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Troy's Genealogue

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Family Histories:

Family History of the
YI Clan of Gyeongju (慶州李氏族譜)

From a brief and far from complete view of the YI family registry in February, 2007, I am thus relating my layman's translation of the YI family genealogy and will hopefully produce a more complete translation in both English and Korean in the future. The copy of the registry currently is in the possession of my brother-in-law as the eldest male descendant of my wife's branch of the YI clan. As derived from Chinese tradition, the clan registry is written entirely in Chinese characters with a few side notes in the Korean han-gul alphabet. I will endeavor to provide both.

Research Challenges

As already noted, the family registry is written entirely in Chinese characters with only a few margin notes in the Korean alphabet. A proficient reader of Chinese, this challenge is actually the least challenging. The greater challenges are presented by Korean history itself.

First, the family registry that my brother-in-law has inherited appears to be a hand copy of a master clan registry that records the descendants of YI Al-pyeong. As such, I have no way of discerning the completeness of the copy nor determining which margin notes are original and which were added later by my in-laws' more recent ancestors.

Second, Korean history -- I am by no means a scholar of Korean history, but from what I have read I find the sources themselves present numerous challenges as they are derived from Korean records, Chinese records, and Japanese records, each with their own conflicting perspectives and biases not to mention conflicting legends and myths about Korea's origins!

This again presents language as a problem in that, if memory serves, Korea adopted Chinese characters perhaps as early as the 3rd century of the Common Era and yet a few centuries after we pick up our story with the Silla Dynasty(新羅/신라) at the beginning of the first millennium. As such, the earliest Chinese character source records on the founding of Korea are themselves written hundreds of years after the events. Additionally, Chinese characters dont lend themselves well to rendering pure Korean names, for example: the early Korean dynasty of Koguryeo (고구려) was recorded by the Chinese as 高句麗, pronounced in modern Mandarin as Gaogouli, not to mention a few other variations. Furthermore, I am still uncertain as to when the Korean court truly adopted Chinese style family names and given names. I suspect many of the early Sinocized names (like YI Al-pyong in the First Century of the Common Era) were created hundreds of years later.

Now add inconsistencies in Korean Romanization where "고구려" can be written as "Koguryeo," "Koguryo," and "Goguryeo."

And lastly, as noted before -- time. While the YI family genealogy records all direct male descendants down to my brother-in-law, given the short time with which to skim the book I can only here relate 16 generations down from YI Al-pyong and three generations up from my father-in-law.

More to follow.

YI Al-pyeong¹ (李謁平/이알평) (~First Century, CE)

1. YI Al-pyeong¹ (李謁平/이알평). The YI clan of Gyeongju descends from YI Al-pyeong, of Gyeongju (慶州/경주) in North Gyeongsang Province (慶尚北道/경상북도), in southeastern Korea, during the founding of the Silla Dynasty (新羅/신라; 57 BCE 935 CE). YI was given the surname by Silla's first king Hyeokgeosei (赫居世/혁거세; reigned 57 BCE-4 CE) and entitled the Duke of [Acan] (阿[餐]公), chieftain of the Keupryang (及梁部大人/급량), one of the six Jinhan (辰漢/진한) tribes from which the Silla Dynasty was founded and the tribe from which Hyeokgeosei himself originated.

Jump on to recent ancestry

YI Geum-hyon² (李金現/이금현)

2. YI Geum-hyeon (李金現/이금현) served as a military commander-in-chief (兵部令).

YI Geum-seo³ (李金書/이금서) (~Tenth Century, CE)

3. YI Geum-seo (李金書/이금서), supposedly a third generation descendant of YI Al-pyong, YI Keum-seo is recorded as having married a woman from the KIM clan of Yichan (伊湌金氏/이찬김씨) and the third daughter of the Goryeo king Gyong-sun (敬順王/姓金名傅; reigned 927-935).

YI Yeun-heung⁴ (李潤弘/이윤흥)

4. YI Yeun-heung⁴ (李潤弘/이윤흥) was also noted as a military commander-in-chief (兵部令).

YI Sung-hun⁵ (李承訓/이숭훈)

5. YI Sung-hun⁵ (李承訓/이숭훈) and one brother:

YI Ju-hu⁶ (李周後/이주후)

6. YI Ju-hu (李周後/이주후)⁶ is recorded as having been military commander (大司、左右司). He had at least one brother:

YI Ching⁷ (李偁/이칭)

7. YI Ching⁷ (李偁/이칭).

YI Chi-ryeon⁸ (李侈連/이치련)

8. YI Chi-ryeon⁸ (李侈連/이치련).

YI Chong-[tap]⁹ (李寵[遢]/이총[탑])

9. YI Chong-[tap]⁹ (李寵[遢]/이총[탑]). He had at least one brother:

YI Chun-jeong¹⁰ (李春貞/이춘정)

10. YI Chun-jeong¹⁰ (李春貞/이춘정) married into the court of Sunheung (順興/순흥).

YI Hyeon-bok¹¹ (李玄楅/이현복)

11. YI Hyeon-bok¹¹ (李玄楅/이현복).

YI Seon-yong¹² (李宣用/이선용)

12. YI Seon-yong¹² (李宣用/이선용) served the Goryeo court (高麗/고려; 918-1392) as a 9th ranked (九品) and 8th ranked (八品) official.

YI Cheok-[go]¹³ (李[斥]高/이척[고])

13. YI Cheok-[go]¹³ (李[斥]高/이척[고]) (second character unconfirmed).

YI Deuk-gyeon¹⁴ (李得堅/이득견)

14. YI Deuk-gyeon¹⁴ (李得堅/이득견).

YI Haek¹⁵ (李翮/이핵)

15. YI Haek¹⁵ (李翮/이핵) and two brothers:

YI In-jeong¹⁶ (李仁挺/이인정)

16. YI In-jeong¹⁶ (李仁挺/이인정) and three brothers:

Recent Descendants of YI Al-pyeong¹

Z. Two sons:

YI Seong-yeo died on the 24th day of the 2nd lunar month.

YI Ho-geun² (李浩根/이호근)

Z2. YI Ho-geun² (李浩根/이호근) had two sons:

YI Jip-hyeon³ (李集賢/이집현)

Z22. YI Jip-hyeon³ (李集賢/이집현) married a woman from the YUN clan of Papyeong (坡平尹氏/파평윤씨), north of Seoul along the south bank of the Imjin River, and had at least two sons:

YI Sang-yeong⁴ (李祥榮/이상영) (~1898-1944)

Z221. YI Sang-yeong⁴ (李祥榮/이상영) was born about 1898 in Gyeongju (慶州/경주), North Gyeongsang Province (慶尚北道/경상북도), in southeastern Korea. Upon reaching adulthood he took the name YI Wueon-seon (李元善/이원선) and married CHOI Ja-seon (崔/최자선) of the CHOI clan of Wueolseong (月城崔氏/월성최씨) in Gyeongju. They had four sons:

YI Wueon-seon died on October 17, 1944 in Busan, South Gyeongsang Province. He was about 46 years old and was buried in Busan.

CHOI Cha-seon lived on with her eldest son in Hwasong-gun, Gyeonggi Province until her death on the 3rd day of the 10th lunar month of 1984 (November 25, 1984) at the age of 83.

YI Gyu-rak⁵ (李圭洛/이규락) (1928-1999)

Z2211. YI Gyu-rak⁵ (李圭洛/이규락) was born in Busan, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea on the 3rd day of the 5th lunar month in 1928 (戊辰龍年五月初三/June 20, 1928). He married KIM Sam-yi (金/김삼이) in 1954 and had five daughters and one son:

KIM Sam-Yi was born on the 2nd day of the 8th lunar month in 1931 (辛未羊年八月初二/September 13, 1931).

YI Gyu-rak died in July 1999 at the age of 71.