Two precious genealogies

Nguyen family temple in Dong Tram village.

Genealogy book

In 1959, the book “A Document on the Southern Migration of our Ancestors” was published in Saigon. The author was Lam Hoai Nam. This was the pen name of Nguyen Le Tho, who was then the District Chief of Que Son District.

The main content of the book is to introduce two genealogies of the Pham and Nguyen clans, two “giant clans” of Quang Nam at that time. The two genealogies occupy nearly 70 pages out of the 109 pages of the book.

The author specifically "explained" the reason and purpose of the book in the preface: "On an occasion of appealing for private land of the two families Pham and Nguyen (the Pham family has 500 voters, the Nguyen family has 350 voters) in Phu Huong commune, Que Son district because the Commune Council reduced the number of private land, arguing that the public land in the commune was very little and was not granted in the previous period, what then?

To thoroughly understand the problem, after contacting the representatives of the two clans, we asked them to look up the ancestors and genealogies of the two clans that were still preserved (recorded from the time of the Pham clan's founder Pham Ngu Lao) (...).

We are also very honored to have the good fortune to bring to light the glorious careers of the pioneer soldiers, the founding fathers who, during the chaotic period, were almost unknown to the people to worship.

Thanks to the book, two rare genealogies were widely introduced and attracted the attention of researchers. These are the two genealogies that are the “oldest” and “first published” in the Southern Quang Nam region.

Lineage of meritorious officials

It is not clear who wrote the Pham family genealogy, only that a person in the 14th generation "replied" because the old genealogy was "torn". According to the genealogy, the ancestor of the Pham family (in Huong Que and Dong Tram villages) was Pham Nhu Duc, a descendant of Pham Ngu Lao.

Pham Nhu Duc's tomb is currently in Dong Tram village.

He was sent to the South by Ho Quy Ly in 1402 as the Chief Military Commissioner of Thang Hoa, in charge of pacifying the Cham people and immigrating Vietnamese people to settle in the new land.

He died in 1409 and was buried in Dong Tram village (Huong An commune).

The genealogy shows that Pham Nhu Duc's eldest son was Pham Duc De - who led troops against the Cham people after the 1407 incident.

Pham Duc De's eldest son, Pham Nhu Du, once followed Le Loi and was appointed as the Governor of Thang Hoa.

Pham Nhu Du's son was Pham Nhu Tang (4th generation), who followed Le Thanh Tong to pacify Chiem in 1471, then managed Dao Thua Tuyen Quang Nam.

Pham Nhu Tang's son, Pham Nhu Trieu, was once the Chief Admiral of the Central Military Commission under the reign of Le Thanh Tong.

According to the genealogy, the Pham clan has two branches. The first branch is in Dong Tram village with Pham Duc Doi as its predecessor. The second branch is in Huong Que village with Pham Nhu Tang as its predecessor.

The genealogy of the Nguyen clan in Huong Que village states: The ancestor of the clan was De Lang Nguyen Van Lang (1496 - 1573), also known as Nguyen Van Giau, originally from Tien Bao commune, Nghi Xuan district, Duc Quang prefecture, Nghe An province, migrated to the South, and lived in Huong Que village. The genealogy records that he died on December 17, Quy Dau year, at the age of 78 (page 70). So he was born in 1496 and died in 1573.

The genealogy was written by Nguyen Van Dinh, the 8th generation descendant of the family, between 1774 and 1777 (during the reign of Lord Nguyen Phuc Thuan). In fact, this is more of a “Brief History of the Nguyen Clan” than a genealogy.

The document states: “Our ancestors were people with great merit who were awarded by the royal court. If we did not leave any records, it would be like staying in a house at night without a torch, so we had to write this historical record so that future generations would not be misled.”

Nguyen Van Lang had four sons, the second son, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, was honored by the villagers of Huong Que as one of the three ancestors of the village. All four of them served as mandarins under the Nguyen lords.

In addition, the following generations include Nguyen Ngoc Diem (3rd generation), Nguyen Ngoc Chanh (4th generation), Nguyen Van Vinh (7th generation), Nguyen Van Thuan, Nguyen Van Hy (8th generation)... all of whom had meritorious services under the Nguyen Lords and Nguyen Dynasty.

The two genealogies of the Nguyen and Pham clans are considered the two earliest and most complete genealogies, carefully preserved by descendants.

Although there are still many issues that need to be "researched" to clarify further, this is a valuable historical document, providing some information about the difficult period of our ancestors' pacification of the Cham and the opening of the country, and about the early period of establishing villages in the Quang Nam region.

This is also the basis for providing documents for the recognition and preservation of historical and cultural relics in the area.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/hai-bo-gia-pha-quy-3147243.html