Ok, so I am no alone in this ;D

I am in the process of tracing back my roots too, but stuck at a certain point now.

My grandfather , Tan Ah Wan is from Malacca. He is a Teochew Peranakan. He is the only son of my great grandfather. (so that's why i feel I need to locate the graves and take care of it) They were doing some car business back then. My grandfather is a Catholic but I am not sure if my great grandparents were. He has a few sisters as well. My grandfather left for Singapore in his late 20s or 30s. This is how the family started off in Singapore. My grandfather passed away in his early 50s when my dad and others were still young then. This is how we all lost touch.

Using my dad birth cert, I applied for my grandfather's death cert. He is still listed as a British subject when he passed away. No birthdate except year. Dead end, without the birth date, I was unable to trace his birth cert in Malaysia.

Nonetheless, I went to Malacca to Cheng Hoon Teng? Temple to try to search...no success. The in charge told me Teochew in Malacca are buried at another plot instead of Bukit Cina. So my next step would to be contact the Teochew Association and the catholic churches there to find new leads.

I do have a ancestry book for the Tan family tracing back to China. but it's in Chinese. A nice follow Malaysian uncle gave it to me when he knows I was trying to trace my roots. So if anyone is interested, can lend it to you for reference


And yes, it's common to have 3 wives then. My grandfather had 3 wifes too.

Question is, is there anyone who still have existing relatives who lives in Malacca city area who might know my family there? My guess is back in the 1920s or 30s, there shouldn't be too many businesses dealing with cars or parts rite?? ::) I got a photo of my grandfather :)

Can anyone help? I just want to locate my great grandparents' grave and take care of it.