Su Min’s Luminous Tour
7My Ancestry at Bukit Brown by Lim Su Min.
Saturday 21 April,9 am – 11 am.
I am Lim Su Min, a retired doctor and grandfather to 5 children. I have identified 7 direct ancestors buried at Bukit Brown going back 5 generations for me, 7 generations for my grandchildren. My ancestors reposing at Bukit Brown include the parents and grandparents of Dr. Lim Boon Keng and Tan Tock Seng’s son and grandson, Tan Kim Ching and Tan Boo Liat respectively.
Dr. Lim Boon Keng himself was buried at Bidadari, disintered and ashes at Mt Vernon.
Tan Tock Seng’s tomb cluster stands out along Outram Road. Tan Boo Liat is the father of my grandmother Polly Tan, and Tan Kim Ching is grandfather of Tan Boo Liat. Into this alliance of two great families is the Seow connection. Mrs Seow Watt Chye is mother of my grandfather Seow Poh Leng;
Confused? Let me, Lim Su Min attempt to unravel for you my ancestry by sharing with
you personal stories on my heritage run to visit the tombs of my direct ancestors who are buried in Bukit Brown, share something about the surrounding habitat and some of the neighbours who are buried in the same location. I have invited tomb whisperer Raymond Goh to share some of his insights.
The Route for Lim Su Min’s Ancestry Trail at Bukit Brown Saturday 21st April 2012 covers the TAN- SEOW- LIM Family Connection scattered over various blocks in Bukit Brown.
The tomb stops include :
Tan Kim Ching, GGGGF (great,great,great, grandfather)
(neighbour to Cheang Hong Lim )
Seow Watt Chye GGM (great grandmother)
Tan Boo Liat GGF
Mr & Mrs Lim Mah Peng GGGGF/M
Mr & Mrs Lim Thean Geow GGGF/M
Highlights:
Tan Kim Ching (陳金鐘) (1829 -1892. ) Tan Tock Seng’s eldest son who recommended Anna Leonowens, as the teacher for children of King Mongkut of Siam ( King Rama IV) Buried in Changi, transferred to Bukit Brown (1940). One of Singapore’s earliest “diplomats” and much respected in the Siam court.
Tan Boo Liat, (1875-1934) built his home Golden Bell Mansion,10 Pender Road on Mount Faber, naming it after his grandfather. He was a strong supporter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and member of the Singapore T’ung Meng Hui along with Lim Boon Keng. In 1920 he was awarded the title Phra Anukul Sayamkich by the Siam court.
Tan Boo Liat’s daughter Polly was the template for Emily of Emerald Hill, written by my sister Stella Kon ( nee Lim). To know that Polly was the niece who eventually married her aunt’s husband 12 years her senior, when the aunt passed away is to understand the complex forces at play in creating “Emily”
Dear Dr Lim,
I found this in the NLB archives. Perhaps you already know of this:
http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19241229.2.63&sessionid=6703da0822f2420fbb295e2e383240f5&keyword=%22tan+chim+tee%22&token=tan%2ctee%2cchim
Sincerely,
soonhoe
Dear Soon Hoe
Many thanks for your alert.
she is already on our family data base: Cousin Lawrence Tan has some 2,250 names!
Hi Dr Lim, we are keen in this historical tour but can’t make it this round :(. Hope you’ll conduct another one later.
Thanks!
We hope Dr. Lim will consider your request too 🙂
Dear Dr Lim Su-Min,
How are you? Hope everything is fine and that you are all right! It’s a long time since we met but I still keep in good memory the very interesting conversation we had in Singapore concerning Carleton Gajdusek as well as your work in China and elsewhere. I wonder iif you ever got to see the film I made about Carleton Gajdusek? It would be really interesting to hear what you thought of the film – if you did see it. If you have not seen it, I would very much like to give you a copy.
As a matter of fact, I’ll be in Singapore Tuesday-Thursday coming week. If you have the time, it would be great to see you for a cup of coffee, noodles or what ever – and get an update!
Hope all well and looking forward to hearing from you,
Best wishes,
Bosse
Bosse Lindquist
Producent
SVT Dokumentär
Dear Dr Lim
I have a photo of Dr Lim Boon Keng at NAFA with a lady seated beside him (amongst many others). Was wondering if she is Mrs Lim BK. is there a way for me to email you the photo? thanks.
Art resecher
Foo Kwee Horng
Dear Kwee Horng,
If you email the photo to a.t.bukitbrown@gmail.com , we will forward the photo to Lim Su Min. The 2nd photo in this blog post is of Mr and Mrs Lim Boon Keng.