Joseph Lim Ah Kiap & Emerentiana Heng

Joseph Lim Ah Kiap & Emerentiana Heng were the parents of Magdalena Lim Gek See who married John Tan Hay Seng, the son of Pedro Tan No Kea and Anna Lim Ah Keow in 1868 at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.

We have traced nine of their children:

Agnes? (name illegible) baptised on 26 Dec 1850 at St Joseph’s Church, Bukit Panjang;
Joanna (1853, Cathedral of Good Shepherd);
Matthew Joseph (1856, Cathedral of Good Shepherd);
Magdalena Lim Gek Tsu (1852-);
Victoria (1859) who married JB Tan in 1875;
John Paul (1862);
Andrino (1863) ;
Monica Lim Guek Tean (1864) who married Benedict Lou Kiok Liang in 1881;
Alexandra (1866) adopted was adopted from a Nicholson family.

Like Pedro and Anna, Joseph and Emerentiana were active in church, god-parented many infants and adult converts and witnessed their weddings. My surmise is that Joseph Lim Ah Kiap and Anna Lim Ah Keow were siblings. Even if not, the two couples were very close friends. Emerentiana Ah Kiap witnessed the marriage of Pedro’s daughter (by Victoria) Maria and Joannes Chiu in 1861. Pedro and Emerentiana also god-parented and witnessed several weddings together. I also think Emerentiana was the “sister-in-law” mentioned alongside Pedro in the baptism certificates of Victoria Anoti 1855, Agnes Na (1856) and John (Ruo Han, second sister’s wife) 1858). If I am right, then John and Magdalena were first cousins.

While Magdalena linked the Lim family to the family of Pedro Tan No Kea, Monica linked the Lim family to the Low family when she married Benedict Lou Kiok Liang, the elder brother of Jacob Low Khiok Chiang in 1881.

Benedict and his younger brother Jacob Low Khiok Chiang together with their friend Joseph Chan Teck Hee, are well known for their role for church expansion in the late 19^th and 20^th century. Funds for church benefaction were ploughed from the profits of their company Kiam Hoa Heng (1872) which started as a general store but set up subsidiaries later – Buan Hoa Seng, 1883 for hardware and construction business and another company Tam Na Lum Sai for rice cultivation and export. Benedict whose Southeast Asian sojourn started in Bangkok, is credited for the early ground work for the establishment of the Kiam Hoa Heng Company.

John Bosco Songsak Tosbowon has shared that Benedict married thrice. His first wife (name unknown) gave him Barnabas Low Meng Tak (great-great grandfather to John Bosco) and Low Meng Hong. Monica was Benedict’s second wife (whom he married in 1881 in Singapore). It is not clear when Benedict and Monica moved to China but after Monica died in China, Benedict married a third time to Ngow Ngek Sim. Many of Benedict’s descendants reside in the vicinity of the Holy Rosary Church.

Monica gave Benedict his third son Low Meng Phiew and it is believed, his fourth son Low Meng Ang. Meng Phiew had five sons and 12 daughters, a total of 17 children by two wives. His first wife Ng (Wee) Eaw Keng had three children, a daughter Low Ee Kung and two sons Low Peng Yui and Low Peng Mong. The photos below are courtesy of Peng Yui’s grandson Christopher Low (Sitti Sirichanyakul). Peng Mong was adopted by Meng Phiew’s brother Low Meng Ang. Meng Phiew’s second wife was Tan Sa Su and she had 14 children.

On Benedict’s return to his China where he set a local transport (railway) company, his third son Low Meng Phiew succeeded him in matters relating to the family’s involvement in the Kiam Hoa Heng Company. Meng Phiew was director of Kiam Hoa Heng from around 1939 till his death in 1982.

Today, the descendants of Benedict and Jacob Low form a close-knit family in Bangkok. The family is well-regarded in Church community for their pioneering role in church expansion.

Research continues on the other descendants of Joseph and Emerentiana.