Have you tried to reconstruct your family tree? Philip Chew blogs about his experience to reconstruct his family tree – his ancestor includes Chew Joo Chiat, after whom the neighbourhood is named.

Philip writes:

I had a hazy idea concerning the number of Chew Joo Chiat’s children. An uncle from his maternal side recorded in National Archives oral history said that Chew Joo Chiat had 6 sons and 4 daughters. It was later published in the book ‘Joo Chiat a living legacy’. My grandma when she was alive gave me a different figure. In 2009 I visited Chew’s grave for the first time. I found from his tombstone he had only 2 sons and 3 daughters. Their names were also inscribed on it. So, tombstone is another avenue to trace and verify family members.

Find out how else Philip traced his family history in his post here.