Everything tagged: The National Hotel

The name of Ching Ah Fung, baptised at the To Tsai church as Ellen Olson by the Reverend Ost in 1891 was transcribed by Carl Smith as Au Chung Ah-Fung. Ching Ah Fung, spelt also as Cheng Ah Fung, is given as the mother of Elizabeth, John, Ellen and Charles Olson on their birth certificates. She was stepmother of Hannah Warren, (née Olson). Ching Ah Fung was the second of John Olson's wives and was styled "Mrs Olson" after her baptism. There are no authenticated photographs of her.

Louis Kirchmann (1840-1891) born in the village of Bockholz in Eckernfoerde near Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, was one of a group of tough early tavern keepers, who had Chinese wives. Kirchmann held the licence for The Land We Live In from 1871 until his death in 1891. He and the Swede, John Olson, licence holder of the National Hotel (1866-1885), were close neighbours in Ladder Street Terrace living in nos. 1 and 4 respectively.  Kirchmann’s countryman, C.F.W.