Neenah was my great grandmother. She was born in Shanghai to George Hamill (an engineer dredging the bay of Shanghai) and Lao Tai. She was brought to the United States in the 1870’s by her father when she was 5 years old. He left her with his parents on a farm near Syracuse. She was homesick, and he had a pagoda painted on the side of the barn. (Modeled after the Long Hua pagoda in Shanghai) She married her school teacher and had 7 children. Divorced, she continued living in Baldwinsville all her life.
(I had more pictures of Neenah at different ages, as well as the pagoda in China and in Baldwinsville, but could only upload one.)
Barbara Burns
