The first Lin in Jia-Dong (佳冬), Taiwan, came from Canton, China (廣東蕉嶺). He (林有琚)was the 18th generation (starting from the first Lin in Canton, or 113th generation starting from the first Lin in China) . His two sons, (林喬鳳 and 林殷鳳) actually moved to Taiwan first, and the father (林有琚) joined the sons in Taiwan years later.
For the purpose of this article, we consider 林喬鳳 as the first Lin in Taiwan and most of the Jia-Dong branch came from him. 林喬鳳 had two sons (林任乾 and 林任坤). After decades of hardworks, by the 20th generation, 林任坤 and his wife (張氏), bought farm lands in Jia-Dong 溝渚路 , and began life as a simple farmer. It was also rumored that because the wife (張氏), selected an auspicious tomb site (葫蘆穴) and were (husband and wife) buried there, future generations benefited from the good fortune and were able to become doctors.
By the 22nd generation, the family prospered and bought additional lands in today’s 萬建村 in Jia-Dong and moved the house there. Because of the strong emphasis in education, children were encouraged to study and contribute to the society, and becoming a doctor was considered a natural choice. By the 23rd generation, there were 6 doctors, and more Lins became doctors in the 24th, 25th, and 26th generation. According to a 1981 Taiwan Time Newspaper article, it reported that there were 36 western medical doctors in 3 generations (from 23rd to 25th). This number was underestimated since it did not include many eastern medical doctors or those who practiced outside of Taiwan. In another article in the April 6th, 2008 Freedom News edition, it reported that there were over 50 doctors from the Jia-Dong Lin family in 5 generations. Currently, as of 2014, there are over 100 doctors in the Lin family. In addition, Jia-Dong Lin also produced many excellent talents in other professions. They included, but not limited to, dentists, pharmacists, teachers, researchers, scientists, scholars, and business people. The Lin descendents branched out all over the world and became successful in each of their own field.