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Two Sad Stories of Being Choked by Fish

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 04 June 2014

The historic tradition for fishermen/women when catching fish, one will bite the head to contain/kill the fish and place it in his/her guagua (basket). I recall fishing out on the reef with my talaya, and found myself doing the same when I forgot to bring with me a plier to perform the same effect.

Some 65 years apart, two Chamorro men suffer similar fates of being choked by attempting to bite the head of the small fish. The left side of the photo is from Father Ibanez’s Diary, where he recorded the incident of Lucas de los Santos on March 27, 1870. On the right side is the incident of Antonio Cruz Cruz that occurred April 16, 1935.

Francisco Martinez Portusach: First Civilian Provisional Governor of Guam

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 28 May 2014

Francisco Martinez Portusach (1864-1919)

Within Guam’s history, Don Francisco Martinez Portusach becomes the first recorded provisional civilian Governor under the U.S. flag. I will not go into the details of this historic period because I think mainstream history on this is fairly known. He was a provisional Governor met with the controversy of the Spanish civilian Treasurer Jose Sixto/Sisto who refused to accept Portusach’s verbal appointment; and therefore, Sixto appointed himself the Spanish Governor’s successor.

Some of the media caught wind of Portusach's verbal appointment. While later, several national news media captured the controversy with Sixto.

One other controversial issue was with Guam’s first Naval Governor Captain Richard P. Leary, who placed some unreasonable demands on the native people of Guam with certain Executive Orders. This bothered Portusach to the point where Leary had Portusach jailed for about a week for protesting the Governor's orders.

By August 1900, he was headed to the nation’s capital to file charges against Leary. This too made national media where some of the headlines read “Leary the Autocrat” or “Grotesque Tyranny.” But I am not certain at this point how far Portusach may have gotten with these charges because Leary was already replaced earlier around July 1900.

But recently, I came across Portusach’s “History of the Capture of Guam by the United States Man-of-War Charleston and Its Transport.” It was published in 1917 and I found it buried in the thousands of pages within the United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 43, Number 1. Whole Number 167.

I could not recall ever reading about this point in history from a local perspective. Most of the sources and perspectives come from those outside. So it was quite assuring for me to have a piece of history written from the first person.

Portusach’s perspective when he wrote this article included names of some of the Chamorro people. So as a genealogist this was a big win! Below is a list of 20 names he mentions (some were Chamorro or married Chamorro).

Navy Enlistments on March 1, 1940

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 21 May 2014

The USS RL Barnes (AG-27) served as an oil storage vessel in Apra Harbor and was captured on December 10, 1941 by the Japanese forces that invaded Guam. On July 24, 1942 it was struck from the Naval Register, but was recovered from Japan at the end of the war.

On March 1, 1940, the following Chamorro men enlisted in the U.S. Navy as Mess Attendants and reported for training and duty aboard the U.S.S. R.L. Barnes (AG-27):

Other Chamorro men assigned to the USS RL Barnes (AG-27) at the end of March 1940:

Sources:

Guam Recorder 1940

Muster Roll of Crew of the USS RL Barnes, for the quarter ending March 31, 1940

US Navy (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h99000/h99600.jpg)

Maria Mercedes Javier Ojeda Hoover

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 14 May 2014

Maria Mercedes Javier Ojeda Hoover

(1916-1992)

Maria Mercedes Javier Ojeda was the daughter of Pedro Castro Ojeda and Rosalia Garrido Javier. Since she was 17 and prior to leaving Guam she was a teacher.

She was known as Mariquita, and her engagement to Thomas G. Hoover a Radioman 1st Class made local and national news in the late 1936 and early 1937.

Locally, one full page in the January 1937 Guam Recorder was used and captioned with "Of Local Interest: Miss Mariquita Ojeda Wed in Cumberland, Maryland." The local article highlighted the several national news media that caught wind of her engagement and her journey from Guam to Maryland to marry her fiancé.

Nationally, her story was featured in the Chicago Herald and Examiner, Chicago Daily Tribune, Seattle Times and The Seattle Daily Times.

This picture of her on the left comes from the front page of The Seattle Daily Times (1936), where the headline read "Maiden from Lonely Guam Comes to Wed." According to the article she was "Queen of the Fair." This fair was actually known as the Guam Agricultural, Industrial and Education Fair, where Mariquita was Queen of Agana and was the runner up in her bid for overall Queen of the Fair that was won by Josefina Sgambelluri in May of 1936.

Not too long after the Fair, her fiancé, Thomas was reassigned from Guam to Washington D.C.

In reviewing James Shaw's website USMC Present Arms, many old photos of Guam, the Fair and other events can be found. This included a couple photos of Mariquita where they knew her as "Keets."

From previous editions of The Guam Recorder, I found that Mariquita, was the Secretary, Lone Star Association, a literary organization of the junior and senior high school students . (Oct 1935). She was also one of the attendants for Queen Harriet Chance during the 1934 Guam Agricultural, Industrial, and Educational Fair.

In the 1940 Census, she was residing in Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii.

Several years later, Mariquita was listed with her four month old daughter Susan on a 1948 Pan American Airways passenger manifest destined back home to Guam. Her residence at the time was listed as Ebensburg, PA.

Sources:

California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.

Census Bureau. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.

Guam Recorder. June 1934.

Guam Recorder. October 1935.

Guam Recorder. January 1937.

The Seattle Daily Times. October 1, 1936. Maiden from Lonely Guam Comes to Wed. Seattle, WA.

James Shaw. Present Arms. Retrieved from: http://www.usmcpresentarms.com