Wing Sing (abt 1856-1892?)

—Wing Sing, an experienced laundryman from Cohoes, has opened a Chinese laundry at No. 628 Second avenue, this village, and invites all who want first-class work done at low prices to give him a call.Lansingburgh Courier. October 9, 1890: 3 col 2.Wing Sing might have died the following year. A man named Sam Sing died in 1892; while the name doesn't match, Wing Sing could have taken a nickname. The location "opposite the Phoenix Hotel" doesn't match 628 2nd Ave near 117th Street, as 628 2nd Ave would correspond to the southern part of the building last occupied by Trader Eds Nautical Pub and Restaurant that burned in 2011 and has been empty (but still standing) since, which is on the same side of the road as the Phoenix Hotel (now the Lansing Inn, 596 2nd Ave) and about a block north of it. Perhaps the Troy Times got some of the details wrong? Or the house numbering changed?

Opium and Pneumonia Cause Death—A Chinese Laundryman.The proprietor of a Chinese laundry on Second avenue, opposite the Phoenix hotel, Lansingburgh, was found dead in bed about 8 o’clock last Thursday. The man’s name was Sam Sing. He was about thirty-six years old and had been in Lansingburgh only a few weeks, having come from New York. He had been in the country about a year. Last Thursday an employe of the laundry attempted to enter, and found the door locked. Entrance was forced, and the proprietor was found dead. Undertaker Wall took charge, and at the direction of Coroner Collins Drs. Magee and Lyons conducted an autopsy, disclosing death to have been the result of pneumonia. The physicians think that the man had been ill for some days, although he had been at work, and that to allay the pain of the disease he may have taken opium, which hastened death. The remains will be sent to China by friends of the dead man living in Albany.Coroner Collins held an inquest Tuesday evening at Wall’s undertaking rooms.Troy Times. May 19, 1892: 1 col 7.Someone by the same name, reversed, was operating a laundry in Troy over fifty years later. It may or may not have been the same man, as Wing Sing seems to have been not an uncommon name for Chinese immigrants in the United States. Nobody by the name of Wing Sing, or Sing Wing, seems to have been enumerated in any state or federal census in Lansingburgh or Troy anytime between 1880 and 1940, for whatever reason. Most of the 1890 US Census burned; the 1892 NY Census for Rensselaer County is not known to be extant. The 1900 US Census, the last to include Lansingburgh as a municipality distinct from Troy, had six Chinese immigrants working in the laundry industry: Chu Sing, Chu Foor, Chu Jim, Chu Foor, Chu Sing, and Chu Doun all at 656 2nd Ave. Coincidentally, 117 years later, there's a laundry around that location, the Clean N Bright Laundromat at 654 2nd Ave.