John / William Hang

 

Hang was known as John Ah Heng, John Ah Hang, John A. Hang, John A. Hong, William Ah Hang and William A. Hang.

He was born in China and died December 3, 1923 in Staten Island, New York. He served in the Union Navy. Ruthanne Lum McCunn has additional information about Hang at the Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War; she profiled Hang in “Chinese in the Civil War: Ten Who Served.”

U.S. Navy Pensions Index, 1861-1910
Name: John Hang
Publication: M1469
Pension Approval: Approved
File Number: 76462
Certification Number: 38665
Fiche Number: 37855
Archive: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Collection: U.S. Navy Pensions Index


New York, Grand Army of the Republic Records, 1866-1931

1910 New York City Directory
Hang Wm A cigars 500 Pearl

U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938
Name: John Hang
Birth Year: abt 1839
Keyed Birth Location: Canton China
Birth Country: China
Birth City: Canton
Admitted Year: 1919
Age at Admission: 80
State: New York
County: Steuben
City: Bath
Branch: Bath Branch
Enlistment: July 24, 1863, New York, NY
Rank: L’man [Landsman]
Company and Regiment: US Navy
Discharge: September 30, 1864, Boston, Mass
Date of Admission: August 14, 1919
Date of Death: December 3, 1923, New York

Hang was recorded in the 1920 U.S. Federal Census.

The New York Times
March 13, 1890
The heart of the Mott-street Chinaman apparently is becoming “allee samee muchee like” the hearts of white men. Charity is the latest virtue that the Celestials have shown symptoms of. Yesterday there was filed a certificate of incorporation for the Chinese charitable and Benevolent Association of the City of New-York. Its offices are to be at 16 Mott-street. Its trustees are Leung Jum, Mon Lee, Wong He Chong, Tom L. Lee, and William A Hang.

The Syracuse Journal
(New York)
March 20, 1890
The first Chinese corporation of New York State is the Chinese Charitable and Benevolent association of the city of New York, whose certificate has been filed and recorded by the Secretary of State at Albany. The objects set forth are to ameliorate the condition of the Chinese poor in New York city. The trustees for the first year are Lung Jum, No. 8 Mott-st.; Mon Lee, No. 5 Mott-st.; Wong He Chong, No. 19 Bowery; Tom L. Lee, No. 4 Mott st. and William A. Hang. No. 18 Pell-st. The signatures of these men are written in English, and are well executed.

The Missionary Review of the World
December 1890
The first Chinese corporation of New York State is the Chinese Charitable and Benevolent Association of the City of New York, whose certificate has been filed and recorded by the Secretary of State at Albany. The objects set forth are to ameliorate the condition of the Chinese poor in New York city. The trustees for the first year are Lung Jum, No. 8 Mott Street; Mon Lee, No. 5 1/2 Mott Street; Wong He Chong, No. 19 Bowery; Tom L. Lee, No. 4 Mott Street, and William A. Hang. No. 18 Pell Street. The signatures of these men are written in English, and are well executed.

The New York Times
August 17, 1904
Prosperous Chinese Arrested for Voting
Federal Authorities Say They Were Illegally Naturalized.
Others May Face Charges
“Mayor of Chinatown,” Tom Lee, One Prisoner—Other Two in Business In This City.

Three prosperous Chinamen, who have lived in this city for many years, were arrested yesterday and arraigned before United States Commissioner Shields in the Federal Building, charged with having voted at elections here although they were not legally entitled to vote, according to the naturalization laws which bar Chinese from citizenship privileges.

The three prisoners were Tom Lee of 18 Mott Street, who is better known as the “Mayor of Chinatown”; William A. Hang, a cigar manufacturer, of 500 Pearl Street, and Charles Foon Foos, a merchant, of 34 Mott Street. They waived examination, and were held in $500 bail each for the next term of the United States Circuit Court. In each case ball was furnished and the men were released.

Assistant United States District Attorneys Marx and Houghton, who have charge of the prosecution of naturalization frauds, declared that they knew of a number of other Chinamen who possessed alleged citizenship papers, and that these would be arrested as soon as the Federal authorities could gather them in.

In addition to laws passed in 1870 forbidding the further naturalization of Chinamen, more explicit statutes were passed in 1882. Messrs. Marx and Houghton proceeded against the three accused Chinamen on the authority of these stringent laws. Lee obtained his citizenship papers, it is alleged, in the Criminal Courts of St. Louis in 1876. Since his residence in New York the “Mayor of Chinatown” has taken quite an interest in politics, and has voted at every election, usually supporting the Democrats. In 1894 he was appointed a Deputy Sheriff, his commission bearing the signature of Under Sheriff John B. Sexton. The specific charge against Lee is that he registered to vote for an Assemblyman on Oct. 10, 1903.

William A. Hang also is in possession of a full certificate of naturalization, granted him by the County Court of Richmond, Ind., on Oct. 6, 1892. He is sixty-five years old, and came to this country forty-eight years ago. He greatly resembles Li Hung Chang. Charles Foon Foss got his citizenship papers from the Court of Common Pleas of Passaic County, N. J., on March 24, 1890.

Each of the Chinamen asserted that he had received assurances that he had a right to naturalization papers. They all assert that at the time no objection was made to their Chinese birth, and that they had never been barred from any voting place at any time. The men did not seem at all perturbed over their arrest, and expressed the opinion that they would not be punished very severely.

New-York Tribune
August 17, 1904
Chinamen Were Voters.
Three Arrested Show Regular Naturalization Papers.
That, notwithstanding the scrutiny of the election inspectors at the polls, Chinamen have been permitted to vote at elections in this city was the discovery made yesterday by Joel M. Marx, Assistant United States District Attorney. As a result, three sons of the Yellow Kingdom, one of them the “Mayor of Chinatown,” were arraigned before Commissioner Shields. They waived examination and furnished $500 bail.

Laws were first passed in 1870 to prevent the further naturalizing of Chinamen. These were supplemented and made more explicit by Chapter 126 of the Laws of 1882, of the United States Revised Statutes. Yesterday, Dempsey P. Meetze, special employee of the Department of Justice, arrested “Tom Lee,” the so called “Mayor of Chinatown,” at the latter’s restaurant, No. 18 Mott-st. The “Mayor’s” original Celestial name was Wung A. Lung, but this he had changed in 1890. Four years before that, in the criminal courts of St. Louis, Wung A. Lung secured his full papers, which entitled him to all citizenship rights. Since his residence in New-York Lee has taken an interest in politics, voting at every election, and is regarded as a political leader.

In 1894 he held a deputy sheriff’s commission, bearing the signature of Under Sheriff John B. Sexton. He obtained a passport in 1879, on which he made a protracted visit to China, where he enjoyed all the rights of an American citizen.

William A. Hang, a cigar manufacturer, of No. 500 Pearl-st., was also arrested. Hang produced a certificate of naturalization, granted by the County Court of Richmond County, October 6, 1892. On October 10 following Hang registered, stating at the time, as the records show, that he was born in China. To the officials of Richmond County Hang made the admission. Hang is sixty-five years old, and came to the United States forty-eight years ago. He has always voted, he says, in the VIIth Assembly District.

Eng Ten Lung, a Chinese merchant of No. 34 Mott-st., was the third arrested. His certificate of citizenship was granted by the Court of Common Pleas of Passaic County, N.J., March 24, 1890. Lung says that he, like Tom Lee and Tong Kee Hang, told the officials at the time he secured his papers of citizenship, that he had been born in China. Each insists that he was told he had a right to naturalization, and secured his papers accordingly . All three insist no objection was made by any one at the time because of his Chinese birth. Neither were they challenged at any voting place at any time.

The Sun
(New York, New York)
August 17, 1904
Raid on Chinese “Citizens”
Merchants Arrested for Courts’ Blunder—Tom Lee Dazed by Charge.

Three Chinese business men were arraigned before United States Commissioner Shields yesterday on the ground that they held citizens papers to which they are not entitled. They were held in $500 bail each for the United States Grand Jury.

Wang A. Lung of 18 Mott street, who had his name changed by the New York Court of Common Pleas in 1880 toTom Lee, and who is known as the Mayor of Chinatown, claims that he was naturalized in 1870 in the Criminal Court of St. Louis. William A. Hang, a grocer of New Brighton, Staten Island, says he was naturalized in Richmond county on Oct. 8, 1892. E. Teng Lung, a tea merchant of 34 Mott street, claims to have been naturalized in the court of Common Pleas at Passaic on March 24, 1890.

According to chapter 128 of the Revised Statutes, passed in 1870, and amended in 1883, Chinese aliens are denied the right of naturalization. How the various, courts came to grant certificates to these Chinamen Assistant United States District Attorneys Joel M. Marx and Clarence S. Houghton don’t pretend to say. They have instructed Dempsey Meetze and C.V.C. Van Dusen, special employees of the Department of .Justice, to arrest, all Chinamen holding naturalization papers. It is said that no Chinaman has ever before been arrested on this charge in New York.

The Mayor of Chinatown did not know what to make of his arrest yesterday. He has been in-this country for forty-eight years. In 1879 he went to China with all the glory that a United States passport can confer. For years he has been the “Tammany boss of Chinatown,” according to Mr. Marx. In 1884 he was appointed a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Clancy. He owns several stores and restaurants. For twenty-eight years he has been voting.

William A. Hang, whose name used to be Tong Kee Hang, and on whom Judge Stephen D. Stephens and Clerk C.A. Hort conferred citizenship on Oct. 8, 1892, has been voting ever since in the Seventh Assembly district at 15 Mulberry street in the presence of four election inspectors.

E. Teng Lung, when he first declared his intention of becoming a citizen, in Passaic, had his name changed to Eng Foong Poos, in which name he now rejoices.

The Evening Chronicle
(Spokane, Washington)
October 23, 1908
Chink Has Pension But Loses His Vote
New York, Oct. 23.—After having voted in New York city for 30 years, and while drawing a pension granted him on account of his services with Farragut during the civil war, William A. Hang will not be able to vote at the coming election.

His citizenship papers have been canceled by a decision of the courts, and unless the decision is reversed Hang will no longer be a citizen of the country in which he has lived for 50 years.

Hang is a Chinaman, and under the recent acts of congress he can not be a citizen of the United States.

The Evening Standard
(Ogden, Utah)
February 10, 1911
Chinaman Was in Civil War
New York, Feb 10.—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil war has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship. He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled in 1908.

Hang enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1862 and served also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted in New York until his papers were cancelled. Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more president before he dies. In his letter, asking President Taft’s aid the veteran says that the record will show that he served with distinction and was honorably discharged.

The Logan Republican
(Utah)
February 10, 1911
Chinaman Appeals to Taft
Civil War Veteran Wants His Assistance to Regain Citizenship
New York, Feb 10.—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil war has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship. He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled in 1908.

Han [sic] enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn navy yard in 1862 and served under Farragut at Mobile Bay and also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted in New York until his papers were cancelled. Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more president before he died [sic]. In his letter, asking President Taft’s aid, the veteran says that the record will show that he served with distinction and was honorably discharged.

New York Herald
February 10, 1911
Seeks His Citizenship.
Chinese Veteran of Civil War Lost Papers of Naturalization, Duplicates Being Taken Away.
William Ah Hang, a Chinese, who obtained United States citizenship papers in 1866 and who is in the tobacco business at No. 500 Pearl street, wrote to the Secretary of the Navy yesterday in an attempt to regain his citizen’s papers, which he says were illegally taken from him.

Hang served In the United States Navy in 1863 and 1864 as a landsman on board the Albatross and the Penguin. He holds an honorable discharge from the navy and took out citizenship papers in 1866. He lost them, and while living in Stapleton, S.I., in 1882 applied for duplicates. The papers were then dated 1882. In 1872 a law was passed prohibiting Chinese from becoming citizens.

Hang says that at the time Theodore Roosevelt was candidate for President an election inspector asked to see his papers. He told the Chinese that they were no good and took them away. Hang was ignorant of the law until recently, when friends took up the matter.

The Repository
(Canton, Ohio)
February 10, 1911
Chinese War Vet Wants Citizenship
New York, Feb 10.—(A.P.)—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil war has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship. He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled on a legal technicality in 1908.

Hang enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn navy yard in 1862 and served under Farragut at Mobile Bay, and also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted from New York until his papers were cancelled. Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more president before he dies. In his letter, asking Mr. Taft’s aid the veteran says that the record will show that he served with distinction and was honorably discharged.

Salt Lake Telegram
(Utah)
February 10, 1911
Chinese Veteran of Civil War
New York, Feb 10.—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil war has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship. He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled in 1908.

Hang enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn navy yard in 1862 and served under Farragut at Mobile Bay and also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted in New York until his papers were cancelled. Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more president before he dies. In his letter, asking President Taft’s aid the veteran says that the record will show that he served with distinction and was honorably discharged.

Seattle Daily Times
(Washington)
February 10, 1911
Chinese Veteran of Civil War Asks Aid
New York, Friday, Feb 10.—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil war has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship. He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled in 1908.

Hang enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1862 and served under Farragut at Mobile Bay and also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted in New York until his papers were cancelled. Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more President before he dies. In his letter, asking President Taft’s aid the veteran says that the record will show that he served with distinction and was honorably discharged.

New York Herald
February 12, 1911
Chinese Veteran Wants to Vote
William Ah Hang After Service in Civil War Asks That Citizenship Papers Be Restored.
In a letter to Secretary of State Knox William Ah Hang, who has a tobacco shop at No.500 Pearl street and is the only living veteran of the civil war ,asks that citizenship papers obtained in 1867 after being honorably discharged from the navy be restored to him. They were cancelled by the United States District Attorney’s office in 1908. Up to that time he voted from New York. In his letter to the Secretary of State he says he wants to vote for one more President before he dies.

“I was in the navy four years,” he told a reporter for the Herald, “and was on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. I was in the fight at New Orleans when Farragut went into the harbor and was at Mobile Bay. I enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard when I had been in this country only two years. Here is my discharge.”

Mr. Hang exhibited a well worn document showing that he had been honorably discharged from the United States Navy July 24, 1866.

“I don’t like to fight very much,” he said. “No Chinese do until they are forced to it, I was not obliged to fight, but I wanted to become a citizen of this land, and its battles were my battles just as much as though I was born here instead of in China. I liked it in the navy, the ships were so clean and there was so much to do. When I came to New York to live it was not so nice. People were so crowded together.

“In the navy I learned much of American ways, more quickly than I could have in any other manner. I was with American men, working with them, and had to speak to them in English. I cut my queue off before I enlisted; in fact I did that as soon as I came to America, because I wanted to become a part of this country just as soon as I could.”

Salt Lake Evening Telegram
(Utah)
February 17, 1911
Chinese Who Is Civil War Veteran
New York.—In a letter to Secretary of State Knox John Ah Hang, who has a tobacco shop at No. 500 Pearl street, is the only living Chinaman veteran of the civil war, asks that citizenship papers, obtained in 1867, after being honorably discharged from the navy, be restored to him. They were canceled by the United States district attorney’s office in 1908. Up to that time he voted from New York. In his letter to the secretary of state he says he wants to vote for one more president before he dies.

“I was in the navy four years,” he said, “and on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. I was in the fight at New Orleans when Farragut went into the harbor and was at Mobile Bay. I enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn navy yard when I had been in this country only two years. Here is my discharge.”

Mr. Hang exhibited a well worn document showing that he had been honorably discharged from the United States navy July 5, 1865.

The Oregonian
(Portland, Oregon)
February 19, 1911
Chinese Seeks to Vote
Only Veteran of Civil War Petitions Taft for Citizenship
New York, Feb 18.—The only Chinaman who is a veteran of the Civil War has written to President Taft for assistance in efforts to regain his citizenship.

He is John Ah Hang, proprietor of a little cigar store in the New York Chinatown. His citizenship papers were cancelled on a legal technicality in 1908.

Hang enlisted in the navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1862 and served under Farragut at Mobile Bay and also on the Albatross, Penguin and North Carolina. He voted from New York until his papers were cancelled.

Hang says that he is an old man now and that he wants to vote for one more president before he dies.

The Saginaw Daily News
(Michigan)
February 22, 1911
In the Public Eye
New York, March 1.—John A. Hong of New York has asked President Taft to make some arrangement whereby he can vote. For many years, until the last election, Hong voted the Republican ticket.

In 1856 when he was fifteen years of age, a friend of Hong’s father brought the boy from China to put him in school in Brooklyn. Hong never saw home again. During the civil war he got a job on one of the Mississippi river fighting boats.

“I used to have to pass up the shells,” said Hong. “I never shot a cannon at the Johnny reds [sic], but I helped to load the guns. After the war I started a cigar store in New York and I’ve been running it ever since. When I went to vote at the recent election they told me I couldn’t vote, because a Chinaman couldn’t be naturalized.

“It seems to me a man ought to have something to say about running the government for which he offered his life. I’m as much an American as anybody else. In fact, I’ve entirely forgotten how to talk Chinese.”

The Muskegon News Chronicle
(Michigan)
February 24, 1911
This Chinaman a G.A.R. Veteran
John A. Hong of New York has asked President Taft to make some arrangement whereby he can vote. For many years, until the last election, Hong voted the Republican ticket.

In 1856 when he was fifteen years of age, a friend of Hong’s father brought the boy from China to put him in school in Brooklyn. Hong never saw home again. During the civil war he got a job on one of the Mississippi river fighting boats.

“I used to have to pass up the shells,” said Hong. “I never shot a cannon at the Johnny rebs, but I helped to load the guns. After the war I started a cigar store in New York and I’ve been running it ever since. When I went to vote at the recent election they told me I couldn’t vote, because a Chinaman couldn’t be naturalized.

“It seems to me a man ought to have something to say about running the government for which he offered his life. I’m as much an American as anybody else. In fact, I’ve entirely forgotten how to talk Chinese.”

The Tacoma Times
(Washington)
February 25, 1911
This Chinaman a G.A.R. Veteran
John A. Hong of New York has asked President Taft to make some arrangement whereby he can vote. For many years, until the last election, Hong voted the republican ticket.

In 1856, when he was fifteen years of age, a friend of Hong’s father brought the boy from China to put him in school in Brooklyn. Hong never saw home again. During the Civil war he got a job on one of the Mississippi river fighting boats.

“I used to have to pass up the shells,” said Hong. “I never shot a cannon at the Johnny rems but I helped to load the guns. After the war I started a cigar store in New York, and I’ve been running it ever since. When I went to vote at the recent election they told me a I couldn’t vote, because a Chinaman couldn’t be naturalized.”

“It seems to me a man ought to have something to say, about running the government for which he offered his life. I’m as much an American as anybody here. In fact, I've entirely forgotten how to talk Chinese.”

Evening Press
(Grand Rapids, Michigan)
March 1, 1911
The Barred Veteran
New York, March 1.—John A. Hong of New York is the veteran who has asked President Taft to make some arrangement whereby he can vote again. For many years, until the last election, Hong voted the Republican ticket.

In 1856 when he was fifteen years of age a friend of Hong’s father brought the boy from China to put him in school in Brooklyn. Hong never saw home again. During the Civil war he served on one of the Mississippi river fighting boats.

“I used to have to pass up the shells,” said Hong. “After the war I started a cigar store in New York and I’ve been running it ever since. When I went to vote at the recent election they told me I couldn’t vote, because a Chinaman couldn’t be naturalized.

“It seems to me a man ought to have something to say about running the government for which he offered his life.”

The Evening Leader
(Corning, New York)
December 4, 1923
Chinese Veteran, Former Bath Home Inmate, Dies
Bath, Dec. 4.—John Hang, said to be one of the few Chinese veterans of the Civil war, died yesterday in the Staten Island Hospital, New York. He was 86 years old and for several years an inmate of the Soldiers’ Home here.

He was taken with a heart attack two weeks ago when he went to Staten Island to visit his wife’s grave and was removed to the hospital.

Schenectady Gazette
(New York)
December 4, 1923
Chinese Veteran Dies.
New York. Dec. 3.—John Hang, said to be one of the few Chinese veterans of the Civil War, died today in the Staten Island hospital. He was 86 years old and for several years an inmate of the Soldiers’ Home at Bath. He was taken with a heart attack two weeks ago when he went to Staten Island to visit his wife's grave and was removed to the hospital.

The Troy Times
(New York)
December 31, 1923
Necrology
December
4 [sic]. John Hang, Chinese veteran of American Civil War, eighty-six.

Congressional Record

Senate
May 23, 2003
First and foremost, I would like to recognize the service of Asian Pacific Americans in our Armed Forces, especially as we celebrate Memorial Day. The history of Asian Pacific Americans in military service stretches from William Ah Hang, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War...

Hang is profiled in the National Park Service book, Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War.

(Next post: C.K. Marshall)