LAST WILL IN CHAMORRO

 

In 1927, a prominent and wealthy man decided to write his last will and testament as he was not in good health and wanted to be prepared for death. He wrote his will in Chamorro, which lets us see the kind of Chamorro being spoken in Guam in the 1920s, 28 years into Guam's slow but sure Americanization.

The man was born around 1872, and his father was a very prominent man on Guam in the mid 1800s, as his father before him had been a Spanish government official who fathered children with a Chamorro lady.

I have changed the spelling to my own spelling more familiar to people today, and I am leaving out last names because the family's current descendants may not appreciate this will becoming public knowledge. An English translation follows each paragraph and explanatory notes come at the end.

Guåho si José ____ ____, 55 åños edåt-ho yan taotao este iya Hagåtña, låhen _____ yan _____. I numeron sedulås-ho 3313. Malångo yo’ lao mamaolek ha’ todabia i hinaso-ko. Hu fa’tinas i uttimo na disposision-ho ni todo i guinaha-ho, taiguine mo’na :

I am José ____ ____, I am 55 years old and a resident here in Hagåtña, the son of _____ and _____. My cédula is number 3313. I am sickly but my mind is still well. I make my final disposal of all my assets as follows :

UNO : Guåho sottero yo’ ya tåya’ tinatte-ko pat patgon-ho ni mañaina-ho sino solamente mañe’lo yan sobrino siha.

ONE : I am single and I have no descendants or children nor parents except only siblings and nieces and nephews.

DOS : Desde ke hu tutuhon macho’cho’ asta på’go hu sodda’ este siha mo’na na propiedåt :

TWO : Ever since I began working till now I find the following properties :

(a) Un guma’ teha yan i solåt-ña ni gaige gi Calle Esperanza, barrion San Ramón, numero 1299, na hu adkiere påtte pot erensia ginen i mañaina-ho yan påtte pot finahån-ho gi mañe’lu-ho. One house with tiled roof and its plot which is on Esperanza Street, in the barrio (district) of San Ramón, number 1299, which I acquired partly through inheritance from my parents and partly from my purchase from my siblings.

(b) Un fangualu’an giya Pa’åsan hurisdiksion Hagåtña na hu adkiere lokkue’ pot erensia ginen i mañaina-ho. A farm in Pa’åsan, jurisdiction of Hagåtña, which I acquired also through inheritance from my parents. 

(c) Un paståhe giya Makåhna hurisdiksion Hagåtña yan trenta na guaka ni man ma påpåsto guihe. Este na tåno’ finahån-ho gi as Juan ____, as Joaquin ____ yan otros mås. A pasture in Makåhna, jurisdiction of Hagåtña, with thirty heads of cattle which are pastured there. This land is my purchase from Juan ____, Joaquin ____ and others.

(d) Guaha lokkue’ ga’-ho singko na båkan karabao yan dos na toriyon karabao na man ma sosotta gi paståhen Luís ____ giya Bubulao. Guaha lokkue’ un båkan guaka na ha popoksai si Joaquin ____; un bakiyan guaka na ha popoksai si José ____ yan tres båkan karabao, i uno ha popoksai si Juan ____, i otro ha popoksai i pastot-ho as Juan ____ ya i otro ha popoksai si Vicente ____ yan un lecheran guaka na gai patgon. I have also five female carabao and two young male carabao which are loose on the pasture on Luís ____ in Bubulao. There is also a cow being raised by Joaquin ____; a heifer being raised by José ____ and three female carabao, one being raised by Juan, the other by my herdsman Juan ____ and the other by Vicente ____ and a dairy cow with its calf (or is pregnant?).

(e) Guaha lokkue’ dos karetå-ho, i uno troso i otro råyo. I also have two carts, one with solid wheels and the other with spoked wheels.

(f) Guaha lokkue’ iyo-ko na piano. I also have a piano.

TRES : Hu deklåra na tåya’ ni uno hu didibe ya ni uno dumidibe yo’.

THIRD : I declare that I am in debt to no one at all and no one is in debt to me.

KUÅTTRO : I disposision-ho ni este siha i propiedåt-ho ni esta hu sångan taiguine mo’na :

FOURTH : The disposal of my properties already described is as follows :

(1) I gima' teha yanggen måtai yo’ para si Marikitan che’lu-ho. The tiled-roof house should I die is for my sister Marikita.

(2) I tano’ giya Pa’åsan, i paståhe giya Makåhna yan i guakas siha guihe yan i singko båka yan dos toriyon karabao ni man gaige gi paståhen Bubulao para i sobrinu-ho as Enrique ____ kon la obligasion de i kubre todo i gåsto pot guåho durånte todo i malangu-ho yan i gåston i entieru-ho yanggen måtai yo’. Pot si akåso homlo’ yo’ nu este na malangu-ho ya esta yo’ siña macho’cho’ komo åntes, obligao yo’ na hu na’na’lo gue’ ni todo i gaston-ña pot guåho. The land in Pa’åsan, the pasture in Makåhna and the cattle there and the five female and two young male carabao which are in the Bubulao pasture are for my nephew Enrique ____ with the obligation to cover all the expenses during my illness and the expenses of my funeral should I die. If I should recover from this illness and I can work as I did before, I am obliged to pay him back all his expenses for me.

(3) I tres båkan karabao, i tres båkan guaka yan un tatneron guaka ni man ma popoksai segun i esta hu sångan guine gi sanhilo’ yan i dos kareta yan i piano para i mañe’lu-ho famalao’an as Marikita, Caridad yan Consuelo. The three female carabao, the three cows and one carabao calf which are being raised in the way I have already stated above and the two carts and piano are for my sisters Marikita, Caridad and Consuelo.

(4) Hu nombra i primu-ho yan amigu-ho as José ____ para atbaseå-ho para ke, yanggen måtai yo’, guiya u dispone todo i propiedåt-ho konfotme i malago’-ho guine na testamento. I name my cousin and friend José ____ as my executor so that, should I die, he will dispose all my properties in accordance with my wishes here in this testament.

Hu deklåra na este ha’ i uniko na testamento fina’tinås-ho asta på’go na ha’åne. I declare that this is the only testament that I have written till the present.

 

Ya este na testamento hu suplika i sobrinu-ho as José ____ para u tugi’e yo’ sa’ chatsaga yo’ hu tuge’ pot i malangu-ho ya todo este siha na disposision-ho humuyong ginen i pachot-ho yan i minalago’-ho, sin hu ma su’ok pat hu ma chachalåne, ya bai hu fitma este na testamento gi me’nan i testigo siha ni i hu na’ fan ma agånge para u ha hungok i disposision-ho guine na testamento, guine giya Hagåtña på’go gi dia ocho de enero gi mit nobesientos beinte i siette na såkkan.

And this testament I requested my nephew José ____ to write for me because I am unable due to my illness to write it and all of these instructions of mine have come from me verbally and from my will, without me being pressured or influenced, and I will sign this testament before the witnesses whom I have called to hear of the instructions in this testament, here in Hagåtña on today’s date of January 8, 1927.

NOTES

(1) The testator uses some Spanish loan words which are hardly used today. Atbasea (Spanish albacea) means executor, as of a will. The sedulas (Spanish cédula) was a personal identification paper. He also uses phrases straight out of Spanish such as "kon la obligasión de" (with the obligation to).

(2) He uses the original word todabía instead of trabia (in Saipan, tarabia), meaning "still, not yet." Monsignor Calvo (born 1915) always said todabía as well.

(3) The man has a piano, a rarity among Chamorros at the time. It indicates he is a man of above-average financial means (as also evidenced by his properties and cattle) and cultural affinity with the West.

(4) This man's last will differs from older last wills in one very noticeable way - the absence of any religious language. The man was Catholic, and I am not suggesting he wasn't a practicing one, but he does not include any religious language at all, not even about his funeral, whereas older last wills were very religious in tone. They almost always began right away with a profession of the person's Catholic faith; this was often the very first line of the last will. The person went on to express how they intended to die a loyal Catholic, obedient to the Catholic faith till death, and included clear instructions that he or she be given a Catholic funeral and sometimes even made provision to pay for the exact kind of funeral services they wanted, or how many Masses they wanted to be offered for them.

(5) Place names. The man's real estate assets were all centered in what we now call the Agaña Heights area. He mentions two places : Pa'åsan and Makåhna. I have never heard of a place called Makåhna, only the mountain by that name. A mountain is hardly a place for a pasture, but maybe he means the slopes of Mount Makåhna near Agaña Heights or maybe the backside of the mountain, which isn't a steep climb.

PA'ÅSAN AND MAKÅHNA

In addition, he mentions a place called Bubulao, where he didn't own land but where one of the landowners there allowed him to pasture some of his animals, maybe for a fee or a share in the meat if and when the animal was butchered. Bubulao was prime pasture land and some prominent Hagåtña people owned land in Bubulao and raised cattle there, sometimes hundreds of heads of cattle.

Bubulao is somewhat remote. One has to drive from Malojloj inland to the foot of the mountains.

BUBULAO