10/28/2024
Fee Lee Wong
1841~1846 - 1921
Fee Lee Wong arrived in Deadwood Gulch in December 1876. Like many Chinese immigrants on the Western frontier, Wong came seeking his fortune. Unlike most, he ended up making Deadwood his home. He built a business, married, raised a large family, adopted North American ways and shared his own culture with his non-Chinese neighbors. In the process, he earned the deep respect of his countrymen and the people of Deadwood.
“He was a man of many accomplishments, shrewd in business and a patriotic citizen of his adopted country,” the Deadwood Daily Pioneer-Times wrote upon receiving word of Wong’s death in 1921. “He was a man whose word was his bond, scrupulously honest, a contributor to every charity which appealed to him, free and generous, a heavy purchaser of liberty bonds and a contributor to every enterprise that would help Deadwood.”
During his 43 years in Deadwood, due to varying English translations, he was known by many names: Wong Fee Lee, Wong Free Lee, Wong Fay Lee, Wing Tsue, Dr. Wing Tsue, Wing Touie and Wing Tone. Sometime between October 1882 and May 1883, he married Haw Shoog Gain. Their eight surviving children, born between 1884 and 1902, were raised in Deadwood. Many attended public school. Two of his sons went on to attend universities in the United States.
Wong’s business interests included mining, merchandise and a number of other ventures. He was best known, perhaps, for a pair of sturdy brick buildings on Lower Main Street collectively named the Wing Tsue Bazaar. Constructed in 1885 and 1896, these buildings stood as the center of Deadwood’s Chinatown community for decades.
At every opportunity, Fee Lee Wong reached out to the community beyond Chinatown. He donated money for the Independence Day festivities and sponsored a Chinese entry in the annual parade. He staged a Chinese hose cart team for the firefighter competitions popular at the time. In addition, he invited Deadwood townsfolk to join in events such as Chinese New Year and the Hungry Ghost Festival, and also purchased burial plots for individual Chinese at Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
One testament to his esteem was the the support he received from friends when he was not allowed to return to the United States after a 1902 trip to China. Under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the U.S. government denied his entry to the United States. Prominent South Dakotans, including Circuit Court Clerk Sol Star and Congressman Eben Martin, intervened on his behalf, and Wong was allowed to return.
In 1919, Fee Lee Wong suffered a stroke during a meeting of the Society of Black Hills Pioneers, of which he was a member. He recovered enough to travel, and returned to his Chinese homeland, where he died two years later.
Source:
https://www.cityofdeadwood.com/hpc/page/fee-lee-wong
Fee Lee Wong(黄先生)于1876年12月抵达戴德伍德谷。像许多西部边疆的华人移民一样，黄寻求自己的财富。与大多数人不同的是，他最终将戴德伍德视为自己的家。他建立了自己的生意，结婚，抚养了一个大家庭，接受了北美的生活方式，并与非华人邻居分享了自己的中华文化。在这个过程中，他赢得了乡亲们和戴德伍德人民的深厚尊敬。
“他是一位成就斐然、商业上精明、忠于自己所选择的国家的爱国公民，”《戴德伍德日报先锋时报》在得知黄于1921年去世的消息时写道。“他是一个言出必行的人，诚实守信，是每一个向他呼吁的慈善事业的支持者，慷慨大方，是自由债券的大买家，也是每一个有助于戴德伍德的事业的贡献者。”
在戴德伍德的43年里，由于英语翻译的不同，他被称为多个名字：Wong Fee Lee、 Wong Free Lee、 Wong Fay Lee、Wing Tsue、Dr. Wing Tsue、4 Wing Touie 以及 Wing Tone。在1882年10月至1883年5月之间的某个时间，他与霍舒金（音译）结婚。他们的八个幸存子女出生于1884年至1902年之间，均在戴德伍德长大。许多孩子上了公立学校。两个儿子后来进入了美国的大学。
黄先生的商业兴趣包括采矿、杂货和其他多个项目。他最著名的或许是一对坚固的砖石建筑，位于下主街，统称为温祖百货商店。这些建筑分别建于1885年和1896年，数十年来一直是戴德伍德华埠社区的中心。
黄先生在每个机会中都与华埠以外的社区接触。他为当地特有一年一度的“（18）76年的日子里”的庆祝活动捐款，并赞助了每年游行中的华人阵容。他组织了一支华裔消防车团队，参加当时流行的消防员比赛（年年蝉联冠军——根据戴德伍德镇，Days of 76博物馆负责人，Jim Williams）。此外，他还邀请戴德伍德的镇民参与春节和盂兰盆节等活动，并为一些华人在摩利亚山公墓购买了墓地。
他受到尊重的一个证明是，当他在1902年去中国（大清国）旅行后被禁止返回美国时，朋友们给予了他支持。根据华人排斥法，美国政府拒绝他入境。包括巡回法院书记索尔·斯塔和国会议员埃本·马丁在内的南达科他州知名人士为他出面，黄先生最终被允许返回。
1919年，黄先生在参加黑山拓荒者协会的会议时中风。他恢复得足够好以便旅行，并回到了他的祖国，中国（中华民国），在那里他于两年后去世。
原文来自美国南达科他州戴德伍德镇政府网上名人墙，戴德伍德镇名人榜上Fee Lee Wong的本地名人事迹介绍说明：
https://www.cityofdeadwood.com/hpc/page/fee-lee-wong
译后小记：
1. “（18）76年的日子里”（Days of 76），戴德伍德谷于1876年发现黄金，成为继就旧金山淘金热之后的又一个新淘金热的目的地，故戴德伍德镇由此而诞生，黄先生也是在这一年与这里所有的冒险家先驱们来到这里，并在此安家立业。
2. 黄氏家族子孙繁衍，枝繁叶茂，遍及各地，主脉一支现住在加利福尼亚州。一直与戴德伍德镇政府保持联系。该家族将于2025年6月24至25日重返戴德伍德镇，举行家族大团圆。我已经承诺戴德伍德镇，届时会亲自来戴德伍德镇，与这些可敬的华裔美国人先驱的子孙后代们共襄盛举。
3. 戴德伍德镇政府已经决定打造一尊黄先生的等身铜像，在明年黄氏家族探祖归亲大团圆时举行铜像揭幕剪彩仪式，我会以南达科他州政府的身份，代表州长参加。
4. 顺便提一下，戴德伍德镇德华人先驱们与所有其他地方来美国德华人完全不同。他们来这里不是给任何人打工的、或者是奴才的身份，而是平等的与所有当年来此的拓荒者们一样，寻求更好生活的机会，创业发展的，从未被歧视过！
中文翻译者，新任美国南达科他州历史保护官，Garry Guan（关学君）
Chinese Translator's Notes:
1. "Days of '76" refers to the annual event commemorating the discovery of gold in the Deadwood Gulch in 1876, which made it a new gold rush destination following the San Francisco Gold Rush. Deadwood developed into a bustling community and a city, and Wong was among the pioneers who arrived to settle and build their lives that year.
2. The Wong family has grown and spread to various places, with the main lineage currently residing in California. The family has maintained contact with the Deadwood city government and plans to hold a family reunion in Deadwood on June 24-25, 2025. I have committed to attending the event in Deadwood to honor the descendants of the remarkable Chinese American pioneers.
3. The Deadwood government has decided to commission a life-sized bronze statue of Fee Lee Wong, which will be unveiled during the family reunion next year. I will participate in the unveiling ceremony on behalf of the South Dakota state government.
4. It's worth noting that the Chinese pioneers in Deadwood City were different from other Chinese immigrants in the U.S. in the nineteenth to early twentieth century. They did not come as hard laborers or quasi-slaves but as equally fortune seekers, seeking better opportunities and pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors like other pioneers. They were not subject to discrimination like the other early Chinese migrant labors or immigrants in that era!
Chinese Translation by Garry Guan,
newly appointed State Historic Preservation Officer of South Dakota.
