Family of Ong Sam Leong

This write up looks at the tombs of
Ong Sam Leong
Yeo Hean Neo - wife
Ong Sam Kiat - elder brother
Ong Sam Bee - younger brother
Ong Kim Neo - younger sister
Ong Sam Leong's mother Madam Tan
Yeo Hean Neo's grandfather


Ong Sam Leong



民國六年十二月
顯祖考違三龍王公之佳城
孝男
文達
平福
孝女
梅娘
孝孙
長輝
長成
Sons : Ong Boon Tat
Ong Peng Hock
Daughter : Ong Boey Neo
Grandsons : Ong Tiang Wee
Ong Tiang Seng

Died 7 Feb 1918 at the age of 60 

Ong Tiang Seng was the son of Ong Peng Hock,  He married Miss Betty Boey, daughter of Mrs Boey Lian Siang on 22 June 1936

More info on Boey Lian Siang : https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2020/03/boey-lian-siang.html

LATE MR ONG SAM LEONG.
The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 8 February 1918, Page 4

Wife - Yeo Hean Neo


民國廿四年四月廿三日吉
顯祖妣謚賢娘王門楊氏壽域

Died 25 May 1935, age 73  (born around 1862)

Left behind her two sons, one surviving daughter Mrs Khoo Peck Lock, three sons in law (Messrs Lim Teck Kim, Poey Yean Chuan and Khoo Peck Lock”

One Hundred Years’ History Of the Chinese in Singapore
By Song Ong Siang 

Mr Ong Sam Leong was born in Singapore in 1857, and at the age of 21 started a small commission agent’s business on his own account.

His early land transactions turned out profitably, and he became interested in timber concessions in Pahang and Kemaman. In 1899 he secured the contract as universal provider to the Christmas Island Phosphate Co Ltd at that island under the name of Ong Sam Leong & Co, and the firm still holds the monopoly of the contract with the Company. He also owned the well-known Batam Brickworks and held large interests in numerous sawmills in Singapore. As part of his business activities, he engaged in house-building and rubber-planting, and at his death on 7th February 1918 his estate consisted of substantial landed properties and rubber estates, both local and outside the Colony. He was a popular member of several old and respectable Chinese clubs in Singapore and for many years was president of ‘Ban Chye Ho’ Club. He was keenly interested in the patriotic movement of the Straits Chinese community during the Great War and subscribed liberally to all local funds necessitated by that War. He further erected, at his own expense, the garage at the SVC Drill Hall, for the use of the Corps motor lorry, as an expression of his appreciation of the valuable work which was then being done, at a number of outposts, for the defence of the Settlement by volunteers belonging to the various units. He continued to be a very busy and hard-working man till the end of his days, and the only relaxations he gave himself were motoring and sea-trips. He started life handicapped with a meagre education, but his perseverance and business acumen helped him to build up his own fortune, and before his death he had erected a fine house in Bukit Timah Road known as ‘Bukit Rose’, in which he entertained his friends on a lavish scale. His widow belongs to an old ‘Yeo’ family, several members of which were of the Christian faith;  an aunt being the first wife of the late Mr Song Hoot Kiam, and an uncle being the well-known Yeo Koon Ho (alias Toleap Young). His surviving daughter is the wife of Khoo Pek Lock, the third son of Khoo Phee Soon, at one time one of the leading shipowners and rice merchants of Singapore.

Of his two sons, the elder one, Ong Boon Tat,33 was born in Singapore in 1888 and educated at Raffles Institution, where he won the Guthrie Scholarship, which had been resuscitated after having been in abeyance for some years. At the age of 19 Mr Boon Tat commenced his business training under his father and is now a prominent man among Straits Chinese merchants of this Colony. He extended the business of Ong Sam Leong  and Co., of which he is the chief, by opening a branch house in Penang which is meeting with much success. He is a JP and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and is one of the group of young Straits Chinese who are taking a practical interest in public affairs, having realised the duties of citizenship which devolve more especially on the men of education and standing in our community.
The younger son, Ong Peng Hock, who also received his education at Raffles Institution, was carefully trained by his father in the timber trade, and was managing director of United Sawmills Ltd during the brief period of its existence. As a partner of Ong Sam Leong and Co. he goes on frequent visits to Penang to supervise the management of the branch business there.
——————————

MRS. ONG SAM LEONG.
The Straits Times, 27 May 1935, Page 12




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ong Sam Leong's mother

His widow belongs to an old ‘Yeo’ family, several members of which were of the Christian faith;  an aunt being the first wife of the late Mr Song Hoot Kiam, and an uncle being the well-known Yeo Koon Ho (alias Toleap Young). 

NB : Song Hoot Kiam first wife was Yeo Choon Neo



Ong Sam Leong's mother 王三龍母親

光緒甲午年柒月初柒吉旦 1894 Lunar 7th month 7th day 
皇淸顯妣謚儉慈娘王門陳氏孺人之佳 Madam Tan

孝男 Sons 
三𠎀 Ong Sam Kiat born around 1854 (obituary notice 22 Sep 1939, death of Ong Sam Kiat)
三龍 Ong Sam Leong born 1857 
三美 Ong Sam Bee born around 1865 (obituary notice 24 Mar 1941, death of Ong Sam Bee)

女 Daughters 
金娘 Kim Neo born around 1869 (Mrs Soh Siew Whatt, obituary notice, Death, Malaya Tribune, 25 August 1931)
氷娘 Ping Neo

鍊銓 Tong Chuan 
鍊鏞 Tong Yong born around 1885, died 9th Jan 1929
平和 Peng Ho (should be Ong Boon Tat) born 1888
平福 Peng Hock born around 1889

立石奉祀

--------------------------------------------------------

Father of Yeo Koon Ho and Yeo Choon Neo

This tomb was found among a cluster of old Qing tombs relocated to the New Hang San Teng from the old Heng San Teng at Silat Road.
I believe this tomb to belong to the old Yeo Family as mentioned by Song Ong Siang.  This tomb is dated to 1836

Song Ong Siang One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore :

Ong Sam Leong’s widow (Yeo Hean Neo) belongs to an old ‘Yeo’ family, several members of which were of the Christian faith: an aunt (Yeo Choon Neo) being the  first wife of the late Mr Song Hoot Kiam, and an uncle being the well-known Yeo Koon Ho (alias Toleap Young).

楊秉直
霞陽, 道光十六年







坤和, 坤福, 坤祥
Yeo Koon Ho, Yeo Koon Hock, Yeo Koon Siang
心娘, 春娘
Yeo Sim Neo, Yeo Choon Neo, Yeo Kay Neo 


---------------------------------------------------------------

Ong Sam Leong old brother Ong Sam Kiat


Bottom


In Loving Memory of  Mr Ong Sam Kiat
Died on 21st Sept 1939
Age 85 Years
(ie born around 1854)

Burial entry for Ong  Sam Kiat - 85 years old,
Date of Death 21 Sep 19939, Buried in Blk 3 D plot No 1105/1125

Malaya Tribune 22 Sep 1939
Death of Mr Ong Sam Kiat


Son : Ong Tong Yong (deceased)
Ong Tong Chuan

Ong Sam Kiat would be born around 1854, the eldest among the three brothers - Ong Sam Leong and Ong Sam Bee 


Mrs Ong Sam Kiat nee Lee Luan Neo



民國廿三年甲戌九月初七
中華顕妣李氏謚鑾娘之佳城
孝男王楝銓
慶輝
慶耀仝
女孫
水娘
金娘
集娘
祝娘

Bottom


In Loving Memory of
Madam Lee Luan Neo
Died 14 Oct 1934
Age 75 years
(ie born around 1859)


Son : Ong Tong Chuan
Grandsons: Ong Keng Wee, Ong Keng Yeow
Granddaughters : Ong Chwee Neo, Ong Kim Neo, Ong Chip Neo and  Ong Cheok Neo

----------------------------------------------------------

Ong Sam Leong's younger brother Ong Sam Bee



孝男 
英和
英珠
孝女
亞妹


Ong Sam Bee
Age 75 Years 
Died 23rd February 1941
(ie born around 1866)

DEATH OF MR. ONG SAM BEE
Malaya Tribune, 24 March 1941, Page 12



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ong Sam Leong's sister Ong Kim Neo

Mrs Soh Siew Whatt nee Ong Kim Neo









DEATH.
Malaya Tribune, 25 August 1931, Page 8



Mrs Soh Siew Whatt (Madam Ong Kim Neo) age 62, peacefully passed away on the 22nd instant at her residence No 4, Lorong 25A, Geylang Road, leaving behind her four sorrowful sons
Soh Swee Guan
Soh Swee Keng
Soh Swee Teck 
Soh Swee Boh
four daughters, four sons in law, two daughters in law and several grandsons and daughters.  Deeply regretted.
Funeral on Wednesday 26th instant at 9 am sharp to Bukit Brown


Ong Kim Neo, courtesy of Evelyn Ong (her maternal grandmother)



Photograph of Ong Sam Leong's family at Bukit Rose, exhibited at the Bukit Brown exhibition in July 2014 at the National Library

Further reading :

https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/search/label/Family%20-%20Ong%20Sam%20Leong

https://mymindisrojak.blogspot.com/2011/12/ong-sam-leong-bukit-brown.html