Albert Mingkam

This is a very complicated story and once again I had to go back in to a families history to put this together and find a relative in the current generation. The solider I was researching was 7784 Albert Mingkam who served in the 16th Battalion, AIF.

Almost immediately I had a problem. It took a while to work out that Albert's full name was Albert Ging Wor Wong Ming Kam. He was the son of Edward Wong Ming Kam and Louisa Hall. Edward and Louisa married in 1879 but he died in 1880. He had been married previously, divorcing his first wife in 1877. Edward practicsed Chineese medicine and there are a number of articles on trove about him. One is included below as well as the probate notice for his estate which mentions Louisa.

Louisa married John Joseph Jackson in Broken Hill in 1893 and they eventually moved to Perth. John died in 1931 and Louise in 1946.

Albert didn't marry until quite late in life to Ada Elizabeth. Her marriage to Albert was her second or possibly even her third. They didn't have any children. Albert died in 1956 and Ada in 1961 aged 93.
Getting this far in the search was difficult enough due to these different marriages and also that Albert sometime went by the surnames Ming Kam, Jackson and Mingkam.
Many months of searching provided no leads on siblings to Albert, Ada, or John. Last night, in frustration, I revisited my research in to Louisa. I found reference to her birth and that her father's name was Stephen Keele Hall. This name turned out to be the crucial lead I was looking for. Stephen is included in a tree on Ancestry. I fired off a message to the owner who is putting together the Hall family history for a friend. Not long after this message was sent I received an email from Janeen (nee Hall) who is Louisa's great great great niece. Janeen's branch of the Hall family is the closest family link that I'll find to Albert and I'll send her the medal in the near future. 

Thank you to Lorellyn who sent me the medal. 

The returned medal tally is now 1650.