통천 김씨(通川 金氏) — A clan seated at Tongcheon in Gangwon (now in North Korea), said to trace to Kim Gyo, a grandson of King Gyeongsun, with the Goryeo official Kim Won-deung as mid-dynasty ancestor. It is known for settlements around Wanju, Jeonju and Seocheon and divides into three branches: Jinsan-gong, Gunsu-gong and Jeonjik-gong.
A clan seated at Tongcheon in Gangwon (now in North Korea), said to trace to Kim Gyo, a grandson of King Gyeongsun, with the Goryeo official Kim Won-deung as mid-dynasty ancestor. It is known for settlements around Wanju, Jeonju and Seocheon and divides into three branches: Jinsan-gong, Gunsu-gong and Jeonjik-gong. In the 2015 Census the 통천 김씨 clan numbered about 5,669 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 김, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 통천) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Jinsan-gong-pa, Gunsu-gong-pa, Jeonjik-gong-pa
The Jinsan-gong branch (also called Jinsan Gyodo-gong or Gyodo-gong) comprises descendants of Kim Yeo-san (金如山), Jinsan instructor and third-generation descendant of the mid-dynasty ancestor Kim Won-deung. The Wansan gazetteer is said to record Kim Yeo-san as a saengjin-examination graduate.
The Gunsu-gong branch descends from Kim Jung-ryeong (金仲齡), a county magistrate in the third generation. It is recorded as having suffered near-extinction in the Imjin and Jeongyu wars.
The Jeonjik-gong branch descends from Kim Jung-bok (金仲福), a former official in the third generation. Kim Bing of the Gichuk purge, a ninth-generation descendant of the mid-dynasty ancestor, is introduced as belonging to it.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
Kim Jung-gwon(Goryeo scholar), Kim Bing(Joseon official), Kim Jin(built Namgye Pavilion), Kim Yeo-ryeon(died in the Imjin War), Kim Eung-ui, Kim Ik-han, Kim Il-yeong(Confucian scholar)
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The Tongcheon Kim clan (通川 金氏) takes Tongcheon County in Gangwon (now in North Korea, north of the Military Demarcation Line) as its seat and is also called the Tongju Kim or Geumyang Kim. Wikipedia and related sources say the founder was Kim Gyo (金較), a grandson of Silla's King Gyeongsun enfeoffed as Lord of Tongju under Goryeo's Gwangjong; this rests on genealogical tradition. The central ancestor is the 'mid-dynasty founder' Kim Won-deung (金遠登), said to have held the posts of Gwangjeong Daebu, Pandopanseo (a senior post at the Office of Registry) and Munhan Haksa in late Goryeo.
The seat name is said to have changed over time: Geumyang Kim until 1285, Tongju Kim until 1413, and Tongcheon Kim since. One theory makes Kim Il, the eldest of King Gyeongsun's eight sons in an epitaph said to have been found in 1784, the founder's father, sometimes identified with the Crown Prince Maui, but its authenticity has been questioned. The 1701 genealogy records Kim Gyo as the founder.
The 2015 census counted 5,669 members. Clan villages are reported at Duhyeon-ri in Gui-myeon, Wanju (North Jeolla), Udo-dong and nearby in Jeonju, Gwan-ri and Jongcheon-ri in Biin, Seocheon, Ura-ri in Pangyo, Seocheon, and Duryong-ri in Ungcheon, Boryeong (South Chungcheong). Members are said to have moved with government posts from Tongcheon to Wansan (Jeonju-Wanju) and Seocheon.
Kim Jung-gwon, introduced as maternal grandfather of the writer Yi Gyu-bo, is among the Goryeo figures. Household registers of 1380 and 1398 and a 1427 property-division document are said to have been the basis for the later genealogy.
Early Joseon civil-service graduates include Kim Ho (1419), Kim Gwon (1517) and Kim Won (1553). Kim Bing passed in 1580 and became a Hongmungwan official, but is said to have been beaten to death after being accused as a follower of Jeong Yeo-rip while serving as interrogator in 1590, and was rehabilitated in 1624. Kim Yeo-ryeon passed in 1588 and is known to have died in the service of King Seonjo during the Imjin War at Uiju.
The Gunsu-gong branch is recorded as nearly wiped out in the Imjin and Jeongyu wars, and afterwards the family declined; apart from three licentiate graduates it is said to have produced no further civil-service graduates. Kim Jin built the Namgye Pavilion, and Kim Eung-ui, associated with putting down Yi Gwal's rebellion, was enshrined at Bongmyeong Seowon.
The clan is said to divide mainly into three branches from the generation of Kim Won-deung's great-grandsons: Jinsan-gong (Jinsan Gyodo-gong; founder Kim Yeo-san), Gunsu-gong (Kim Jung-ryeong) and Jeonjik-gong (Kim Jung-bok). Generation counts vary by source. Geumhwa Kim (founded by the jinsa Kim Nang; Geumhwa is today's Cheorwon) is described as a separate offshoot.
Kim Jung-gwon, Kim Ho, Kim Gwon, Kim Won, Kim Ik-han, Kim Bing, Kim Jin, Kim Yeo-ryeon and Kim Eung-ui are introduced; in the modern era the Confucian scholar Kim Il-yeong (1877-1932) is described as a descendant of Kim Jin.
The Ansan Kim honor Kim Wi and Kim Won-sang, and the 1970 Gyeongsul edition of the Tongcheon Kim genealogy is said to have linked Kim Wi to Kim Won-deung. Differences with the Gwangsan Kim genealogy are also noted. Views differ by source.
Namgye Pavilion (南溪亭) in Duhyeon-ri, Gui-myeon, Wanju, is known as a pavilion built by Kim Jin after he finished serving as instructor at Hapcheon and returned home to teach pupils, and is listed as North Jeolla Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 134 (the year of construction is given as 1580 by one source). Writings by Go Gyeong-myeong, Jo Heon and others are said to survive there. The altar of Kim Won-deung is said to lie on Daejongsan in Deokcheon-ri, Gui-myeon. Genealogies are noted from 1701 (Sinsa), 1970 (Gyeongsul) and 2003 (Gyemi). No clan association or generation-name list was confirmed.
The 통천 김씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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