Sometimes history is tucked in a shoebox and stored away in a

Sometimes history is tucked in a shoebox and stored away in a dark, forgotten corner. Sometimes it is folded away in the recesses of memory, hopefully to be shared.

But Asian Americans generally have not passed down oral history traditions, said Esther Chung, who collects Asian American history, reaching out to families who might have items to share. “Whether it’s privacy or it’s just kept secret or just culturally, we don’t really sit there telling great old stories,” said Chung, who was born in Korea and grew up in Houston.

The story of Joe Sing and Francisca Moreno Sing is also a story of Austin, one lost and now found, Chung said. It is important to preserve it, she said, because the Chinese were part of the backbone of America. They were pioneers, too, and helped build the railroads. People like Joe Sing helped build Austin, despite restrictive laws, limited opportunities and lingering prejudices.

In 1875, the census recorded about 30 Chinese people in Austin, though few of them stayed. Most, if not all, were men who had sneaked into the country to find work, and that was all many of them found. With U.S. citizenship unavailable, business opportunities severely limited and no Chinese women around, most gave up and returned home. Unlike others before him, Joe Sing stayed. Five generations later, his descendants still live here.

Today, Chinese residents are the second-fastest growing component of the Austin metro area’s fast-growing Asian population. About 17,000 people of Chinese heritage lived in metro Austin in 2008, making up about 23 percent of the self-identifying Asian population overall, city demographer Ryan Robinson said.

A sepia-tinted image of Francisca Moreno Sing with her children and a color portrait of her daughter Margaret are among more than a dozen photos on display through Oct. 31 at the Austin History Center as part of “Pioneers from the East: First Chinese Families in Austin,” an exhibit Chung organized.

Asian Americans often are still seen as foreigners in this country even though some families have been here five or more generations, Chung said, adding: “We have to establish once and for all the fact that we are Americans and that preserving this history is preserving American history.”

jcastillo@statesman.com