Lesson 1: The Lo Kam family in reclaiming Khun Tinh village

(Baonghean) -LTS:The Western Nghe An region has ethnic groups such as Thai, Mong, Kho Mu, Tho, Hoa, O Du, Dan Lai, Nung... This community creates a diversity of culture and lifestyle. Each family has its own characteristics, traditions and customs... The Ethnic - Mountainous Regions page would like to introduce a series of articles about typical ethnic minority families, thereby helping readers have an approach to the culture of ethnic groups in the Western Nghe An region...

Chau Quang is the central commune of Quy Hop district (Nghe An), currently there are several main branches of the Lo Kam family (with a history of more than 700 years, in Nghe An, this family changed to Sam family). In the scope of this article, we would like to only mention the role of a branch of the Lo Kam family in creating a large field (Tong Huong), now in Dong Huong hamlet, Chau Quang commune.

According to the Sam family genealogy in Muong Ham village (Chau Cuong, Quy Hop), the first chief of Thuan Ham village was Mr. Sam Van Ky (1869-1918), who was 30 years old at that time. Mr. Ky was the son of the chief of the village Sam Van Doc, and the son of his second wife. Following Mr. Chanh Ky, there were the ancestors of the current Nhang village who took turns being the chief of Thuan Ham village. They were Mr. Sam Van Quan and Mr. Sam Van Khoan. These two were brothers. After they left the position of chief of the village, they were assigned to the area of ​​today's Nhang village to establish a new village. This village had fields stretching along the Nam Huong river, so it was called Nhang fields, and the village that was established was also called Nhang village.

Mr. Lo Kam Dau (descendant of Mr. Sam Van Vien) in Ban Tau, Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district introduces the genealogy of the Lo Kam family.

Regarding the Sam (Lo Kam) family in Dong Huong, we know that: Mr. Sam Van Phong (1871-1945) was appointed as the district chief of Quy Chau at that time, and went down to inspect the Thuan Ham area (Mr. Sam Van Phong was a very famous noble in Tau village, Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district today). Mr. Phong was the district chief for 30 years and was promoted to the second-class district chief. Coming down here, district chief Phong saw that the land below Nhang village and above Diem Bay village... was still vacant and very good, favorable for expanding rice fields. Returning to the district, because he was busy, Mr. Phong completely forgot about this wild land.

It was not until 12 years later, when listening to a report on the land administration of Thuan Ham, that Mr. Phong suddenly remembered, and immediately sent his second son, Mr. Sam Van Tan, who was then the school inspector in Quy Chau prefecture, to bring his family and some servants to reclaim that land, with the purpose of expanding the power of the Sam family in Quy Chau. When Mr. Sam Van Tan went to Thuan Ham, he immediately encountered trouble. At that time, the Thuan Ham government in Nhang village, headed by Mr. Quan and Mr. Khoan, declared that the land belonged to Muong Ham (that is, Thuan Ham at that time), and that when Muong Ham could not reclaim it, it would be the turn of others. The chief of Thuan Ham said that exactly 3 years later, if the Thuan Ham people could not reclaim that land, he would allow Mr. Tan to go down and reclaim it. Exactly 3 years later (1916), the Office sent inspectors to Thuan Ham again. Seeing that the land was still abandoned, they sent Mr. Tan to reclaim it and stay there.

Since Mr. Sam Van Tan (1895-1966) brought his family to reclaim the land in Dong Huong, the history of Tong Thuan Ham had a new development. In 1916, when he arrived at the land that we now call Dong Huong, Mr. Sam Van Tan was only 21 years old. His wife was from Thanh Hoa, the second child of Cam Ba Thuoc - a peasant leader who followed Doc Thiet and Doc Hanh in the Can Vuong movement in the years 1890 - 1891. At this time, Mr. Sam Van Kim, Mr. Tan's eldest son, was only 2 years old, born in Tau village, Chau Tien, Quy Chau. The first thing the Sam family did was to build the Tong Huong dyke and dig a long ditch through Nhang village to the area that would be reclaimed for rice fields, the Tong Huong field. Building the dyke and digging the ditch was extremely hard work, and was always made difficult by the Thuan Ham dignitaries at that time. They did not use Western explosives to break the rocks, so Mr. Tan had to have people pile up firewood on the rocks and burn them to heat them up, then pour water on them, cracking the rocks and prying them apart one by one. After building the trenches and digging the ditches, when it came time to reclaim the land, they encountered difficulties from the Thuan Ham government, who had moved to Chieng village, next to Diem Bay village now.

The chief of the commune at that time was a man of the Kim family. He used the name of the old "xac din, lai na" (the old land documents of Muong Ham) to redraw the boundaries and sue Mr. Sam Van Tan to the province. As a result, the chief of the commune Thuan Ham lost the lawsuit. Mr. Sam Van Tan was supported by his father, the prefect of Quy Chau, Mr. Sam Van Phong, who was very rich at that time. The judge of Nghe An province ruled that Sam Van Tan was allowed to cultivate the fields following the flow of the Tong Huong river, and wherever the water flowed, he cultivated the fields. The Tong Huong field was opened up with an area almost the same as today, although the Tong Huong people also cultivated "small fields" (na noi, oi nu) around it, but it was not significant compared to the area at that time...

About 5 years after completing the reclamation of Tong Huong field and completing the canal system, Mr. Tan and his wife went to his mother's hometown, Thuong Xuan district, to recruit people. The people from those villages came in large numbers, staying in Tong Huong village for a few, then divided into 2 villages, Co Hieng and Banh (today's Chau Quang commune). When there were enough people, Sam Van Tan went to Phu Bang to ask for permission from the district chief at that time, Sam Van Phong, and was approved by the district chief, asking Nghe An province to allow Thuan Ham to create another book, which was Tao Thanh book. Tao Thanh book was published around 1928, by a relative of Sam Van Tan who was the village chief, called Sam Van Hoanh...

In August 1945, the Nghe Tinh inter-provincial Viet Minh directed the people of all walks of life to rise up and seize power. Due to the actual circumstances at that time, in the mountainous districts, the inter-provincial Viet Minh advocated reforming the old government apparatus into revolutionary people's committees. The Nghe An provincial Revolutionary People's Committee assigned responsibility to Sam Van Vien (1897-1988), the younger brother of Sam Van Tan, the third son of the prefect Sam Van Phong, who was then the prefect of Quy Chau, to summon the canton chiefs, village chiefs, and officials and soldiers in the prefecture to a meeting at the prefecture office on the morning of August 26, 1945. From this meeting, the old government was abolished, and the provisional revolutionary committee of the prefecture was established with Sam Van Vien (former prefect) as chairman.

By 1954, during the land reform movement, the landlords were denounced… the Lo Kam family members were considered landlords, they once again wandered to many different places, including Laos and some other countries. Many descendants of the Lo Kam family have achieved success in many different fields, however, most of them still have haunting memories and do not want to talk about the past.

Sam Van Binh (Yen Luom, Chau Quang, Quy Hop)