Jean Lumb family portrait

Jean Lumb was born WONG Toy Jin in 1919 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, and grew up in Nanaimo and Vancouver. Her parents, WONG Fun Gee (father) and MAH Hone Hung (mother), were both from Canton (now known as Guangzhou), China. 

Jean was one of twelve children in the family. At the age of 16, she moved to Sudbury, Ontario to support an older sister in their business venture, bringing a younger sibling with her to lessen the number of mouths to feed at home. After a year in Sudbury, she moved to Toronto in 1936 and opened her own grocery store at Bathurst Street and St. Clair Avenue. From there, she brought the remainder of the family to Toronto in 1938. This is a portrait of the Wong family taken in 1939 in Toronto.