Lee Bing

1900 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	Lee Bing
  Born	CA 1900	, China
  Gender	Male
  Race	Asian, Chinese
  Occupation	1932	16 Main St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario
  	manager of White Rose Cafe
  Residence	16 Main St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-7388
  Died	Yes, date unknown
  Person ID	I7388	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

• Photos		Robert Bracey donnabjore23 originally shared this on 29 Mar 2017 to Ancestry Public Member Tree
  		Lee Bing Cambridge Archives

  
  

• Notes

  Searching for family of man who survived Titanic sinking I am a British documentary filmmaker, based in Shanghai, China. I am writing to see if you might be able to help out our latest documentary project. The film is an investigation into the lives of the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of Titanic in 1912. We are trying to track down descendants of the men, several of whom we believe went on to settle in North America and Europe. We have reason to think that one of the men – a Mr. Lee Bing – was running a restaurant called White Rose Cafe at 16 Main St. in Cambridge in the 1930s. He is mentioned in a book called Eavesdroppings: Stories From Small Towns When Sin Was Fun written by local journalist Bob Green, who describes how Lee Bing had told his story to a man called Mr. McCauley, who we believe died in 2006, and may have family still living in Cambridge. If anyone can put us in touch with either Lee Bing's family, or the family of Mr. McCauley, that would be extremely useful. Likewise, it would be great to know if anyone knows more about Lee Bing or the cafe. Many thanks for your help. Arthur Jones Shanghai, China arthur@lpfilms.net Opinion | Searching for family of man who survived Titanic sinking. (2016). CambridgeTimes.ca. Retrieved 4 July 2018, from https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/opinion-story/6372455-searching-for-family-of-man-who-survived-titanic-sinking/ _____________ One of Cambridge's early Chinese settlers survived the sinking of the Titanic 'A connection to that story from our city? It's pretty incredible,' says Dan Schmalz Archival material for early Chinese settlers in Waterloo region is hard to come by, but records appear to show that the City of Cambridge was once home to a family with an incredible tie to the Titanic. The Lee family was first recorded in 1894, when Sam Lee is listed as having arrived in Galt, Ont. His nephew, Lee Bing, was manager of Galt's White Rose Cafe in the 1930s and is one of the people profiled in the documentary film The Six - which tells the stories of the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. "You have a whole family that comes here, his uncle Sam, his other uncle \emdash Coon Lee, and then Lee himself. He's listed as 19-years-old in 1921," said Dan Schmalz, an analyst with Cambridge Archives. Schmalz said the city archives show that Sam worked at a laundry business and Coon managed the former City Cafe located on 4 Water St. The Vernon's Civic Directory has Bing listed as the manager of the White Rose Cafe on 16 Main St., in 1932. "He's somewhere around 30 by the time he takes over the White Rose Cafe," Schmalz said, noting Bing ran the cafe until the early 40s. The only photographs of Bing are from glass plate negatives from the collection of Galt photographer Robert Darragh. Darragh had a studio was beside the White Rose Cafe, which later became Law Photography. Could have been Bing's uncle The book Eavesdroppings, written by Canadian journalist Bob Green, says Bing was known for telling customers at the White Rose Cafe that he had survived the sinking Titanic. But Schmalz and the documentary The Six suggest Bing's uncle Coon Lee was the more probable survivor. Could have been Bing's uncle The book Eavesdroppings, written by Canadian journalist Bob Green, says Bing was known for telling customers at the White Rose Cafe that he had survived the sinking Titanic. But Schmalz and the documentary The Six suggest Bing's uncle Coon Lee was the more probable survivor. "There's just not enough hard evidence to prove anything, unfortunately." 'So little was known about them' Bing's story has become a passion project for Schmalz, who has researched the man's life in Cambridge for some time. Schmalz helped the film's lead researcher Steve Schwankert and director Arthur Jones in their search for Bing's story when the film crew was in Galt in 2018. Jones said the more they looked into the identities of these six men, the more they felt compelled to tell their stories. "At a certain point we were just thinking, 'Maybe this is a story we should do, how has this not been done before?" Jones told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo from China. "The more we looked the more we realized they were really unique and so little was known about them." Jones said it's small details in the history of the Titanic that led him to make the documentary. He hopes viewers share in his excitement. "I'm obsessed with people who are obsessed with detail, and what that means, and what that says about how you should look at history, and look at peoples lives who's stories haven't been told," he said. As someone who works in archives, Schmalz said sometimes the smallest contributions can lead to something bigger. "It's the little stories that make up the fabric of a community," he said. What happened to Bing? It's not 100 per cent clear what happened to the Lee family, but it's suspected Bing made his way to Toronto in the mid-40s, Schmalz said. He suspects Bing left after his uncle Coon Lee died 1943. Lee is buried in Mount View Cemetery in Cambridge. Records show the White Rose Cafe closed shortly after and evidence of the family in Galt fades away. "Losing Coon was maybe a tough blow for the family so the working theory is that [Bing] ended up in Toronto and the trail goes cold at that point unfortunately," Schmalz said. Titanic survivor or not, Schmalz said he's glad Bing's story is preserved in Cambridge \emdash and beyond. "The Six is such an important documentary, not just for us but for Chinese history in general, to shed a light on them and share their stories," he said. "To have a connection to that story from our city? It's pretty incredible." "Cambridge Archivist, New Film Preserve Story Of Lee Bing And His Ties With The Titanic | CBC News". 2022. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/asian-heritage-month-cambridge-lee-bing-titanic-dan-schmalz-1.6459018?fbclid=IwAR2NPP_NW95teNmyk2aO3N171wGjndOzLROfZafMiDy9bfZTihkq4soDFhw.

  
  

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  Born - CA 1900 - , China  = Link to Google Earth