The U.S. Census Bureau has always highlighted American diversity 

through its decennial snapshots of the population. As the United 

States grew and the population became more diverse, the Census 

Bureau’s workforce adapted to represent the country’s people and 

needs. As immigration from non-European countries increased in 

the 19th century, the Census Bureau tried to hire enumerators that 

lived in the neighborhoods and spoke the language. Others 

became a part of the operations in Washington, DC. From the first 

surges of Chinese immigration into California in the 19th century, 

immigrants of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage have long 

contributed to the Census Bureau’s mission, both at headquarters 

and in the field.

Walter Ngon Fong was born on April 1, 1866, in Guangdong 

Province, China. In 1881, Walter emigrated to the United States 

and worked in a store while he received his education from 

Methodist missionary schools, and beginning in 1889, he attended 

the University of the Pacific, then located in San Jose, CA. Walter 

also worked as an assistant in the San Jose

Methodist mission, where he taught and 

preached. Following his work at the 

University of the Pacific, he became an 

ordained minister. Despite his later 

successes as a lawyer, educator and 

businessman, Walter continued to work as 

a clergyman—the occupation he listed for 

the 1900 Census.

Around 1893, Walter began his studies at Stanford University, where he graduated with a Bachelor 

of Arts in Economics and Sociology in 1896— becoming the first person of Chinese ancestry to 

graduate from that school. While at Stanford, Walter also studied law, participated in the 

Nestorian Debate Society, received high grades, and met his future wife, Emma Howse. The new 

couple, however, encountered some difficulties—California law prohibited interracial marriage at 

the time, so the couple travelled to Denver, 

Colorado, where they married on June 19, 1897. 

The couple settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, 

and Walter worked as a lawyer, a minister at the 

Oakland Chinese Methodist Episcopal Mission, and 

as a Chinese teacher at the University of California

(UC) Berkeley, which he also attended as a graduate 

student.

Walter and Emma’s 1900 Census.

Chinese-American Pioneer and Special Census Agent

Walter Fong, c. 1889. Walter and Emma Fong Collection (SC0994). Dept. of 

Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford 

University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA), June 2, 1900.
At the turn of the century, Walter had achieved a reputation as 

one of the most respected members of the Chinese community in 

San Francisco. As a man who could easily navigate between 

cultures, Walter represented the perfect candidate to be a census 

supervisor in 1900. Yet, as an un-naturalized resident he could 

not officially hold the position of supervisor or enumerator, so he 

received the title of special agent. This setback was only minor,

however, compared to another obstacle to the taking of the 

Twelfth Census of the United States—an outbreak of bubonic

plague which placed parts of San Francisco under quarantine, 

including Chinatown.

Luckily, Waldemar Haffkine had developed an effective vaccine 

against the plague in 1897, and the brave enumerators received 

inoculations before crossing the “dead line” into the quarantine 

zone. Out of the 307 enumerators required for San Francisco, 

Walter supervised ten, with a Chinese interpreter accompanying 

each enumerator. Due to the quarantine, and the necessity of 

having themselves and their schedules disinfected each time they left the quarantine zone, many 

of the enumerators found themselves immersed in Chinese 

culture as they spent their entire days, including meals, in 

Chinatown. Enumeration began on June 1, and ended no later 

than June 15, during which time Walter’s enumerators counted 

the vast majority of San Francisco’s 13,954 Chinese residents.

Following the succesful completion of his work with the 

census, Walter continued his legal, educational, and ministerial 

work. Walter consistently used his education and social capital 

to help bridge cultural gaps. He presented speeches and 

papers on topics such as Chinese labor unions in America, 

Chinese life in San Francisco, Chinese religion and customs, 

Sino-American politics, and educational problems in mainland 

China. In one instance he helped professors who wanted to 

study the vegetarian nature of the Chinese diet by making 

introductions to Chinese diners that had previously given them 

the cold shoulder. In 1903, after teaching and studying since 1897, Walter received his Master of 

Arts from UC Berkeley’s College of Letters. 

Walter also cared deeply about his home country. In the 

1890s, he helped establish the American branches of the 

Hsing Chung Hui Society, also known as the Revive China 

Society, for which he served as president. Sun Yat-sen, the 

overall president and founder of the Revive China Society 

would later become the first leader of Republican China 

after the fall of the monarchy. Sadly, Walter did not live to 

see his dreams of reform in China come to fruition. After 

graduating from UC Berkeley, he accepted a post as 

president of the Li Sing Scientific College in Hong Kong, to 

help educate and spread reform in his home country. While 

there, he fell sick and passed away on May 9, 1906. His 

wife, Emma, returned to the United States with their two 

children, Arthur and Chester, and later married Walter’s 

friend and fellow linguistic instructor at Berkeley, Japanese 

professor Yoshi Saburo Kuno. The Census Bureau is proud of 

Walter’s dedication and contributions to both his birth

country and his adopted home.

The St. Paul Globe (St. Paul, MN), April 7, 1900.

Walter Fong, c. 1903. Walter and Emma Fong Collection (SC0994). Dept. 

of Special Collections and University Archives, 

Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Walter Fong and Family, c. 1905. Walter and Emma Fong Collection (SC0994). Dept. of Special 

Collections and University Archives, Stanford University 

Libraries, Stanford, Calif. HB-18-0011