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Gadao Existed

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 18 September 2019

It is very difficult to pinpoint if the legendary Gadao existed or was only a folk tale. But one can just about count on with certainty that if the name appears in oral or written history, chances are that a person with that name really existed.

My first finding of the name Gadao is recorded in 1724. A male (age unknown) by the name of Dionisio Gadao, of Merizo, is one of 16 witnesses that was interrogated by Don Manuel Diaz regarding Governor Luis Antonio Sanchez de Tagle’s conduct and alleged inappropriate activities.

Reference:

Rodrigue Levesque. 1998. History of Micronesia, A Collection of Source Documents, Volume 12 – Carolinians Drift to Guam, 1715-1728. Levesque Publications: Quebec, Canada

Rota’s Latte Stone Quarry According to Juan Taitano

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 12 August 2019

    In a previous blog regarding Juan P. Manibusan I mentioned Hans Hornsbostel. What I did not mention was that Hornbostel wrote a series of articles, with the heading “Rota Days.” I found eleven so far ranging from 1935 to 1936. At this time I don’t know if there are anymore. Hornbostel indicated that his intent was not to write about the details of his archeological journey but more so about his encounters with the people.

    In Hornbostel’s third article, June 1935, he talks about Manibusan again, but this time did not identify his name. He was trying to get Manibusan to lead him to an ancient site, “trinchera taotaomona mona (trenches of the people of before time).”  Today, this site is known as the As Nieves Quarry in Rota, which is the largest unearthed set of latte stones in entire Mariana Island archipelago. Manibusan was adamantly firm that he would not take Hornbostel to the site because it was haunted by the spirits of the ancestors who were not his relatives. And, if he went there the taotaomona would give him no end of trouble if he trespassed. Hornbostel respected Manibusan’s and went looking for someone else to take him there.

    With very little success and options, Hornbostel somehow convinced Juan Taitano. Juan Taitano was Hornbostel’s landlord and was also reluctant to show him the way.  When they finally reached the site, Hornbostel was in awe.  He described and drew these sketches.  But like outsider in awe, he was dumbstruck with the question how did the people quarry great limestone monoliths without the aid of metal tools?

    “Looking at these trenches which had been constructed by removing the very small amount of the surface soil and then digging down into the coral rock, I remarked to Juan that I could not understand how these trenches were made, as those who made them had nothing to cut this compar­atively hard stone with. "Senor," said Juan, "it was quite easy. They did it with their fingers." Hornbostel looked at Taitano and told him that he just could not understand it. Juan responds, “Señor, it was quite easy. They did it with their fingers.

    I laughed thinking perhaps that Juan meant that these ancients, having supernatural powers, could, as often related in their folklore, perform miracles at will. But Juan insisted that this how it was done. So I said to him, show me.

    Whereupon he lit a fire on a coral rock, let it burn until the rock became very hot, then poured water on it, and lo, the rock was turned into lime which could easily be scraped away with fingers!

    So here we have a method of quarrying with fire and water! Very simple, but no previous research parties had guessed the method used. Much had been written of the wonder of how these primitive people quarried without iron, etc. The reason that no one had found the method used is also simple, for these civilized men had never built a camp fire on wet coral rock, and also, being learned men, they were specialists and had not studied chemistry. I was delighted to be able to record the fact that I had found that fire and water was employed by the ancient Chamorros, and indeed there is no doubt about this, for subsequent investigations revealed much charcoal scattered about the quarry.” (Hornbostel 1935, pp.301-302)

Reference:

Hornbostel, Hans G. 1935. Rota Days. Philippine Magazine. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?id=KC_nAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=hornbostel+rota+days&source=bl&ots=3evYU58OJJ&sig=ACfU3U0oE5s-gnLUYpWUyt9Y0x2NO2XrcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpzM2_jeLjAhUKTN8KHTDcDMAQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=hornbostel%20rota%20days&f=false

Juan Manibusan the “South Sea Island Bruiser”

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 05 August 2019

    Påle Eric (2017) does a great job of conveying a good part of the story of Juan Manibusan, a CHamoru “Bayinero” (whaler) from the 1800s, so I won’t go into the same details but will add to it from a 1935 article in the Philippine Magazine along with some other interesting observations.

    So I recently came across the article written by Hans Hornbostel and wrote about his personal encounter with Juan Manibusan. Sometime back around 1925 Hornbostel conducted archeological excavations in the Mariana Islands for the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Hawaii. While he was in Rota photographing some pictographs in cave, that is where he met up Manibusan.

    “…I at last reached the cave I was looking for, found the drawings, and proceeded to photograph these interesting pictorial records, when suddenly the light in the cave diminished and, looking toward the entrance, I beheld a man, and what a man he was.

Deep of chest, broad shouldered, narrow hipped, his whole upper body was covered with patches of white hair. The hair on his head was thick and was also white, and although he was a very old man, he still carried himself well. His flesh was firm, and his skin healthy, and he seemed to have retained much strength in spite of his age. I noticed that his nose was badly battered and that his ears were cauliflowered.

    He approached me grinning cheerfully and as I addressed him in a few native words, he answered me in the best Limehouse cockney I had had the privilege to listen to for many a year. I gave him some ship's tobacco to chew, and my, how he enjoyed it! not having had any, he said, since he had arrived on the bloody bleeding, etc., island.

    He told me his story. In his youth an English whale ship had arrived off the island and he was induced by the blandishments of the Bucko mate to become one of the crew. A few days out he resented the mate's manner and gave him to understand it. The mate broke out a belaying pin and the fight was on. The mate by virtue of experience, plus the belaying pin, plus pretty little sea-going manhandling tricks, won, but not before the young islander had inflicted more punishment than that mate had ever had to take before from any man. The result was that the mate, who knew a little about pugilism, took the boy under his wing, taught him as best he could how to handle his fists, and when they reached London arranged a match for him with some third-rate pug. The Chamorro won; match after match followed, and he won them all. The mate decided to quit throwing harpoons at whales in various and sundry seas and seasons, and became the Chamorro's manager. Together they traveled through Great Britain and the continent for many years, for Juan Manabusan [sic] became an excellent second rate prize fighter, known as the "South Sea Island Bruiser." As the years passed, he took unto himself a wife, a bar-maid of Lime-house, London. As he approached old age, his wife died, his children married among their kind in the London slums, and then a great longing, the longing of the old for the environment of their youth, came upon him, and he thought, as so many other old men before him have, that if he could but return to his home, his native land, he would be contented and happy. But it did not turn out as he has so fondly planned, for his island and his people had, by his absence, become as strange and foreign to him as London was when he first saw it from the deck of the whaler.” (Hornbostel 1935, p. 129)

     Given that Hornbostel published this article in 1935, he is mistaken about alleging that Juan Manibusan’s wife (Mary Drennan) dying before Juan (Briola, 2019). Mary outlived her husband. On Ancestry, Mary can be found in the 1930 and 1940 Census of Guam living with their son Joseph’s family and she is also listed as a widow.

   And for you genealogy researchers that may be interested in exploring this further, Juan and his family recorded in England's 1891 Census in the city of Livepool. Juan's recorded birthplace was listed as the Mariana Islands. Based on that Census this particular area of Liverpool seemed like a melting pot of sailors/whalers and families.

Kao Manggåfan Mafongfong si Juan?  

    But speaking more about the Census, in the 1920 Census, right below the recording of Juan P. Manibusan's family and what appears to be witin the same household is Felix M[anibusan] Manibusan's (manggåfan Mafongfong) family. Generally, this is a sign of close family relations and seems like Juan and Felix (born out of wedlock) may have been brothers. Is this a coincidence or is Juan also a Mafongfong? Was Juan's nose badly battered from fighting or was he born with it a disfigured nose? Family lore regarding the family clan name Mafongfong says that it was because of one of the Manibusan brothers had a face that looked like it was pounded in and Mafongfong means to pound.  I too am a descendant of the Mafongfong clan and also have an autosomal DNA match with one of Juan's great grandchildren.  Hmmmm....

References:

Briola, Julian. 2019. Personal communications.

Forbes, Eric. 2017. A Whaler Who Came Back. Retrieved from http:// paleric.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-whaler-who-came-back.html

Hornbostel, Hans G. 1935. Rota Days. Philippine Magazine. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?id=KC_nAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=hornbostel+rota+days&source=bl&ots=3evYU58OJJ&sig=ACfU3U0oE5s-gnLUYpWUyt9Y0x2NO2XrcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpzM2_jeLjAhUKTN8KHTDcDMAQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=hornbostel%20rota%20days&f=false

First International Publication

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 16 July 2019

The Chamorro Roots Genealogy Project is now internationally published on the Genealogy — Open Access Journal website. 

I am still a novice at this stuff (journals and publications). I look forward to all the productive review and critique.

So many things have happened, so I have a lot to say about this special journey.  I know I can be all over the place when it comes to writing about it. I am a life long student willing to learn and share new things.  This has been quite an experience.

I want to thank Dr. Vince Diaz for hooking me up on this special call for papers and Dr. Nepia Mahuika for his invaluable assistance.

Dr. Tahu Kukutai and Dr. Nepia Mahuika were the special edition Guest Editors.  I am very appreciative of their knowledge, support and recommendations. When I reached out to Dr. Mahuika I felt compelled to inform him that I was not from the academic community. He told me not to worry about it. He responded to the effect that he was Maori first before being a Professor. That resonated well and comforted me, yet still nervous. Recognizing that my essay was not within the academic prose norm,  I was elated by their comment that, “it is a powerful example of grass roots indigenous genealogical activism.” I was like wow, I never thought about it in that context.

I also want to thank you all for your encouragement and support. Leveraging this website and social media like FB are powerful collaboration tools.

For sure, I could have never imagined coming this far with the Project. Many lessons learned and certainly more to come.

You can access and download the publication at https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/3/3/38