Culture of One: Family History

Until this assignment I was unaware that we knew anything about my family from before the internment camps.  When I called my Uncle to get the exact details on my family’s migration during WWII however, I found out my Uncle had been mapping our family history with one of his cousins.  They had been able to map back to when my great-grandparents immigrated to the united states, and he was more than happy to fill me in on everything that they had learned.  I found it extremely interesting because I feel as though my family history lines up pretty well with what we have been learning in class.

The history of my family on my grandfather’s side:

Sometime in 1900, my great-grandfather, Ko Tashima, left a southern division of Japan and immigrated to Riverside, California.  His occupation was a farmer/laborer in the fruit industry.  My great-grandmother was Sawa Sugimura, and she was a picture bride.  She immigrated to the United States in 1918, the same year that she married my great-grandfather. On the 25^th of July, 1920, they had Howard Tashima, who was my grandfather.  Sawa died in 1922 at age 27 in Riverside, California.  From here on, we don’t have a lot of information.  In 1930, my grandfather was 9 years old and living with Mr. Tameki Yonemura’s family.  We think that my great-grandfather had returned to Japan with his other children, but left Howard with Mr. Yonemura, a Christian missionary, in the United States.  We know that by 1940, my grandfather was working in the produce industry in Los Angeles.

On May 25^th, 1942 Howard Tashima arrived at Poston Internment Camp in Arizona.  He had never been educated in Japan, and could not read, speak, or write in Japanese.  He had never even been to Japan.  On the 8^th of July 1943, Howard left Poston for Cleveland Ohio because the Evangelical Church in Cleveland had sponsored him.  

The history of my family on my grandmother’s side:

In November of 1906 there is record of my great-grandfather, Shohei Tsuyuki, traveling to Seattle and Wapato to meet a family member.  On November 25, 1916, Shohei married my great-grandmother, Shizu Sanekata, in Kanagawa, Japan.  Shohei had not known Shizu.  It was an arranged marriage and he was about 12 years older than her.  However, since he traveled to Japan to marry her she technically was not a picture bride.  On March 1, 1917, they left Japan for the United States.  They arrived in Seattle.  In a World War I Registration Card, it is indicated that his occupation was a farmer and his home address was in Wapato, Washington.  He listed his citizenship as Japanese, and Shizu is listed as his wife.  At this point they had a son, Hideo, who was an infant.  In 1920, Shohei was a farmer and Shizu was a laborer.  They had four children, Hideo, Toshiko, Kiyoko (my grandmother), and Shigeru.  In 1927 there is a Passenger and Crew list that shows that Shizu and Kiyoko were coming back from Yokohama to Seattle.  We think that she had been dropping off Hideo and Toshiko, both under the age of 10, with family so they could be educated in Japan.

On the 1^st of September 1942, my grandmother and her family were sent to Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming.  Shohei and Shizu were legally listed as aliens.  My grandmother, Kiyoko, was 20 years old when she arrived in the camps, and she had had 12 years of education in Japan.  She could read, write, and speak in both languages.  On the 2^nd of June 1943, Kiyoko Tsuyuki (age 21) was sponsored by the Evangelical church of Cleveland, and was allowed to leave the camps.  She traveled all the way to Ohio by herself.  While at Heart Mountain, Shohei died three days after being in an automobile accident.  Hideo was allowed temporary leave from the army to be at the funeral, and Kiyoko traveled back to attend the funeral.  However, she did not stay, and did return to Cleveland after spending some time with her family. Once WWI was over and they were released from Heart Mountain, Shizu, Shigeru, and Toshiko relocated to Los Angeles, California.  Shizu became a United States citizen in July 1954 after she learned to read, write, and speak English.  She died on the 18^th of June 1960 in Los Angeles, California. 

The history of my grandparents:

Since they were both sponsored by the evangelical church of Cleveland, my grandparents met through the community of Japanese-Americans there.  On the 18^th of October 1947, Howard Tashima married Kiyoko Tsuyuki in Cleveland Ohio.  They had three children, Irland, William, and Karen (my mother).  On the 17^th of October 1984, Kiyoko died of heart complications in Cleveland Ohio.  On the 6^th of February 1989, Howard died in Seattle Washington.