St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley [1848- ]

I only know that we are related because I recently got a DNA match to Osborne's son, Miguel. Other than that, I don't know them and I don't know how they are related to Helena. I wish I did. All my attempts to contact the Foegals has not gotten anywhere, unfortunately.

My immediate family lived in Shanghai from 1919 until 1949, but I have another branch that went there in the mid 1800s. My grandfather, my mother and her sister were all born in HK ( Kowloon ) and moved to Shanghai later. My GGrandfather was from Manchester and went to Foochow in 1865 at age 21 as a tea inspector. He had four children before leaving and returning to the UK. His wife ( probably not legally married ) was at least half Asian and although I have her English name, Chinese aliases, DoB, DoD, burial info at St Michael's etc, I still have no idea who she was. So I know your frustration! :) I see some family tree info on Ancestry.com that is probably yours. The Foegal name is probably a good lead as it's an oddity so easier to find, unlike Smith or Jones ( or Hunter, which is mine. Pretty common ) I'm happy to help if I can. I should ask, how much of a match were you?

Brian

According to Ancestry.com, our DNA match predicts that we are 3rd cousins. I feel like I've turned over every rock to find info on this woman. It's a little weird that I'm so obsessed with a woman whose name I just heard for the first time a year ago but I feel like I'm so close. I have come to find out that the Foegal family made their way from HK to San Francisco. Some of them still live here. Osborne is buried about a half mile away from my office and right next to my high school. I've driven past that cemetery hundreds of times throughout my life. I'll keep looking. If you see anything or have any ideas, let me know. I'm heading to Macau in November. Maybe this mystery just requires a little leg work in HK.

I'm also looking for an obituary for Peter Hendrikson (sometimes seen as Henrikson). He was my 3 times great grandfather. He was born in 1834 and died in 1867. He had a wife and 2 very small children when he passed. He was on the police force. I'm curious to know how he died.

No luck in the Carl Smith Card collection online - only Osborne Foegal and family.

https://gwulo.com/carl-smith-collection

If you think Helena Foegal was interred at St Michael's, easiest is to call/email them to ask them to search in their electronic system.

See David's tips here for searching people who lived in HK - sounds like your 3X great grandfather worked in the Police force, which could be easier to find info on:

https://gwulo.com/node/9376

The Macanese family tree has Foegals in them, including Helena Foegal, but does not have her DOB/DOD or her relationship (if any) to the rest of the Foegals. If you are related to Osborne Foegals son Miguel by DNA linkagel, then I would think that Helena Foegal is part of this Foegal family. Osborne (1918-1975)'s father was William Foegal (????-????). Could Helena be a sister of William's (by age/generation)?

This below here requires a request for access to the administrators:

https://www.macanesefamilies.com/

There is a large Catholic cemetery in Macau, also called St Michael's (Cemiterio de San Miguel)

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2175809/saint-michael's-cemetery

Best wishes

Vanessa

There's lots of info on Peter Henrickson and the dates and connections seem to connect him. The Carl Smith Collection of hand-written and typed references that can often be followed up in newspaper archives or other publications. He seems to have been a court bailiff as well as he kept a tavern called "The Rising Sun" like the song! :) He may have gotten the tavern by a defaulted loan. Seems his parents were originally from Bremen, Germany. He married in 1863 to Julianna Ferreira from Macau. Oct 23, 1866 he had a daughter, and he died in Dec 20, 1867. There are references to the Hong Kong Daily Press articles listed  on the Carl Smith cards.

Newspaper archives are available through MMIS on HKPRO site: https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/web/guest/old-hk-collection?from_menu=Y&dummy=

Brian

Hi Brian,

I have the Carl Smith cards on my 3Xs great grandfather Peter Henrickson but I'm not seeing the Hong Kong Daily Press article references. I'm probably completely missing them. Can you point them out? I've been curious to discover how he died since he died so young at 34 with 3 small children. He's an interesting guy: German immigrant, police inspector, tavern owner. I would think the newspaper would have written something about his death given his age and profession but I did a word search through the archives of the Hong Kong Daily Press and nothing comes up. Any thoughts? This is all coming up today because a friend of mine found Peter's headstone at St. Michael's cemetery and I now have a photo of it. I went to the cemetery in November with all of my records and the staff there couldn't find anything about anyone in my family although most Macanese are buried there. My friend spent 3 days taking photos of all of the headstones so he could add them to the Macanese family tree. I'm so thankful he did that for our community. Someday soon that might not be an option.

Thanks for your help.

-Allison

Hi Allison,

                 I'm sorry, I don't seem to see anything there now either, at least not on HK Daily Press. I wonder if maybe I found it on South China Morning Post before?. I do recall finding quite a lot of information but it was well over a year ago and sadly I've lost my access to SCMP now. It's availabe through some Universities and I had access throug an Alumni program but no more. I've been trying to find a way to get back into it, but so far no luck. I still find it hard to believe that there is no mention on China Mail or HKDP considering how much I was able to find before. I'll keep it in mind as I'm still searching my own family and having great trouble without that previous access.

Regards,

Brian

Here is the link to the cards showing DP references

https://search.grs.gov.hk/en/searchcarl.xhtml?q=Peter+Henrickson&names=…
 

For MMIS search - select "Old newspapers" and enter the date in this format e.g.   1867-12-24

Thanks, think that was the one way I didn't try spelling it! I knew it was there before. Quite a trove of information! :)

Brian