LORENZO ("LARRY") TAITINGFONG SIGUENZA
with wife the former Rita Sablan Borja and children Rita and Otto
(courtesy of RoseMarie Siguenza)
The Siguenza family in the Marianas does not go a very long time ago. Of course, for you and me the year 1786 is a long time ago, but when other families appear earlier than that, in the 1727 and 1758 Censuses, while the Siguenzas do not, then the Siguenzas do arrive a bit later than many other families.
There was a soldier named Ignacio Siguenza on a list of soldiers serving the Spanish Government on Guam in 1786. He's one of the earliest Siguenzas documented in the Marianas. I cannot be sure if he has anything to do with the Siguenzas who came later, but there's more of a chance that he does than he does not. Who he was, where he was born and so on are questions I cannot answer for the moment. Was he Spanish, or Mexican, or Filipino, or a mixture or something else, we do not know for now.
Forty-three years later, there is another soldier named José Siguenza, who was the company drummer. For all we know, José could be Ignacio's son. Nine years later, there's a Miguel Siguenza listed as a soldier. José's brother? We cannot say anything more than that, since the documents just state first and last names and do not give us any more clues.
And we know from later records that there were a number of women named Siguenza who married, so the Siguenza name eventually got lost in the next generation.
But there were two men named Siguenza who became the patriarchs of all the Siguenzas who came later, many of them are people we know today.
LUÍS SIGUENZA
Born around 1829, Luís Siguenza married Agustina León Guerrero Pangelinan.
According to the 1897 Census, there seems to have been two sons both named José.
An older JOSÉ was married to María Quichocho Taisipic.
A second JOSÉ was married twice; the first time to Ana Tenorio Taitingfong, the daughter of José and Joaquina, and then to Maria Sablan Camacho, the daughter of Roque and Ana. One of José and Ana's sons, Felipe, was better-known as Felipe'n Bombo.
There was also a daughter named ENCARNACIÓN whom I mention because she married Pedro Royos Quichocho and many Quichochos are descended from her. One branch of these Quichochos moved to Luta (Rota).
VICENTE SIGUENZA
There was also a Vicente Siguenza from the early 1800s, whose relation to Luís Siguenza is unknown for the moment.
Vicente married Manuela Borja de los Santos.
They had the following sons :
JOAQUÍN, who first married Joaquina Pérez Cruz, the daughter of Pedro Reyes Cruz and María Cruz Pérez, then Emeteria de León Taitingfong, the daughter of Lorenzo Taitingfong and Juana de León.
From Joaquín's line come descendants like LORENZO TAITINGFONG SIGUENZA, who married Rita Sablan Borja; JOAQUÍN TAITINGFONG SIGUENZA, who married Ana Quitugua Borja and ANA TAITINGFONG SIGUENZA who, with Sharrock Brower Hannah, had a number of children.
Vicente and Manuela had at least two daughters. One was FILOMENA who married Vicente Tainatongo Castro.
The other daughter of Vicente and Manuela concerns us more because she had a number of children out of wedlock who carried the surname Siguenza, since their fathers were not known, or at least not official.
Her name was DOLORES.
Allegedly with Joaquín Cruz Pérez, she had these two sons :
JESUS, who married Carmen Santos Mendiola, the daughter of Ignacio Reyes Mendiola and his wife María Fausto Santos.
And VICENTE, who married Dolores Manibusan Cruz, the daughter of Juan Ignacio Cruz and María de la Rosa Manibusan.
From another, unknown, father, Dolores had a son named JOSÉ, who married Consolación Cruz, the daughter of Juliana Cruz who was at some point married to Antonio Fejeran Mendiola.
So there are a number of people with the surname Siguenza who are all descended from Dolores Santos Siguenza who had at least three sons with "unknown" fathers.
WELL-KNOWN SIGUENZAS
Although not as numerous as many other families on Guam, the Siguenzas have produced a number of people very well-known on the island down through the years. Some of them were :
LARRY SIGUENZA
Lorenzo Taitingfong Siguenza, better known as Larry, was one of the earliest Siguenzas who became active in the island community. He was the son of Joaquín Santos Siguenza and his wife Emeteria de León Taitingfong, and so he comes from Vicente's line of Siguenzas.
His mainstay was the US Department of Agriculture before the war, working for them as an agricultural extension agent, whose job it was to promote island agriculture, especially among the youth through Boys' and Girls' Agricultural Clubs.
But that was just the beginning. Larry was involved in many civic activities before and after the war. Besides working for the Government of Guam, in various capacities such as the Department of Agriculture as Deputy Director and as the Parks chief for the Department of Land Management, Larry was involved in the Liberation Day Queen contest, the Lions Club, the Young Men's League of Guam, the Guam Civic Improvement League and the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization. He was a Boy Scout master since before the war. Larry was also involved in sports, particularly being a boxing referee and judge. He passed away in 1983.
PETE SIGUENZA
Peter Charles Siguenza, born in 1920, was the son of José Siguenza and Consolación Cruz, and thus the grandchild of Dolores Santos Siguenza, the daughter of Vicente Siguenza and Manuela Borja Santos.
Pete was fortunate enough to go to Coronado High School in Coronado, California near San Diego before the war. He was still in California when World War II broke out in 1941. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps. But his potential was noticed by his superiors and he was sent to officer's school and became the first Chamorro officer in the Marine Corps. He saw action in several famous battles in the Pacific arena.
PETE SIGUENZA (R) AND BEN BLAZ (L)
Two pioneer Chamorro Marines
He graduated from Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California and later obtained a Master's degree from the University of Southern California. He married the former Barbara Bordallo, daughter of BJ Bordallo and his wife Josefina Pangelinan Bordallo. Back on Guam, Pete Siguenza worked in various positions in the Government of Guam and for J&G Enterprises. He was also active in many civic groups and activities. He passed away in 2007.
JUDGE PETE SIGUENZA, JR
The son of Peter Charles Siguenza and his wife Barbara Bordallo, and thus a descendant of Vicente Siguenza from the 1800s, Peter Siguenza, Jr rose through the legal profession to become a trial judge in the Superior Court of Guam and then Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court. He graduated from Father Dueñas Memorial School and did his college and law school studies in California. He passed away in 2020.
EDDIE SIGUENZA
If you attended almost any social event on Guam in the 1970s pretty much until before he died in 2009, you saw Eddie Siguenza, the brother of Peter Charles Siguenza. More importantly, he saw you because he was a photographer by profession, one of the island's leading photographers. Chances are he took your picture. He was everywhere, camera in hand. He was often hired by government officials and corporate bosses to photograph the island's biggest affairs.
SISTER CARMEN FRANCES SIGUENZA, SSND
And the last Siguenza I will mention is one who had an air of holiness about her. She was a Notre Dame Sister, Sister Carmen Frances Siguenza, the daughter of Jesús Siguenza, the son of Dolores Santos Siguenza, and his wife Carmen Mendiola. Sister was a school teacher, so she touched the lives of hundreds of children, from elementary grades up to junior high school. She even worked in Yap as a missionary.
She always had an aura about her that was warm and accepting. In her older years, she began to suffer bad health involving a lot of pain, and had to wear a neck brace. She was never down about it, and she never complained. She stayed the same. She was constantly praying for people. People brought her many intentions, and she listed them down to remember them when she prayed. She passed away in 2015.
SIGUENZA, SPAIN
Although we don't know where the first Siguenza on Guam came from, we do know that the name is Spanish and is the name of a city in northern Spain in the Province of Guadalajara.
SPANISH SPELLING
JOSÉ PANGELINAN SIGUENZA'S SIGNATURE
in 1902
If you notice the way the name SIGUENZA is spelled in the photo of the Spanish city, there are two dots above the U.
The two dots are needed in Spanish to make the sound GWE in SIGWENZA. Without the two dots, the GUE would sound like GUERRERO - GERERO. No GWE.
Notice that the Chamorro man José Pangelinan Siguenza spells his last name the Spanish way, with the two dots above the U.
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