Deb,
I don't know of any particular references you could use because I am not sure if there are any. The only suggestions would be to 1) check ship manifests for Asian sounding names (keeping in mind that those names would most likely be Anglicized when written down also, these lists may only record what port the passenger sailed out of as opposed to where they were originally from)
2) check census records that started in 1790 which may list place of birth or that of parents
It would probably be very time consuming...possibly a great master's thesis!
I suppose there may have been a few Asians here at the time considering 1)the colonists desire to grow silk here...maybe they "imported" people to teach them how to do it?
2)porcelain was a hot commodity...perhaps some Asian individuals were brought over in addition to shipments of porcelain? maybe even to set up 'china' production in the colonies?
Food for thought!
Denise
From: Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Asians in America during the Revolutionary War
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 14:00:18 -0500
>Hi all,
>
>A friend of mine who is a teacher is looking for information about
>Asians that were in the colonies/US during the time of the
>Revolutionary War. I don't know anything about the subject and thought
>that most Asians immigrated later, like in the 1840s or so, mainly to
>work on the railroads.
>
>If anyone has any references, please let me know and I'll pass them along!
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>Deb
>
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