In the early 1900s, several sisters, descendants of a Chamorro settler, enjoyed great success entertaining Hawaiians with song and dance.
Ignacio Aflague left Guam in the 1870s and eventually set up home in Hawaii, on the Big Island. In 1885, he married a Portuguese settler, Maria (or Mary) de Rego Souza. The couple had eight children together.
One son Joseph, had Enos for a middle name. Pronounced by an American, Enos would sound like ee-nos, which is close to the pronunciation of the Chamorro nickname for Ignacio, which is Inas. Is there a connection between Enos and Ignacio in Joseph's case? Joseph worked for the Oahu Railway and Land Company and eventually opened a business of his own, Aflague's Machine Works in Honolulu.
But far more prominent in Hawaii's social scene in the early 1900s were Ignacio's youngest daughter, who formed a singing group called the Aflague Sisters, sometimes called the Little Aflague Sisters.
And they certainly were little when they performed before the audience. Lucille, who played the ukulele, was but 11 years old when she and her younger sister Adeline began entertaining as a duo in 1910. Adeline was only 9 years old. They continued to perform frequently throughout the 1910s, right through the First World War until 1919. The sisters were now young adults with an eye towards marriage and family life and future careers. But while they performed, they were very popular with the crowds. They did it all; Spanish dances, Hawaiian songs and current hits.
They sang and danced not only at concert halls and theaters, but also for benefits, once for the Sacred Heart Church at Punahou.
An older daughter was Constance, who was a teacher (at one time in Waipahu) and who eventually married Louis Vivien in 1911 at Saint Augustine Catholic Church in Waikiki.
Another daughter was Gloria Aflague, who was a pianist and who married as early as 1902, to one J.E. Lewis.
Caroline, just a bit older than the two performing little sisters, married Henry Hanberg, Sr, and moved to California.
I don't know much about the oldest daughter Maria. Another son, Manuel, was a mechanic, and later an engineer, who lived on the Big Island for a time. He married Mae (May) Hurst and moved to the US mainland, passing away in Philadelphia, PA in 1969.
Though being Aflagues, the performing, little sisters were called by Hawaii newspapers "well-known members" of Hawaii's Portuguese community. This is understandable. Hawaii had a large Portuguese community while the Chamorros were just a handful. It was easier for the Aflague sisters to mix with their mother's Portuguese side, as her mother's family were in Hawaii while Ignacio did not have his siblings in Hawaii. Hawaii's Portuguese formed clubs and associations, while Hawaii's small Chamorro population were too scattered and few in number to do so at the time.
The 1900 US census lists an Igacio A (which apparently is Ignacio Aflague) born in 1855 in Guam. His wife is listed as Maria Igacio, born in 1870 in Portugal. Children listed are Maria (b. 1885 in Hawaii), Manuel (b. 1888 in Hawaii), Joe (b. 1889 in Hawaii), Cristine (b. 1891 in Hawaii), Aglaria (b. 1895 in Hawaii), Carry (b. 1897 in Hawaii), and Lucy (b. 1899 in Hawaii).
ReplyDeleteThe 1910 US Census lists Mary Aflague (widowed) as head of household, with children Joe (b 1890), Constance (b 1892), Glory (b. 1894), Carrie (b 1897), Lucy (b 1899), Adeline (b 1902) and nephew John Perry (b 1899) living with her.
My maternal grandfather was Joseph Enos Aflague who married my grandmother, Angela M.
ReplyDeleteMedeiros in 1916 in Hawaii.
She was of Portuguese descent.
They had two daughters. Vera and Mildred.
My mother Mildred C. Aflague was born Jan. 31, 1922 in Honolulu and lived there until the early 1950’s, when she and her daughter, Joann P. VanGeison, and her parents moved to the Bay Area of California. Mildred Aflague remarried to my father, Francis H. Weeks,and had me in Nov of 1957 in Richmond, CA.