When Bertha Chan was born on 5 September 1887, in Hong Kong, her father, Sing Kai Chan, was 33 and her mother, Chow Kate Shee, was 29. She had at least 2 sons and 2 daughters with Gustave G. Leong. She lived in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada in 1901 and Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States in 1910. She died on 2 June 1968, in Berkeley, Alameda, California, United States, at the age of 80.