Home
Database Update 10 August 2014
- Details
- Written by: Bernard Punzalan
The database has been updated and has grown from 317,422 to 318,954 names.
1901 Navy Employees
- Details
- Written by: Bernard Punzalan
On July 1, 1901, approximately, 199 people all with Guam as their place of birth, were listed as working with the Navy Department.
- Carpenters = 6
- Coal Passer = 9
- Cook = 1
- Labor Foreman = 1
- Laborer = 180
- Mason = 1
- Special Laborer = 1
Two laborers and one cook were paid on a monthly basis at $6/month each. The remaining 193 people were paid at a daily rate. The average daily pay rate was approximately 41 cents/day.
It seems apparent from these records that there seemed to be major pay wage disparities between Americans and Chamorro employees with the latter receiving significantly less. This was the beginning and would eventually (much later) become a public issue in front of Congress in 1947 among other key issues for Guam and her people.
However, some of these issues (but not all) were not addressed until the passage of the 1950 Organic Act. Some of these disparities were written about by former Guam Legislative Speaker Carlos Pangelinan Taitano in 1996.
Sources
Ancestry.com. US, Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of the Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service. Digitized books (77 volumes). Oregon State Library, Salem, Oregon.
Taitano, Carlos P. 1996. Guam’s Political Development. Retrieved August 4, 2014 from: http://www.guampedia.com/guams-political-development/
(Click on "READ MORE" below to view all 199 names.)
Manuel San Nicolas: Chamorro Settler in Louisiana
- Details
- Written by: Bernard Punzalan
Manuel San Nicolas: Chamorro Settler in Louisiana
I located this 1919 Passport application image of Manuel San Nicolas and found it quite interesting.
Manuel was born on August 6, 1878 at Agana, Guam. His father, deceased, is Mariano San Nicolas. All evidence available with the Chamorro Roots Genealogy Project seems to indicate that he is manggåfan “Bahu.” If this is correct his father’s full name was Mariano Muna San Nicolas (1836-?) and his mother was the former Maria Duenas Sablan (1843-?).
Furthermore, his siblings were:
- Rita Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1870)
- Pedro Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1876)
- Jose Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1881)
- Manuela Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1882)
- Vicente Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1883)
- Joaquin Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1884)
- Maria Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1896)
Apparently, Manuel left Guam some time in 1893 and has since resided in the United States. In this particular case he was residing in New Orleans, Lousiana. His Passport application shows that it was for a six-month visit to Havana, Cuba and that he was a “Centrifugal Foreman.”
I found several other travel documents that indicated he also traveled again to Cuba in 1921, to Mexico in 1927, and then the Honduras in 1941 and 1942. I would imagine that his job required him to travel and he may have been part of the crew for each sailing ship.
Among those travel documents reveal that sometime between 1919 and 1921 his marital status went from single to married; however, the documents did not identify his wife. Also, his residential address was listed as 932 Gov. Nicholls St., New Orleans, LA.
I also found a copy of his World War II draft registration card completed in 1942. By this time, it does not appear he had any immediate family residing with him. On the card it listed his next-door neighbor, Anthony Schiro, as the name and address of a person who will always know his address.
I would be curious to hear from extended members of his family that may know more about him; or even perhaps if Chamorros out in Louisiana may know of him or his family.
And finally, one last observation over the Passport application and some of his travel documents. I suppose Guam’s 1898 cessation to the U.S. still had some Federal agencies (at least the State Department) not knowing exactly how to handle U.S. Nationals from Guam. In some cases, Guam was noted as being part of the Philippines. In other travel documents the people processing the documents took the time to cross out any pre-printed reference to Guam being a part of the Philippines.
Image Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; U.S. Passport Applications, Puerto Rico and Philippines, 1913-1925; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 1244179 -- Entry # A1 539; Box #: 4233; Volume #: 2.
Database Update 16 July 2014
- Details
- Written by: Bernard Punzalan
The database has been updated and has grown from 315,532 to 317,422 names.
Her Name is Mariana Jimenez
- Details
- Written by: Bernard Punzalan
Last year March 27, 2013, I wrote an article, "A Little Girl Named Mariana."
To summarize, Mariana was about two years old when Father San Vitores and his entourage docked in the Mariana Islands. She was one of the first to be baptized and was baptized on the ship by Father Luis Medina. What was not clear was the identity of her father Pedro, who took her aboard ship on June 16, 1668. The two primary conflicting information found in manuscripts regarding Mariana's father, was his ethnicity (Filipino versus Spanish) and his last name (Calungsod versus Jimenez).
So it turns out that her father indeed was Pedro Jimenez (sometimes spelled Ximinez in manuscripts). Pedro was a Filipino that survived the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion shipwreck of 1638. Unlike other survivors of that shipwreck, who eventually made their way back to the Philippines, Pedro decided to settle in the Mariana Islands. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the name of Mariana's mother.
Sidebar...In September 1990, National Graphic published quite a story on recovery and salvage of the Concepcion.
References:
Rodrigue Levesque. 1995a. History of Micronesia, A Collection of Source Documents, Volume 4 – Religious Conquest, 1638-1670. Levesque Publications: Quebec, Canada
Augusto V. de Viana. 2004b. In the Far Islands: the Role of Natives from the Philippines in the Conquest, Colonization and Repopulation of the Mariana Islands. University of Santo Tomas: Manila, Philippines.
Page 46 of 79
