CHAMORROS IN MANILA 1822

 

INTRAMUROS AND MANILA

(Intamuros was the heart of the city)

In 1822, a dozen Chamorro young men were sent, at Government expense, to learn trades and careers in Manila. The assumption was they would return to the Marianas and improve the local community with the skills they learned in the Philippines.

The list gives the names, but I'm spelling the names in more recognizable ways.

The youngest was a mere 13 years old; the oldest was 34. They were all students at Hagåtña's Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, the school founded by Sanvitores for boys. The names seem to be from Guam, not from Luta, although some boys from Luta were sent to the Colegio in Hagåtña. But it is still possible one or more of these 12 young men were from Luta.

Three went hoping to become priests. This meant to be admitted into a seminary. This shows that José Torres Palomo was not the first Chamorro to study for the priesthood, but he was the first Chamorro to actually be ordained a priest. Still, we have no idea (yet) how long these three priest aspirants lasted in their priestly studies. If they quickly stopped their studies, it may not even be right to say they studied at all for the priesthood. But, they had the dream anyway.

FRANCISCO GOGUE

LUIS QUITANO

CARLOS TEDGUATANO

There are still Gogues and Quitanos today, but the Tedguatano family became extinct. The Tedguatano were from Hågat (Agat).

MIGUEL QUIGIMA (ke+guma') wanted to be a shoemaker. There was a Queguma woman who married a Camacho, whose children lived into the early 1900s. But there were not enough male heirs carrying the name and it vanished.

JOSÉ ATOIGUE and

BERNARDO ALIG wanted to become carpenters. The document spells it Aloc but I've seen the name misspelled Aluc before, and this could be just a bad reading of the handwriting, which can be difficult to read.

Three young men wanted to become storekeepers. This is interesting, because the Spanish Governor controlled the government store. One also has to have things to sell, and where would Chamorro storekeepers get their merchandise? The three men were :

JOSÉ TAITANO

IGNACIO GOGO

JOSÉ PEREDO

RAMÓN DUEÑAS wanted to become a surgeon, a most needed profession in the Marianas at the time.

MARIANO GUEHILO (ge+hulo') or possibly QUEHILO (ke+hulo') wanted to become a blacksmith.

JOSÉ QUIDACHAY (misspelled Guedachay) wanted to become a painter (not the artistic kind, I assume).

The document was sure to point out that the Government provided all of these young men ample clothing.....and one rosary each.

What ever became of these young men? I don't know.

One has to wonder how many came back to the Marianas. We never hear of a surgeon named Ramón Dueñas. Or Chamorro storekeepers. Some of the names are so common we can't tell which José Taitano or José Atoigue we're talking about in later documents. We know for sure the three "seminarians" were never ordained priests.

We have to allow for the possibility that some died in the Philippines, or stayed there for good.