Page 59 - Gan's Family History

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To distinguish and join persons
of different ancestors and make
them bear the same family name.
According to the branches and
cliques of the Yan clan that were
established in districts and
prefectures in Fu Chien province,
since it was known as Min territory,
many of the past ancestors in the
paternal lineal line lived in Tao Yuan,
Ta Tien county. Some of them, hailed
from the ancestral lineage and family
tree of ancestor Yan Chi, and another
clique, stemmed from ancestor Yan
Sau Ching (lso known as Yan Chen
Ching.)
From forefather Yan Hsuan I, two
separate branches but sharing the
common ancestry, were founded in
Tai Heng hamlet and Nan Ling
hamlet, both of which were located in
the south of Chin Chiang county
Forefather Yan Chang Kuan
established the clique at Ching Chiao
hamlet, Chang Chou.
Yan I Shih who was the grand
son and third generation descendant
of forefather Yan Chang Kuan, chose
instead to live separately with his
own household in His Hsiang hamlet,
Hsien Yu County.
According to an old record of
his biography, Yan I Shih was placed
as his sitting order behind that of
forefather Yan Yueh.
His future descendants were
labelled as the Hsia Tse members.
Another clique was formed at Pu Tou
hamlet in the south of Chin Chiang
County closed-by to the earlier
branch that had existed at Tai Heng
hamlet. It came about when
forefather Yan Yung decided to move
away from Mei Chou, Kuang Tung
and settle down in the new
homestead. Since then, members of
this branch were generally referred to
and, physically given the nick-name
of, Mei Shan people as a reminder of
where they came from originally.
A further group had existed in Wu Ni,
An Hsi County for a long time. A folk
tale handed down from generation to
generation attributed its formation to
ancestor Yan Jen Hsien.
There were two other claimants to be
founding ancestor of this particular
branch. Firstly, forefather Yan Pi
Chu, who was the nephew of
ancestor Yan Jen Hsien and later on,
forefather Yan Shang Shu.
Forefather Yan Pi Chu was the fourth
son of ancestor Yan Jen Kuei and his
seniority in the Yan clan was many
times higher than the position of
forefather Yan Shang Shu.
Forefather Yan Shang Shu,
who was an official in the service of
the Yuan dynasty (1277-1367 A.D.),
received his posting to Chang Chou
as a general originally from Lu
kingdom. His personal name was
Jung. After his retirement, he
decided to settle down in Wu Ni
hamlet. His order of seniority was
reckoned to belong, along the line of
the 25th generation, under the word-
line of Sheng, the set-up of which