The village of Sumay is gone.
But not its cemetery.
Most of the lápida (gravestones) are now nameless slabs of stone. But a few remain, in Spanish, Chamorro and English, to the extent that we can come up with a list of the people buried here :
This list is long, but some names are missing, such as Concepcion Perez, whose Spanish lápida I saw for myself, lying on the ground in this cemetery.
The Sumay baptismal records survived the war, so even if the cemetery did not survive, or even if it survived but most lápida are unidentifiable at this time, those baptismal records provide us much valuable family information.
For us Hagåtña people, we lost both the baptismal records and our cemetery (Pigo') to American bombardment. Ai ke lástima!
Hafa adai pale eric, I recently discovered that my great great grandmother last name was Saloaga. Her full name was Christina Taitano Camacho Saloaga. I'm wondering if her husband or relative is on the wall there under Larenzo S Saloaga. Is it a chamorro last name? And I've checked the world war 2 survivors and my grandmother is the only one with that last name. Thank you for your time.
ReplyDelete-Guahu si Patgon ma'yute.
Saloaga was Cristina's married surname. Her own surnames are Taitano Camacho. She married someone named Saloaga who seems to have died very soon after the marriage. I'll need some time to research who Mr Saloaga her husband was. Saloaga is probably a misspelling of the Spanish surname Zuluaga but that doesn't mean he was Spanish. Many non-Spaniards have Spanish surnames, like Filipinos and Chamorros. Spanish names were often misspelled when used in other countries.
DeleteThank you for your reply pale Eric.
DeleteBuenas Paleric, after alittle research and asking my papa about our family history its turns out. My grandma Cristinas husband Larenzo was a mestisu filipino cook in the Navy and was transferred to the USS Supply on September 8, 1909 along with a E. Concepcion, M. Manibusan, & J. Santos but he passed away before they had any children. My papa also said gma Cristina only spoke Spanish and Chamorro taya english, so her and her husband only could understand eachother in spanish.
ReplyDeleteAll of her children were From a Diaz man but none of them carried the Diaz only the Camacho. Her daughter was Julia Camacho Meno, My papas mother. We are Familian Espatsa and Kueto, we have some carolinian roots also. And that's about all my papa could tell me.
But After reading ur Espatsa post I'm almost certain my grandma Cristinas Parents were Guillermo Sablan Camacho and Rita Manajane Taitano.
Not too certain though..
Also there 2 other names on the wall that are closely related to me from my paternal Grandma is Vicente Cruz Quintanilla and Maria Perez Indalecio
Vicente C Quintanilla (ORONG) is my 3rd Great grandfather. Married to Gertrude Taitano Delos Reyes
Their son was Ignacio Reyes Quintanilla
Maria Perez Indalecio is my 3rd great grandmother
Married to Nicolas M Taitano their daughter was Caridad P Taitano (TITANG)
Ignacio Quintanilla and Caridad Taitanos daughter is my paternal gmas mom Jesusa Taitano Quintanilla Duenas. Married to Jose Perez Duenas (PINKO). His parents were Jesus Duenas Duenas and
Maria Perez Perez (Marian Jesus Pale).
That being said my Taitano branch is kinda intertwined between my both my paternal grandparents and is kinda confusing at first glance. But many of your posts have helped me alot.
Si yuos maase Paleric put i yomu blog yan i checho mu put i taotao'ta yan i kutturata. Hagu un na ba'ba i matahu yan i hinassoku.