Henry H. Quin - American Son
Our facility holds over 22,000 files for individuals who came under the jurisdiction of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) between 1882 and 1943 because they were Chinese or the American-born children of Chinese parents. In these files is represented many unique stories of children, laborers, merchants, citizens and families.
This year, we wanted to highlight the family of Thomas Ah Quin, a prominent fixture in San Diego's Chinatown in the early 1900's. According to the Immigrant Inspector in San Diego, Mrs. Ah Quin was "the best known Chinese in San Diego." And when asked, "Do you known any Chinese children born in San Diego?" she replied, "I lived here 39 years and know practically every Chinese born in San Diego during that time." Among those children were her own: Annie, George, Maime, Tom, Margaret, Lilly, Minnie, Franklin, Henry, Mary, Mable and William McKinley -- all born in San Diego, California.
The Chinese Exclusion Acts cast a wide net, and it was the law that son Henry H. Quin needed to register to request a return certificate prior to traveling "abroad." And abroad meant exotic destinations such as Tijuana or Mexicali--towns just steps across the US/Mexico border where he intended to do business and visit the horse races.
The file of Henry H. Quin, showed that he was, indeed a citizen. It showed that during WWI, he was stationed in France as a member of Company I of the U.S. Army's 351st Infantry. Once he returned home, he was employed by the INS as an interpreter for 2 1/2 years.
We were glad to see that they were willing to approve his application. It may have been awkward if they hadn't. We hope that Henry Quin got to see plenty of races on his many visits to Tijuana, Mexico!
Series: Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files, 1911-1976. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004 (RG 85).
In May we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by highlighting some materials from the holdings of the National Archives at Riverside.