Learning about the history of Angel Island may be a first step to recovering forgotten family histories. Researching your family history is called genealogy and is often quite different from scholarly research. Visit the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation website for a guide to researching family history. You can even submit your own family story to their growing archive of personal stories!
My China Roots is a family history database for the Chinese diaspora that includes millions of searchable ancestors in America and Southeast Asia.
The database includes thousands of clan books (zupus), immigration registers, burial and obituary records, and overseas Chinese business directories and association records. Surnames or village names are searchable. Most Chinese documents are full-text viewable online.