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Birth
I was born in Hefei, China 1874 and raised by my two parents Pu Wanduwand and Pachee Wandguwand. My father owned the family business farming the rice fields. But sometimes we would loss our harvest in flooding and one year the rain completely washed are rice plants anyway. That’s what forced me and my father to work in the demon land. We hope that in the new land we would be able to support our family back home. -
Leaving Home
The rice farm hadn’t been doing well in the past few months. We didn’t have enough water for the rice to grow and most plants were sick. So father decided that it would be best for the family if we left to work on the American railroads. Since I was 18, old enough to handle the physical labor, on February 23 1894 me and my father set sails for Angle Island. -
Arriving at Angle Island
May 27 we arrived at Angle Island on a steamboat. First thing we went to administration building to get our paper work in order. We had to show paper work to prove that we had family in the U.S and since my grandfather was a citizen we had no problems. Our first night we stayed in a small tent on the mainland, by the second day we were already workers laying down railroad ties for the transgression railroad. -
Riot
A few miles south of the railroad tracks there was a Town where we were getting our supplies for the week. About mid-day one day when me and my father finished working early, together we walked to Town. Soon after getting there while in the Hardware store a riot formed in the streets, angry locals were angered for our people taking their jobs. The riot people were holding torches also throwing rocks. Luckily no one was badly hurt or killed. I walked off with only a few bumps and browses. -
My Wedding
Two months after the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Me and father moved back home to our awaiting family. It felt so good to see my loving family again after the long years of hard labor. While I was away my mother had already been arranging a wife for when I return. Her name was Ming Qashi she grow up in a nearby village. She came from a wealthy family and had the whole village at our wedding.
