Person

Aue, Heam Chow

• 區添籌

• Oue, Heam Choo
• Hamme Chow

1920-2001

AUE Heam Cho was born in China on October 15, 1920. He arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1934 at 13 years old, sponsored by his uncle, AUE Sum, to join him. He would be known in Canada as Hamme.

Hamme was the eldest child in his family. His parents and siblings stayed behind in China to work the land. Times were hard for the family; it was fortunate that Hamme was sent out of China as he ended up being the only child to survive.

In St. John’s, Hamme helped his uncle Sum at his laundry business. By 1942, Hamme ran a restaurant on Water Street. He returned to China to marry on February 21, 1947. The arranged marriage would result in seven children (three sons and four daughters).

From 1949 to 1952, Hamme moved around quite a bit. Besides St. John’s, NL; he spent time in Trenton, ON; Killarney, MB; and Winnipeg, MB.

His wife and oldest son joined him in Winnipeg in 1952. In 1954, the couple returned to Newfoundland and settled on Bell Island, opening a snack bar/confectionary store on Main Street known as Hamme’s Store. In 1960, he bought a restaurant and downsized the store.

In the mid-1960s, he went to Grand Falls for work, while his family stayed at Bell Island.

By 1969, his entire family moved back to St. John’s where he ran the restaurant at Ashton Motel until 1972. They also opened the Pleasant Street Restaurant where his family lived until 1989. His wife ran the Pleasant Street Restaurant while he ran the Ashton Motel Restaurant. All their children helped out in both restaurants.

His eldest daughter, Rita, recalls, “My most prominent memory of Dad was how hard he had to work to support his family of 7 children. Therefore, we all had to do our share to support each other… [A]t times Dad would call for my help and I would have to go, hoping that it would not be dark before I would arrive there. The main reason for my assistance was to have an extra pair of eyes to watch the cash register and the restaurant’s inventory so that nothing would get stolen or vandalized while Dad would go out to board up the large windows for the night… [W]e were often taunted by the neighbourhood boys… who would often throw tomatoes or rotten eggs when Dad would go out to board up the windows. The extra pair of eyes would help to identify the trouble-makers. If boarding up the windows was not done, inevitably the windows would be trashed during the night...”

From 1972-1991, Hamme owned and operated the Mei Mei Restaurant at the Goulds, a rural neighbourhood within the outskirts of St. John’s proper. And between 1991-1997, he helped out at his oldest son’s restaurants, the Hot Shoppe and New Moon Restaurant.

Over this period, Hamme and his wife made many long visits to Oakville, Ontario where many of their children lived.

Hamme's wife helped found the present-day Chinese Association of Newfoundland Labrador (CANL). The couple hosted families who were immigrating or transitioning into their new lives in NL.

Hamme Chow Aue passed away on July 13, 2001.

Description supplied by collector/curator