“Generations of the Gunns: Sean’s Family Legacy”

Sean Gunn at the Pender Guy Studio (City of Vancouver Archives)

Sean Gunn was born in August 1948 in Vernon, BC, to Laura Joe (1922-2015) and Gun Wah Fong (1905-1988). His sister Sharon was born in 1952, followed by Shannon in 1956. His family history reflects the journeys of Chinese Canadians in BC.

Sean Gunn’s maternal great-grandfather was the Chinese storeowner and former railway worker Jang Won Jeong (better known as On Lee) in Yale, BC. Yale was the unceded territory of the Nlaka’pamux and Stó:lō peoples. Miners disrupted the Nlaka’pamux salmon fishery activity that took place at the end of each summer.

A former Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, Yale experienced significant growth during the Fraser River gold rush of the late 1850s and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Stores, warehouses, and hotels were established along Front Street. Yale’s Chinatown was at the end of Front and Douglas Streets. Yale was the starting point for trails and wagon roads to the north and a vital supply centre. Eighty percent of miners came from California and were mostly of European descent, but also included individuals of Hawaiian, African American, and Chinese descent.

Jang was born in Guangdong, China, in 1831 and arrived in BC in the late 1870s. He became known as On Lee. By 1881, Jang had opened a bakery and store. He purchased the house (Lot 10, Block 2, Yale Townsite) in 1880 for $800 from David and Issac Oppenheimer, the brothers who built their store in 1858.

By 1885, Jang had four buildings on the lot: a grocery store, a washhouse, and two other structures, as depicted on the fire insurance plan. The family sold lumber, hardware, and feed from a building adjacent to the west side of the house.

In 1884, Jang (On Lee) married Lee Ying (b. 1865), who became known as Mary On Lee. Between 1885 and 1905, they had six children. Jang died on August 2, 1907, from a horse kick to the chest and was buried in the family cemetery at Yale. Mary and her sons continued to operate the store until she died in the 1920s.

Constance On Lee (b. 1888) was one of the three daughters and Sean’s maternal grandmother. She married Stanley Joe (Joe Sing Shek; b. 1867) in 1907, the same year Jang died. Stanley was a Hakka from Heshan, Guangdong, China, who arrived in BC in 1883 at the age of 16 to work on building the Canadian Pacific Railway. They moved to Vernon and stayed behind a store called Kwong’s before moving to Mara Avenue in 1908 (Mara Avenue became 27th Street). They had 13 children, but one died during the Spanish Flu.

Stanley found seasonal work in the Okanagan fruit orchards, but was exposed to pesticides that eventually ruined his health. Constance ran a family vegetable business and later also a home laundry with the help of the children. One of these children was Sean’s mother, Laura Joe (1922-2015).

“My mom and the kids all had to work hard. The bachelors didn’t want to do their laundry. The kids delivered the laundry. My mom spent hours ironing clothes after school.”

Laura was a childhood friend of Larry Kwong (1923-2018), who was the first player of Chinese descent in the National Hockey League. Laura was known to have a talent for art, but her family did not permit her to pursue it. Many of Laura’s siblings eventually left Vernon, while she had to stay and help with the family business.

Photo by Effie Pow

Sean recalls his mother saying his grandfather was somewhat isolated as he spoke Hakka while the others spoke Toisan or Sze Yup (his mother spoke Sze Yup and his father spoke Toisan).

His aunt Ruth Gertrude Joe (b. 1981) was married to Harry Won Cumyow (1895-1961), son of Won Alexander Cumyow (溫金有; 1861-1955). Won was Hakka and the first Canadian-born Chinese in 1861 in Port Douglas. Before Sean’s family moved to Vancouver in 1958 (centennial of the Fraser River gold rush), his family would stay at the home of Won during the summers. As Sean’s grandfather Stanley had died before he was born, Won became his grandfather figure.

Laura met Gunn Wah Fong (1905-1988) in Yale when she visited her sister Helen Joe (1923-2010). He was a partner in her brother Walter Joe’s fruit and vegetable business. Born in Guangdong in 1905, Gunn arrived in Canada at age 12 with his father, paying the $500 head tax. They worked in Toronto and Vancouver until settling in the Okanagan. Gunn and Laura married in 1944 when he was 39 and she was 21, and had three children.

Sean recalls being the only Chinese kid surrounded by the “bachelors” (former Chinese railway workers who could not bring their families due to the Chinese Exclusion Act). Most of his aunts and uncles had moved to Vancouver by the time he was born. The men dressed neatly in suit jackets and wore Chinese slippers.

“They lived in lodging houses, cooked their own meals, and smoked water pipes. They would stir-fry one dish and cook a pot of rice. Drink a shot of Johnny Walker and eat all of the cooked dish before pouring the gravy onto the rice. The rest went to the cats.”

At Chinese New Year, he would get many little red envelopes from single Chinese men. “It was a big deal to get a quarter, and you could buy something with a dime.”

There was a Chinese Anglican church in Vernon that closed after his mother’s generation moved to Vancouver. When the Good Angel Mission was established, there were about 600 Chinese residents. “It became cheap, so my dad bought the church building and remodelled it. My mom had the cross removed. We lived there for a couple of years.”

Eventually, Sean’s family moved to Vancouver Chinatown. He attended Strathcona School for a couple of years, which was a cultural shock.

“I was the only Chinese kid in Vernon and always got a snowball on my back when it snowed. But in Strathcona, I got into other scrapes and fights.” Sean completed grade school at Tecumseh Elementary, attended John Oliver High School, and played the trombone and tuba in the high school band.

Sean’s niece Jodie Leong (Sharon’s daughter) provides a detailed account of their family history in The Head Tax and Beyond: Sketches of an Immigrant Family.

References

Our Stories Head Tax Education Project

https://ccncourstories.wordpress.com/our-stories-features/youth-essays/jodie-leong/

The Ties That Bind

https://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/BrianJoe.php

On Lee House

https://yale.cariboogoldrush.com/tour/onleeppr.htm

Lost Street Names

https://www.vernonmorningstar.com/columns/vernons-lost-street-names-7505964

Fraser River Gold Rush

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fraser-river-gold-rush

Oppenheimer Brothers