Home

1900 US Census: Chamorro Diaspora

Details: Written by: Bernard Punzalan; Published: 13 August 2014

Sifting through the 1900 U.S. Census in search of Chamorro people and their families so far has netted me 159 people. At the time, these people resided across three U.S. Territories: Alaska, Arizona and Hawaii; and two States: Washington and California. As a refresher, Guam, at least the civilian sector, was not included in the U.S. Census until 1920.

If you have read some of my previous articles, you might have noticed that some of the surnames may have been phonetically spelled and recorded in official documents. This continues to hold true for several of the surnames of those found in the 1900 Census.

1900 Chamorro Diaspora U.S. Map

Alaska

I was quite surprised to find two people (one who had a family) living/working in Alaska. At Hunters Bay Cannery, Manuel Conception, age 33, was recorded as a Cook.

The other was John Fratis, listed as from the “Chamorro,” Tribe and Clan, and a farmer at the age of 54. He was married to Ankeelena an Aleut, age 26. Together, they had four children living with them on Saint Paul, Alaska: Simeon (6), Agrafina (8), Uliana (4), and Martha (1). According to the Census document John Fratis arrived in Alaska sometime in March 1869.

Arizona

Only one person by the name of Enas Logan, single, age 24 was listed in Maricopa, Arizona with the occupation of “Day laborer.” He immigrated to the U.S. sometime in 1888.

California

California had a total of 26 people with ties to Guam. Only two men were married, both to women of Mexican descent and no children. The five areas of California occupied were Almaden, Bodega, San Francisco, Soquel, and Ocean. Most of them were laborer of sorts, cooks long shoremen and fishermen.

Surnames found were Adriano, Castro, Ferran, Flores, Garcia, Gerrero/Gurreiro, Gumatata, Lasama, Logan, Lorindo, Martinez, Mazza, Mendiola, Oroso, Peres/Perez, Sauders, Yarrado

Hawaii

As expected, the Hawaiian Islands had the majority where I identified 120 people with ties to Guam. The four primary Hawaiian Islands occupied by these people were inclusive of:

Oahu (Honolulu and Ewa) – 66
Hawaii (Big Island) – 19
Maui (Makawao, Wailuku and Lahaina) – 23
Kauai (Koloa and Lihui) – 5

Men that had families married women primarily from Hawaiian or Portuguese descent; one man married a woman of Singapore descent while another had married a woman with origins from the Azores Islands.

Surnames were comprised of Arriola/Arreola, Castro, Cruz/Kruz, Duenas, Foster, Guerrero, Ignacio, Legama, Luhan, Pangelinan, Otis, Perez, Reys, Rose, Sanpos, Santos, and Tenora.

Washington

Only two men, both single, were found in Washington State. George August, age 66 was a farmer in Port Madison, Washington. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1860. While Domingo Blas, age 32, was a Sailor in Aberdeen Town and immigrated to the U.S. in April 1868.

Reference:

United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900.

[Click "READ MORE" below to view the names]

Database Update 10 August 2014

Details: Written by: Bernard Punzalan; Published: 10 August 2014

The database has been updated and has grown from 317,422 to 318,954 names.

1901 Navy Employees

Details: Written by: Bernard Punzalan; Published: 06 August 2014

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; Published: 23 July 2014

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.