A Lottery Changed His Life
My grandfather, Lan Kaigan (蓝恺干) born in Dabu, Guangdong province, on 27 September 1916. He was the third son of Lam Haoxian (蓝灏贤). Together with his 2nd brother and 4th brother, Lan Qianggan (蓝强干) – born Oct 1918. They followed their father and mother, and uncle to Taiping (Perak) in (year). Their oldest brother, Lan Yaogan / 蓝尧干, remained in Dapu to look after the rest of the family
The Lam family was not new to Malaya. The first Lams were in Taiping as early as the 1850s, starting with a provision shop selling foreign goods.
The brothers helped out in the pawnshop that their father worked for, together with their uncle Lan Hanxian (蓝汉贤).
Hanxian was married, had a few daughters, but no sons. In 1931, won the lottery, which led him to talk to his older brother Lan Haoxian (蓝灏贤) about adopting. While Haoxian did not believe in education, Hanxian did.
With his lottery money, he sent Lan Kaigan (蓝恺干) to Tokyo to study engineering. When he returned to Singapore, he briefly taught at Khee Fatt Study Institute (启发学堂). He later operated a machine shop out of his home at 723 Geylang Road. He met my grandmother, Chan Mee Ying (曾美英), as neighbours and was married on 29 March 1940. She originally lived at 721 Geylang Road.
Both houses are now part of a row of five 2-storey conservation shophouses along Geylang Road.
Above is the marriage certificate of my grandparents. From this document, I had a couple of really useful information about my grandfather that helped me start the genealogy research.
My grandfather, Lam Khoy Kon / 藍愷幹 was born on September 27th, 1916 in Dabu in Guangdong / 廣東大埔.
My grandmother, Chon Mee Yin / 曾美英 was born on December 30th 1916 in Yongding in Fujian / 福建永定.
They were married in Singapore on March 16th 1940.
