FAMILIA : GOGUE

The Gogue family of the Marianas have an indigenous, Chamorro name.

The word goggue means "to defend, to protect."

We hear the word often when we sing a standard Chamorro Marian hymn O Maria Nana'magof.  The relevant line goes, "Goggue yo' yan chachalåne," asking the Blessed Mother to "defend and guide" us.

In the Chamorro version of the Hail Mary we say "Si Yu'us un gineggue Maria," meaning "God protect you, Mary," based on a faulty understanding of the Spanish "Dios te salve Maria," which means "God save you, Mary."  The confusion arises because, in Latin, "salve" is a greeting, but, in Spanish, it also means "save."  In Catholic theology, the angel could not have wished that God save Mary because God had already saved Mary when He prevented Original Sin from touching her at the moment of her conception (the Immaculate Conception).

Back to the name....


By the 1897 Census, we find the Gogues mainly in Hagåtña.  So the family is from central Guam, probably originating in the Chamorro suburbs of what used to be mainly immigrant Hagåtña (Spanish, Latin American and Filipino soldiers).  In time, the Gogues from the outskirts of Hagåtña moved into the city.

Excluding the Gogue women who married and whose children would then not carry the Gogue name, we find in Hagåtña :

Geronimo Gogue, married to Susana Taitingfong San Luis. (Geronimo is a Spanish name, the equivalent of Jerome, and is not just the name of a famous Apache chief.)

Juan Demapan Gogue, married to Maria Crisostomo Atoigue.

His brother Pedro Demapan Gogue was married to Juana Fegurgur Taimanglo, but had no children.

Nicolas Gogue, married to Ramona Palomo White.

Benita Gogue had a son out of wedlock named Julian, who would thus carry on the Gogue name if he had children.

As you can see, there aren't too many Gogue males who had fathered children, so most Gogues today can probably trace their ancestry back to one of these three men.  Except that......

AN IMPORTANT GOGUE MISSING FROM THE CENSUS OF 1897

His name was Basilio Pangelinan Gogue, the son of Jose Gogue and Monica Pangelinan.  Undoubtedly he was from Hagåtña.  He would have been born in the 1830s or 1840s.  He married Paula Rivera.

He's important precisely because he is missing from the Census.  It means that, when the Census was taken in 1897, Basilio was not on Guam.  He was moving around.  Which means he made connections with other islands in the Marianas.

One daughter, Maria, was born on Saipan in 1865 and eventually married a Chamorro from Rota and died on that island.

I suspect two other Gogue women, Carmen and Ana, are Maria's sisters, as they, too, married Chamorros from Rota and died there as well.

But another daughter of Basilio and Paula was Isabel.  Isabel was the mother of at least three children that I know of, all three born out of wedlock.  At least one of the three children (possibly more) had a Spanish father.  The three children of Isabel were :

Vicente Gogue, who married Gloria Torres Pangelinan.

Prudencio Gogue, who married Dolores Garrido Reyes, and settled in Malesso'.

Joaquina Gogue, who married Manuel Dueñas Flores.

I knew one of Prudencio's daughters in Malesso' and she was quite fair-skinned.

PÅTTEN GOGUE

There is a locale in Luta (Rota) called Påtten Gogue (Gogue's part, or portion).

As Basilio Gogue had connections with Luta (one, if not three, of his daughters married and lived there), I wouldn't be surprised if Påtten Gogue was named after Basilio (had he owned the land?).

So Basilio is an important Gogue because his children and grandchildren married into well-connected families and are among the better-known Gogues in the Marianas.