny by Korean soldiers in Seoul against the modernization policies of Emperor Gojong
1884: Kim Okgyun leads the 갑신정변(甲申政變). In 3 days, Chinese forces are able to overwhelm the Progressives and their Japanese supporters.
1885-1894: 청나라의 조선통치
1894: Donghak Rebellion prompts the First Sino-Japanese War and Gabo Reforms.
1895: China recognizes Korean independence in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
1895: 민비살해 by Japanese assassins.
1896: 아관 파천 -11 February. King Gojong flees to the Russian legation in Korea (Seoul).
Korean Empire
See also: Timeline of the Gwangmu Reform
1897: 고종의 경운궁 환궁. King Gojong returns to his palace after 1 year of refuge at the Russian legation.
1905: Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905. Korea became the protectorate of Imperial Japan.
1907: June. The Hague Secret Emissary Affair.
1907: 18 July. Gojong was abdicated in favor of his son, Sunjong by Imperial Japan.
1909: 26 October. Ito Hirobumi (Japanese Resident-General of Korea) is assassinated by Korean independence activist An Jung-geun.
1910: 29 August. The Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 started the annexation of the Korean Empire by Imperial Japan.
Japanese Colonial rule
1916 (or 1911): Jewhan Chung passed away at a young age.
1916: The final wave of Uibyeong rebels is defeated by Japanese forces.[citation needed]
1919: March 1st Movement. Spurred by the sudden and mysterious death of Gojong. Declaration of Korean Independence. Nationwide peaceful demonstrations are crushed by the Japanese military and police forces after two months. Governor-General Hasegawa resigns.
1919: The establishment of The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.
1919: Saito Makoto appointed as third Governor-General of Korea. The period of "cultural policy" begins.
1920: Battle of Cheongsanri, Korean independence Army, led by Kim Jwa-jin, victory.
1926: June 10th Movement.
1932: Korean independence activist Lee Bong Chang fails in his attempt to assassinate Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo.
1932: Korean independence activist Yun Bong Gil bombs Japanese Military gathering in Shanghai.
1938: Governor-General of Korea begins Soshi-Kamei (Order to Japanese-style name changes) policy.
1945: The Empire of Japan surrenders to the Allies. According to the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, Korea becomes independent.
2018.10.15 05:53
Thanks for your good input. I will look into this great project,
which will take no less time than my prior writings.
2018.10.15 08:03
I think Mrs. Jewhan Chung must have known a substantial part of the story on the Korean side.
If she is not with us, her sisters may know a lot. That's the way the Korean society communicated.
So many times, Korean parents do not leave the true story about the legacy of the family to their children.
My own father seldom spoke about our family history and I got some of it from my mother.
In old days, it must have been a taboo to speak about their ancestors.
They always say that their grandfathers were "rich, 양반, and 지주" but nothing much else.
Now, we should leave our stories to our second generations since we are not the 양반, and 지주
and we don't give a damn on being one of them.
With the absence of dark secrets, we are not afraid to say what we were.
2018.10.15 12:10
I never introduced Mr. Jewhan Chung's family life in Korea.
According to mother, he married a woman of a reputable family in Kyungsangdo,
who happened to be good-looking and tall, so she had all virtues nowadays.
You and I must be baffled at the fact that she was seen suspicious and considered not womanlike
since she was tall by many women in the close relatives.
There were a lot of gossips against her by talkative women, and these unjustified criticisms
were conveyed to Mr. Jewhan Chung. So their marital relationship became cool and cold.
To make the matter worse, Mr. Jewhan Chung departed for America for 10 years,
and Mrs. Jewhan Chung was left alone and lonely without any offspring.
Finally she decided to return to her parents' home, and explored her future by joining some kinds of
organization for modern women. Possibly she became a Christian and so was active in her social life.
She also divorced Mr. Jewhan Chung while he was in America.
When he returned to Korea, he realized how wrong he was to have been influenced
by those frivolous slanders. Therefore he met her, apologized sincerely and asked her for reunion.
At that point she was very firm in refusing him, "I don't need a man like you.
Leave me right away, and don't come back." That was the end of their unfortunate relationship.
But, WM. it had happened sometime between 1914 and 1916.
Which sisters of hers can be around this day and age? Just a very old story, and gone forever.
My father’s story was first written four years ago without adequate background information.
Since then, I have kept writing more and more by adding new information and my new thoughts.
Therefore I do not know when I shall end it. It could be this time or possibly a few years later.
But I still have an incessant urge to find anything new in his never-ending saga in America.
Please bear with me for my long writing this time. Thank you.