Håle’ Cruz

Manggåfan Cruz (Some Family Clan Names)

Because the Cruz surname is so widespread, many families are alternately known by their clan names[1]. In my research and observations I have noted that the following clan names are associated with the Cruz surname:

I Na’an Cruz (Some Background on the Cruz Name)

The surname Cruz is one of the most common surnames throughout the Mariana archipelago. For sure in the 1920 and 1930 Census it was the most common surname. My data sampling from the 1940 Census seems to suggest it remained the same.

In some literature I have read that the Spanish surname Cruz was derived from a place where the original bearer of the name lived or held his land. However, in general I have observed the Cruz surname to be associated with the “cross.”

The Cruz surname is well tied to Spanish origins, but does not necessarily mean that in the history of the Mariana Islands that every Cruz came from Spain. In fact many Spanish soldiers that came to the Mariana Islands came from either New Spain (Mexico) or were born and raised in the Philippines. In addition, during the Spanish occupation, they had a contingent company of Filipino soldiers. Some of these Filipino soldiers and Missionary assistants also had the surname Cruz.

By the late 1600’s, as the Chamorro-Spanish wars were ending, the Missionaries had observed that intermarriages started to take place between the Spanish and Filipinos with the Chamorro women. Also of note during this period and through the 1897 Census, it seems that women in general (regardless of ethnicity) did not assume the husband’s surname upon marriage. Well, at least women's maiden names were how they were recorded. This form of practice does help some fellow genealogists to identify matrilineal lines of ancestry. Unfortunately, there are still huge gaps in detailed census periods.

In the 1727 Census, there were 34 people recorded with the Cruz surname, 92 in the 1758 Census, and then in the 1897 there were 665. When the U.S. took over and beginning in the 1920 Census there were 903 people recorded with the Cruz surname and then 1,231 were recorded in the 1930 Census.

Interestingly, the matriarchs of the two primary Chamorro-Scottish Anderson families in the Mariana Islands are Cruz. Josefa dela Cruz who married John Anderson in 1819, and nearly one hundred years later, Rosa Santos Cruz (Mangåffan Tanåguan) who married Arthur Gifford Anderson around 1911. Amazing, Tan Rosa (below) lived to be 104 years old.

I Manggåfa-hu (My Cruz Family Relations)

Pues, håyi manggåfa-miyu? Fan oppe!