Ahn, Jae-chang: He financially helped Dr. Syngman Rhee with his successful wholesale glass noodle business.

In 1903, at age 30, he came to Hawaii with 102 other immigrant laborers. He was a self-made business tycoon in the glass noodle business in Detroit with two other Koreans with a capital of $300,000 back in 1922. He moved around San Francisco and Salt Lake City in 1907 and he learned English at an adult school while he worked as a gardener. Later, he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to assist Park, Yong-man’s Korean Youth Army while he operated a huge farm. In 1916, he became a Korean community   president.  He also joined Syngman Rhee’s Dong ji Hoe while he also set up a local office for the Korean National Association in Detroit in 1942. He passed away in 1963 at the age of 90. He was survived by his wife Ahn, Yoo-soon and three children: Kwang-ho, Kee-young and Seo- young. Historian Ahn, Hyung-joo, the brother of great grandfather, authored a book in 2013 titled, “In 1902, a Korean Went on Board a Hawaii Emigration Ship.” In 1998, the South Korean government posthumously recognized him with the Order of Merit of National Foundation / Patriotic People Award for his financial support for the Korean independence movement.

◀ Ahn, Jae-chang’s wedding picture