HE SAID, SHE SAID

 

There are many stories of pregnancies outside of marriage in olden Guam, but this court case from 1929 is interesting to me because it involved a Catholic man and a Baptist woman.

I usually don't include the last names of people in embarrassing stories, in order to spare their descendants (some are old enough to have known the individuals involved) further embarrassment. With this story, even their first names are so uncommon that they could be identified, so I'll change their first names, too.

Let's call her Rosa. Rosa went to court in 1929 to lodge a complaint against Juan for making her pregnant. Both Juan and Rosa were single. Rosa was Baptist, and Juan was Catholic. Rosa claimed that she consented to have intimate relations with Juan four times, on the sole basis that Juan promised to marry Rosa very soon.

Rosa became pregnant, and Juan dragged his feet about marrying Rosa. 

Soon, Rosa's pregnancy couldn't be hidden. Rosa's female cousins at school told their mom, Rosa's auntie. The auntie told Rosa's mother. Rosa admitted to her mother that she was pregnant and that Juan was the father. Rosa's mom called Juan's mom.

Juan's mother agreed that Juan should marry Rosa, and asked Rosa's mother if she, Rosa's mother, a staunch Baptist, would agree to have Juan and Rosa marry before a Catholic priest.

Rosa's mother, the staunch Baptist, said "yes." Getting Rosa married and sparing everyone the shame was more important than where the marriage took place.

But Juan never went through with the wedding. And that is why Rosa went to court.

Juan was charged with seduction on the pretense of marriage, and Juan plead not guilty.

Rosa's problem in this court case was a lack of witnesses who could say they saw Juan and Rosa in carnal relations. Juan denied having ever touched Rosa.

Furthermore, witnesses were called in to testify that Rosa had had prior boyfriends, including a Filipino working for the Navy who seemed to be in high demand among the single ladies of Guam, since female rivals for this Filipino man's attention had quarrels with Rosa over him.

Rosa, according to some witnesses, was known for being a flirt with some of the young men, Baptist and Catholic. All of this was to insinuate that there could be more than one candidate for who impregnated Rosa.

In the end, the court acquitted Juan. There just wasn't enough evidence to convict him.

It was a matter of "he said, she said." There were no paternity tests, yet, to scientifically prove who the father was.

To this day, however, the family that Rosa eventually raised with a husband consider Rosa's first born the child of Juan, even though the child never took Juan's last name.

CHILD CRIMINALS

 

Juan was just 12 and Francisco was just 11, but they may have been the youngest individuals ever arrested in Guam history, at least before the war.

Court documents describe the two partners in crime as "incorrigible" and totally beyond the control of their parents.

In 1929, at around 10 in the morning, apparently when no one was home, Juan and Francisco broke into the house of a Navy Lieutenant working for the Naval Hospital in Hagåtña. Having free rein of the house, they helped themselves to the following list of items :

The two boys were caught and all the items, save one, were retrieved.

But, even as young as they were, the two boys were arrested and had to face the judge in court!

They plead guilty and were sentenced to two months' jail time plus court expenses, paid for, I'm sure, by the parents.

This was not the only time the criminal boys stole private property. They also stole a tricycle and a "kiddie car" from the front porch of Thomas Edward Mayhew, an American married to Emilia Duarte, born in Guam of a Spanish father and a mixed Chamorro mother.

FAMILIA : CHARFAUROS

 

According to the records left by the Freycinet Expedition, a visit to Guam (1817) by French scholars and scientists, FAULOS means "navigator." The word has since been lost in modern Chamorro speech; even my grandmother born in 1899 didn't know the meaning.

The Spaniards often switched between R and L when writing Chamorro words. Think, for example of Merizo which is really Malesso' or Inarajan which is really Inalåhan.

So FAULOS was often written FAUROS by the Spaniards.

CHAR is really CHAT, a prefix which means "imperfect" or "defective." 

So CHARFAUROS means CHAT+FAULOS, a defective, imperfect, perhaps bad navigator.

Many of our ancient Chamorro names are negative. Taitano, landless. Taimanglo, windless. Naputi, hurtful. We don't know for sure why this was so.

CHARFAUROS is a very old surname. It goes so far back and records don't always connect family members or relatives that we can't see how they are all related.

But the name was basically found in HÅGAT. Thanks to Spanish records from the 1800s that still survived, we can break down the CHARFAUROS families into the following ancestral groups. I will focus on the male descendants who produced heirs. Women who married and others who remained single, without children, I will not include since neither of them continue the family line.

If you are a Charfauros trying to do your family tree, as you work back you will eventually get to one of these older generations named here.

RAFAEL CHARFAUROS and FRANCISCA SAN NICOLAS

One of the larger clans of the Charfauros family was founded by Rafael and Francisca. Their son Anastasio SN Charfauros, better known as Tasio, had many descendants.

Anastasio married Antonia Sablan Alvarez, the daughter of Sabas and Angela (or Ana). They had many children but the sons with the most heirs were Luís Alvarez Charfauros who married Rosa Quintanilla Chaco, the daughter of José and Maria; and Ramon Alvarez Charfauros, who married Marcela Salas Cruz, the daughter of José and Joaquina.

JUAN CHARFAUROS and MANUELA CRUZ

Their son FULGENCIO CRUZ CHARFAUROS (born around 1844) married Justa de León Arceo, the daughter of Mariano and Francisca. They had many children but particularly VICENTE ARCEO CHARFAUROS, who married Rosa Aguigui Lizama (daughter of José and Marina) and MARIANO ARCEO CHARFAUROS, who married María San Nicolas San Nicolas (daughter of Juan and Fernanda) had children.

FORMER SENATOR EDWARD TORRES CHARFAUROS

was the grandson of Mariano Arceo Charfauros and great grandson of Fulgencio Cruz Charfauros

Another son JOSÉ CRUZ CHARFAUROS married Margarita Tenorio Laguaña, the daughter of Baldovino and Maria. They moved to Malesso', so the Charfauros family in Malesso' today are their descendants.

Another son MANUEL CRUZ CHARFAUROS married María Tenorio Laguaña, daughter of Baldovino and María. So, as did happen in the old days, two brothers married two sisters. 

CHAMORRO MUSIC LEGEND JESUS CRUZ CHARFAUROS (JESUS CHAMORRO)

was the son of Faustino Laguaña Charfauros and great grandson of Manuel Cruz Charfauros.

JOSÉ CHARFAUROS and JUANA CRUZ

Their son José Cruz Charfauros married Consolación Blanco Babauta, daughter of Antonio and Rosa. Another son Félix Cruz Charfauros married Antonia Blanco Babautam daughter of Antonio and Rosa. Again, two brothers married two sisters.

JOSÉ CHARFAUROS and MAGDALENA LAGUAÑA

These two had a son named Mariano Laguaña Charfauros who married Guadalupe Salas Nededog, the daughter of José and Vicenta.

JUAN CHARFAUROS and ENCARNACIÓN QUINTANILLA

These two had few children, who seem to have all been daughters.

MARIANO CHARFAUROS and INOCENCIA CRUZ

These two had a son Agustín Cruz Charfauros who married Maria Carbullido Santos, the daughter of Juan and Maria, and had children.

FAUSTINO CHARFAUROS and SERAFINA AGUIGUI

Their son José Aguigui Charfauros married Juana Diaz Cruz, the daughter of Manuel and Juliana. They had several children.

OUTSIDE HÅGAT

There was one branch of the Charfauros family that moved out of Hågat. They seem to have been better educated people who went to other places as school teachers.

They were the children of DIONISIO CHARFAUROS and DOLORES DÍAZ.

Their son Vicente Díaz Charfauros married Rita Dueñas Muña, the daughter of Vicente and Cornelia, and moved to Luta (Rota) where he was a school teacher. The Charfauros from Luta are their descendants.

Their other son José Díaz Charfauros, who married María Manajane Taitano, the daughter of Lucas and Nicolasa, moved to Humåtak as school teacher and their Charfauros descendants are there.

One last Charfauros, named BALDOVINO DÍAZ CHARFAUROS, married María Guatafe and moved to Hagåtña.

CHAMORRO POSTCARDS FROM 1900

 

Attorney Michael White from Saipan sent me pics of two postcards written in Chamorro from the Northern Marianas during the German Administration in 1900.

The first one, seen above, was addressed to Froilán Mangloña in Luta. I will render it in my Chamorro orthography but you can easily follow it by reading the original :

Gi echongñan i plåsa gi me'nan i gima' u fan ma tånme flores yan man dikkiki' na trongkon håyo siha yan un gua'ot ni dångkulo para kumahulo' guato i gima'.

In English, "By the side of the square in front of the house flowers and small trees will be planted and a large staircase to go up to the house."

I like this postcard because it uses the word ECHONGÑA which is now obsolete; no one uses this word anymore which is why even good Chamorro speakers have no idea why we sing in the hymn "O Maria Nana'magof" the words TUNANAS GI ECHONGÑÅ-MO. People think it means "crooked mosquito," "echong ñåmu." But ECHONGÑA means "side."

The second postcard was addressed to Luís Igualeman which is really EGAULIMAN, a Carolinian in Saipan. It says,

I gima' gaige gi hilo' okso', gai padet kuåttro yan meggai haligi-ña lao trabia ti monhåhåyan.

In English, "The house is on top of a hill, it has four concrete (perhaps walls) and it has many posts, but it is not finished yet."