Chan Hock Joe

Chan Hock Joe was born, according to family information, in 1882, at Ha Kei, Tsengshing (Zengcheng) county, in China's Guangdong province. He was the son of Chan Yook Ngan, the principal of the local school, and his wife, Ng Chu Hwa. By the time he emigrated to New Zealand around 1905 he had married Yip Kue Sum; she remained in China.

Known in New Zealand as Joe Ah Chan, he worked in Wellington as a fruit and vegetable hawker and later may have had a greengrocer's shop in Hawera. About 1916 he sold the business and returned to China to help his wife learn English so that she could join him in New Zealand. At the time Chinese immigrants had to pay £100 poll tax and pass an English test of 100 words. In 1917 Ah Chan returned to New Zealand and opened a general store in Matamata. He was joined by Kue Sum three years later; because their marriage was not recognised by New Zealand authorities, they were married again in Auckland on 28 July 1920.

In 1923 Joe Ah Chan, his wife and their two children, George and Daisy, moved to Thames, where their third child, Anne, was born. There, Joe established a market garden, grew glasshouse tomatoes, and later began growing tomatoes outdoors. At the time most outdoor tomatoes were imported from the Pacific islands, and Ah Chan was one of the first to grow them commercially in New Zealand. He dispatched produce to many North Island fruiterers and soon opened a fruit and vegetable shop in Pollen Street, Thames.

In 1925 Joe Ah Chan began growing grapes at Totara and established Gold Leaf Vineyards. To finance this venture he continued to grow and sell tomatoes and vegetables, and purchased a further 22 acres in the Kauaeranga Valley to expand his market gardens.