Oddness in the tree

1. As I have noted earlier, much of my knowledge about my father is from information gathered through my reading and research that I have done (and still doing) in libraries as well as archives. The following family tree is a starting point from which to make a more detail one.

A starting point

2. It was created based on information gathered from books that I have studied particularly The Chulia in Penang by Khoo Salma Nasution and Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang edited by Loh Wei Leng … [et al.].

3. I have not included the spouses of any of the individuals cited for one reason or another. Anyway, apart from being my starting point, this tree is useful to explain the “oddness” that occurred in the family’s genealogy.

4. My great-grandfather, Noordin, had six sons and five daughters. The first two sons died at a very early age. So, after Noordin passed away it was the other four sons, Vapoo, Nina, Habib and Mashoruddin, who carried on the family business legacy or became merchants in their own right.

5. Vapoo had two sons, Hussain and Ismail (my father). I have not included the children of Nina and Habib in the tree pending verification. For now, I have included only one of Mashoruddin’s children, Aladin, in the tree.

6. Aladin had other children aside from Isdin, but for the present I have included the latter in the tree. Ismail had three children, Sharif (myself), Hussin and Aminah. According to the chart, Hussain and Ismail were cousins of Aladin. Hence Hussin, Aminah and I are second cousins of Isdin.   

7. Note that, Isdin died in 2000 at the age of 81. I was 53 then. This broad age gap between cousins was due to my father’s later marriage to my mother sometime in the mid-1940s. He was about 64 years old when they got married. My mother was in her late teens then.

8. The late Wan Nasseruddin, one of Isdin’s sons, was only about seven years younger than my sister, Aminah. The genealogy chart shows that he belonged with our children. All of our first-borns were born in the early 1980s.

Note:

Noordin = Mohamed Merican Noordin (1778 – 1870)

Vapoo = Vapoo (Vappoo or Bapoo) Merican Noordin (b.unknown – 1884)

Nina = Mohamed Lebby Nina Merican Noordin (b.unknown – 1860)

Habib = Habib Mohamed Merican Noordin or H.M. Noordin (1847 - 1909)

Mashoruddin = Mashoruddin Merican Noordin (or M. M. Noordin) (1848 – 1924)

Hussain = Mohamed Hussain Merican Noordin (M.H.M. Noordin) (b.unknown, d.unknown)

Ismail = Mohamed Ismail Merican Noordin (M.I.M. Noordin) (1882 – 1956)

Aladin = Aladin Merican Noordin (1898 – 1944)

Isdin = Wan Noordin @ Isdin Merican Noordin (1919 – 2000)

Sharif = Mohd Sharif Marikan (1947 - )

Hussin = Mohd Hussin Marikan (1948 – 2016)

Aminah = Aminah binti Mohd Ismail Merican (1950 - )

Wan Mohd Nasserudin Wan Noordin (b.unknown – 2014)