My grandmother was born in Shanghai, probably around 1916 to a Japanese mother and a Romanian father. Her first name was Matsuo Kido. I never knew that while she was alive. To me, her name was Elizabeth Kempton Bailey. 1/10
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She picked Elizabeth herself. And Kempton (her maiden name) was also changed from Klempfner? (by her father's family) in an attempt to anglicize their Jewish name. 2/10
I know she came to the US in 1938 to attend the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to become a missionary. She'd met my grandfather while he was a U.S. Marine (stationed in Shanghai) at Church and they'd more or less become serious about a relationship. 3/10
I know my grandmother could not go back, practically speaking, when Shanghai was occupied. Her older sister was married to an Englishman and they were in Hong Kong and ended up in the Stanley camp when Japan invaded. 4/10
Later, while they lived in Mississippi, the orders for internment of those of Japanese descent came through. At this point, family lore is murky, but both my grandparents told me she only avoided this through dint of community help. 6/10
Post-war, again, this tiny community in Mississippi went to bat again. This time getting some rich donors (so the story went) to get their Dixiecrat congressman to pass a private bill getting my grandmother permanent residency. 7/10
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