<Begin Segment 5>

SY: So let's back up just a little because your mom, then, probably went to school in southern California?

NG: El Segundo probably, yeah, in that area.

SY: So they moved at a time where she had already been, obviously was probably born in that farm area --

NG: Yes.

SY: -- and then came down here. And then do you know where she went to school?

NG: Well, they have reunions. They, it's like Hawthorne, so it must be that kind, isn't it kind of close, El Segundo, Hawthorne?

SY: South Bay, kind of.

NG: So when they have reunions, yeah, it seems like it's Hawthorne is what I hear.

SY: And so she, and then how did she meet your dad?

NG: Okay, so I find out from the paper that my dad came out here when he was eighteen and met my grandfather, and my grandfather helped him find work so he knew him way before. My mom was only eleven years old when they first met, so it wasn't like, you know. And so my grandfather knew him, and that's probably why he liked, he wanted him for his son-in-law, because then years later, when my dad was back down here, they -- you know how they have those in between, those go-between people? So went to my dad and said -- he was like twenty-seven, I guess, twenty-six, twenty-six, twenty-seven -- "You know, it's time you got married. Are you ready to get married?" And he said yes, so then he, this person took him to my grandfather, and then they got married, like, very shortly. I think they got engaged that week and got married in a few months. [Laughs]

SY: Wow. So almost an arranged marriage.

NG: Yeah.

SY: Because he knew your grandfather more than...

NG: Right, yeah. And I told you my grandfather, my mom was going to marry this man who had a farm and he, but he was eldest son and the story goes that my grandfather knew what a hard life my mom would have being the wife of the eldest son, having to take care of the parents, so he really liked my dad being an orphan. [Laughs]

SY: Well, I know, that is so fascinating, 'cause your dad really had to raise himself, pretty much.

NG: He did, yeah.

SY: And he, when he was, and his mom dying so young made it, must've made it very hard on him.

NG: So his, my mom's family are really the only mother and father he...

SY: He became close to your mom's family as a result.

NG: Right.

SY: And did he talk about his own parents?

NG: He didn't.

SY: Or the experiences he had when he was --

NG: No. I wish we had more of those kind of conversations, but we just never did.

SY: So he stayed with an uncle, you think?

NG: Yeah, they said it was an uncle, and then went...

SY: This is after his dad died?

NG: Right, after his dad died. So he goes to live with this family --

SY: And he's the only child?

NG: Right. I think there was, like see, my, his father had another, had... his mom was from Hawaii, but he had another wife in Japan. So he --

SY: His father had...

NG: Two wives.

SY: I see.

NG: Illegally, right? [Laughs]

SY: Oh, so they were simultaneous. [Laughs]

NG: Yeah. So when, so he does have, I think he, I mean, he did have a half-sister that's in Japan from that...

SY: The first wife.

NG: That first wife.

SY: I see. And then, so you never really knew much about his family.

NG: Well, we did because that, like that, I told you his cousin, so that, they knew his family, right, 'cause, his in Japan.

SY: That was his, you met the cousin on your father's side.

NG: Right, right.

SY: I thought he was on your mother's side.

NG: No.

SY: So at one point you met the cousin on your father's side.

NG: Right. So there is some, he did have family.

SY: A little bit of the, a little bit of the, did you find out any of your father's family history from this cousin in Japan?

NG: No. And you know, he was never really there, so he just is not someone who knows either.

SY: But he left a wife in Japan.

NG: Yeah.

SY: And then he came to Hawaii and married -- oh no, and then, no, how did...

NG: I don't know about the father, but I know... yeah, I don't know about the father.

SY: So, and where was it you thought that they lived again, your grandparents on your father's side?

NG: They must, they were definitely from Yamaguchi also.

SY: Right, but then when they came here, and where his mother died, that was...

NG: I think it was Hawaii, but I'm not sure.

SY: Okay.

NG: She didn't say in this other paper.

SY: And his father passed away, they were, you think they were still in Hawaii when this happened?

NG: No, no, they were here. They were here. Okay, 'cause they were, my, his father was, what, Toyozo? Toyozo. His mother was Miyo, and they were in San Benito?

SY: California.

NG: County? It's in northern California. I never heard of it.

SY: No, I haven't either.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.