Bricks, Blood & Stones 

Place of Ancestry Lam Ann (南安)

Thng Peah Neo (湯丙娘) 1865 – 1926
Koh Chin Neo (高振娘) 1891 – 1923
Wee Tiam Ghee (阮添字) 1888 – 1934

Early brick production was labour intensive and basic. Buffaloes stepped on the earth and the paste produced had to be hand shaped by workers before finally being baked in the kilns. Production was between 10,000 and 20,000 bricks a month.

Using machines, Jurong Brickworks were able to up the ante and produce an estimated 60,000 bricks per month before the war , making them among the top  brick companies.  Wee Tiam Ghee had started as a builder and contractor before going upstream into brick making.  But Wee became plagued by financial worries during the great depression. Unable to withstand the pressure, he took his own life, running into a moving car. He died on 21 January, 1924 at 47 years old and was buried in the family plot in Bukit Brown.  His wife Koh Choon Neo died also when she was 47 years old on 2 August 2, 1938. 

For a family who made their money by selling bricks,  there is not one brick  in the architecture and construction of their tombstones.  The choice of material was high quality granite Qingshi (青石) The triple Wee graves are unique for not just for the exquisite  traditional Chinese stone carvings and figures,  but also for laying down Western art deco tile onto the ground.