Genealogy & Kinship · Source Interpretation · Published on 2026-10-07

Clues to the Migration of the Pu Family of Dengzhou and Textual Examination of Ming-Dynasty Figures

The family narrative of the Pu family of Dengzhou centers mainly on clues indicating that the family migrated from Jiading to the Dengzhou Guard in the early Ming dynasty and settled in the Penglai area under military registration. Genealogies, epitaphs, civil-service examination records, and local gazetteers can be used to examine the official careers of figures such as Pu Hong and Pu Zhihao, but the identity of the founding ancestor, the date of migration, and the genealogy of these figures still require verification against the original documents.

The Pu family of Dengzhou is a specific case for studying military-registration migration and society around Ming-Dynasty coastal defense garrisons. Existing accounts generally place the early residence of this branch of the Pu family in the Jiading area of Suzhou Prefecture, stating that its ancestors entered the Dengzhou Guard through military service in the early Ming and subsequently registered their household in Penglai. Here, “Dengzhou” is a regional designation, while “Pu” is the surname. The Pu family of Dengzhou should not be confused with the Deng surname, nor should it be inferred from a shared surname that Pu families in different places descended from the same ancestral line.

Regarding the starting point of the migration, genealogical accounts mention a figure named Pu Gui, also said to have had the childhood name A-Shuang and the original name Pu Zonghong, and associate the sixteenth year of the Hongwu era with a military-farming background. Epitaph materials contain related statements such as “a native of Jiading, Suzhou” and “his ancestors served in the military at the Dengzhou Guard and thereafter registered their household there.” Civil-service examination records likewise include Pu family figures whose military registration was at the Dengzhou Guard and whose ancestral origins were associated with Jiading. These materials can be compared with one another regarding the direction of the migration, but whether the various names of Pu Gui refer to one person, whether the year of migration is accurate, and how “Jiading Loutang” corresponds to later administrative divisions should still be verified against versions of the genealogy, rubbings of the epitaphs, and Guard archives.

Clues to the family’s residence in Penglai are concentrated around Penglai Pavilion, Shuicheng, and the vicinity of Pujiāwa. If local gazetteers continuously record Pu family figures, commemorative arches, ancestral rites, and residences, they can help determine how long the family continued there. However, the extent of old place names may have changed with urban construction and administrative transitions, and present-day locations cannot be equated with Ming-Dynasty settlements without verification. In tracing one’s roots, it is advisable to compare the neighborhood, ward, alley, and military-registration records in county gazetteers alongside the village names recorded in the genealogy.

Pu 鋐 is one of the more closely studied figures in the surviving materials. According to relevant accounts, his courtesy name was Rǔqì and his style name was Zhútáng. He passed the provincial examination and earned the jinshi degree during the Zhengde era, and served as magistrate of Hongdong and as an investigating censor. He later incurred punishment after experiences involving political disputes and remonstrances, and received posthumous honors. His epitaph is particularly important for tracing the family’s earlier generations. As for the relationships among Pu Zheng, Pu Zhizhu, Pu Chaozhu, and other relatives, although accounts describe them as father and son or grandparent and grandchild, an evidentiary chain should still be established item by item using epitaphs, genealogical records, and officially compiled biographies.

The clues concerning Pu Zhihao involve civil-service examinations and official service during the Jiajing era. Accounts state that his style name was Beiguo; he first passed the provincial examination and later earned the jinshi degree. He successively served as a Secretariat drafter, investigating censor, prefect of Nanchang, and in related positions in the Jiangxi Provincial Surveillance Commission, and was credited with such actions as refusing gifts and submitting requests for disaster relief. Such records of conduct and administrative achievements may appear in local gazetteers, biographical accounts, or family documents. Different texts often contain embellishments and transcription discrepancies, so citations should distinguish between verifiable official titles, local commemorative traditions, and family oral accounts.

Other figures include Pu Zhiyun, Pu Chaozhu, Pu Yanyou, Pu Yiguang, and Pu Guoren, but some official titles, places of service, and the order of familial relationships contain textual uncertainties. For example, expressions such as “magistrate of Fuxi” and “magistrate of Changgen” may involve scribal errors or misrecorded old place names, and should not be used directly to construct a complete career history. The claim that multiple commemorative arches were erected for the Pu family during the Ming also requires separate verification against the names of the arches, the persons honored, the dates of construction, and the original wording of the county gazetteers.

When organizing this family history, one can first clarify in surname-related materials the distinction between the Pu surname and the Dengzhou region, then use an online genealogy to arrange confirmed figures, marriages, and generational relationships. Family memoirs can preserve oral accounts of the former residences, ancestral halls and graves, seasonal customs, and branches that relocated from Pujiāwa, but the speaker and recording date should be noted. Further searches of local-gazetteer databases for Dengzhou Prefecture, Penglai County, the Dengzhou Guard, and places where relevant figures served, cross-checked against epitaphs and civil-service examination records, can gradually establish a relatively reliable path for tracing one’s roots. Hall names, founding ancestors, and claimed affiliation with remote ancestors should all be determined according to the documents of the specific branch; materials concerning other people with the same or similar-sounding surnames must not be applied indiscriminately.

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