Davao Genealogy: President Duterte and the What-Ifs of History

To celebrate the birthday of our president, here are 2 little what-ifs on President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

First What-If: PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA VELOSO

The first what-if is something I have already mentioned before: What if President Rodrigo Duterte's great-great-grandfather, Maximo Veloso, had married his great-great-grandmother, Dionisia Duterte? Then we would have had a President Rodrigo Roa Veloso, and not Duterte, today. However, the genealogical gods decided otherwise. Dionisia Duterte never married Maximo Veloso and their son, Isabelo, initially carried Duterte as his last name. For legal purposes he went by Isabelo Duterte, but in public he was known as Isabelo Veloso as apparently he was recognized as a son by Maximo. Thus, Isabelo became the father of Facundo, who also carried Duterte as his surname, who in turn was the father of Vicente, President Duterte's father.

The Duterte name, from the French du tertre, means "hillock" or a "small mound", but is also an allusion to "rising above others" or "prominence" or "elevation". Compare this with Veloso, which is from the Portuguese word veloso which means "hairy", derived from the Latin villosus, itself a combination of villus (“hair”) + -ōsus (“full of”). I think even President Duterte's critics would agree with me that a president whose surname means "rising above others" or "prominence" or "elevation" is better than someone whose surname means "hairy".

Second What-If: PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUARTE

President Duterte's birth registration (courtesy of LDS FamilySearch)

The second what-if is this: on President Duterte's birth registration in Maasin, Southern Leyte, his original last name (as was his father's) was actually Duarte. This was corrected to Duterte, and the stroke suggests that the same person who wrote "Duarte" also wrote "Duterte". Imagine if this was not corrected, and if President Duterte had decided to just use the wrong surname, then he would have been President Rodrigo Roa Duarte today!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Davao Genealogy: Setting the Record Straight on Luisa Azaola de Oyanguren

In this continuation article to the discussion on Don Jose Oyanguren, we shine further light on the wife of Davao's founder, Doña Luisa Azaola. Like many of the women of history, her story has been almost forgotten and what has been remembered has been relegated to legend and fantasy. Current Davao historians continue to hold the belief that she was, for years, the "lady love" of Don Jose Oyanguren and was only able to marry him upon his deathbed. Nothing could be further from the truth. This belief of a deathbed marriage, romantic as it may sound, is based on the wrong translation of Oyanguren's burial certificate. Most church records were written not by the Spanish friars but by locals called escribanos or fiscales. While many of these men were most likely of some mestizo Spanish ancestry, the general requirement was a basic grasp of the Spanish language and naturally the ability to write. Such a job was not as difficult as it may sound as most church records were in templates.

Don Jose's burial record was written in a manner that lacked punctuation marks such that what should have been "the cadaver Don Jose Oyanguren, an adult Spaniard, married to Doña Luisa Azaola, the day before" was written in the record like this "the cadaver Don Jose Oyanguren an adult Spaniard married to Doña Luisa Azaola the day before". In burial entries, it must be remembered that any reference to time or day other than the date of burial which appears at the very beginning of the entry actually refers to the actual death of the cadaver. Thus the Spanish entry "mismo el dia antes ala una y media". But, because of the lack of punctuation, historians assumed Don Jose Oyanguren only married Luisa Azaola the day before!

Maria Luisa Azaola, According to Legend

The story of Luisa Azaola that has been known to most Dabawenyos is the story that has been passed down in the Suazo family. The Suazos, one of the founding families of Davao, are the primary source of the love story of Oyanguren and Azaola. In the article Conquest in the Name of Love, writer Antonio V. Figueroa cites the Suazo family tradition and writes that Maria Luisa Azaola and her brother Antonio, both Spanish orphans, were living in Sigaboy when she met Oyanguren. It was in one of his sorties in Tandag that he met Luisa, the daughter of a capitan general by a local resident. The two agreed to live together as partners because Oyanguren, a Catholic, could not marry her because he had a wife in Spain. She later bore a son by a man surnamed Monteroso whom she married years after the Basque colonizer had died.

Figueroa's other writeup on Oyangure, HISTORY OF DAVAO – Oyanguren and Magsaysay, further mentions that "On his deathbed, Oyanguren, according to records at the San Pedro Cathedral archives, married Maria “mismo el dia antes ala una y media” at 1:30 in the afternoon of Oct. 10, 1858, on the day before he died. Fr. Celedonio Pardos solemnized the nuptial, presumably with the confirmation that his first wife in Spain had died."

Aida Rivera-Ford's book on Oyanguren states briefly that "on October 10, 1858, he died a broken man. It is recorded, however, in the archives of San Pedro Cathedral that a death-bed marriage took place the day before his lady-love Maria Luisa Azaola."

The basic facts here are: Oyanguren's love was named Maria Luisa Azaola who had a brother Antonio and both were the children of a a captain general by a local. By the time Oyanguren and Azaola met, both she and her brother were orphans. They lived together as common-law man and wife since Oyanguren had a wife back in Spain and they only married on October 10, 1858, a day before he died.

Setting the Record Straight on Luisa Azaola

Luisa Azaola in her twilight years (Photo from Geni)

One of the things that historians have gotten wrong about Azaola right off the bat is her full name. There never was a Maria Luisa Azaola. Oyanguren's wife was named Luisa Florencia González de Azaola y de los Reyes. She later shortened her name to Luisa Azaola and even records from the the San Pedro Cathedral do not even mention a Maria Luisa Azaola. It has always been Luisa Azaola.

A definitive genealogy of her family is maintained by Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer  and in his tree it is mentioned that Luisa Florencia González de Azaola y de los Reyes was born on June 19, 1824 in Binondo, Manila to Íñigo González de Azaola and María de los Dolores de los Reyes y Monterroso. Íñigo González de Azaola was a peninsular who was born in Burgos, Castile and León, Spain who held several positions in national government: he was Abogado de matrícula de la Real Audiencia de Manila, Agente Fiscal de Hacienda (1805-1808), Corregidor de la provincia de Tondo (1808-1813), Alcalde mayor de Camarines (1809-1814), Juez de alzadas (1823-1824), Asesor de rentas (1824-1827), Asesor General de Gobierno (1824-1827), Ministro de la Real Audiencia de las Islas Filipinas, Consejero de su Majestad, and Oidor de la Real Audiencia y Chancillería de las Islas Filipinas. 

While Luisa's last name has always been Azaola, in the complex Spanish naming system the original surname of her family was actually González. In fact, the Azaola surname came from Luisa'a paternal grandmother, Damiana de Azaola Bolumburu, which can be traced back to as far as the early 1500s in Orozco, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country in northern Spain.

Obviously, the story about Luisa's father being a captain general was also false. However, the Suazo family have gotten it right that the family of Luisa was prominent. And since Luisa's father, Íñigo González de Azaola, died only on November 7, 1850, Luisa could not have been an orphan when she met Oyanguren.

In an earlier research I originally was unclear whether or not Luisa had, indeed, a brother named Antonio. The very extensive and well-researched Azaola family tree does not show any brothers for Luisa. She only had sisters whose names were Nicolasa Francisca González de Azaola, María de los Dolores González de Azaola, María Camila González de Azaola, and María de la Concepción González de Azaola who were all married and have left descendants today.

However, since many of the legends about Luisa Azaola do have basis in reality, I decided to check on Antonio further. True enough, digging into other family trees on line, I discovered another family that had the Azaolas in their tree. The Seminario de Genealogía Mexicana, though incomplete in its documentation of the Azaola family tree, lists an Antonio González de Azaola Reyes as a brother or a Luisa Florencia Emiliana González de Azaola Reyes and who died in 1844. This tree is an earlier version of the Azaola genealogy and through an email communication with the author he stated "that after doing extensive research on the Azaolas and having found no documentary evidence of his existence whatsoever. . . I think that, like the adventurous stories of Oyanguren and Luisa Azaola, his existence is a myth.."

So When Were Oyanguren and Luisa Azaola Married? 

Even though historians have always insisted that Jose Oyanguren married Luisa the day before he died, no such record exist. And how could there be, when in reality Jose and Luisa were already married way back on September 5, 1843, at the Parroquia del Sagrario, Intramuros, Manila. That is why Jose Oyanguren's burial record stated casado con Luisa Azaola, which indicated he was already married to her when he died.

For whatever reason, Jose and Luisa did not have any children. After Oyanguren's death in 1858, Luisa returned to Manila and three years later, on February 11, 1861, she married José María González y Brenes. They had the following children: Vicente González y González de Azaola, Zoila Dolores González y González de Azaola, María del Carmen González y González de Azaola, and José María González y González de Azaola.

Luisa died in Manila at the age of 76 in the year 1900.

Famous Descendants

Interestingly, Luisa has several descendants that have married into prominent families in the Philippines:

• Paz Gonzalez de Azaola, the granddaughter of Luisa, married Joaquin Gorricho Pardo de Tavera, the uncle of Paz Pardo de Tavera who was married to Juan Luna (brother of General Antonio Luna);
• Rosario Cacho González de Azaola, a great-granddaughter of Luisa, married Pedro Jose Cojuangco, an older brother of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and uncle of former President Benigno Aquino III;
• Javier Luis Castillejo, a great-great-grandson of Luisa, married Maria Beatriz Preysler Arrastia, sister of Maria Isabel Preysler Arrastia, the mother of singer Enrique Iglesias;
• Atty. Louise Araneta-Marcos, a great-great-granddaughter of Luisa, married Ferdinand "Bong-Bong" R. Marcos, Jr.;
• Maria Angeles Cacho González de Azaola, a great-granddaughter, married Carlos Romulo, Jr., son of Filipino diplomat Carlos P. Romulo.

Davao Genealogy: In Search of Don Jose Oyanguren's Family Tree

An artist's reconstruction of how
D. Jose Oyanguren might have looked

In Davao City, the name Uyanguren (or Oyanguren) is simply the old name of a long stretch of road which is now called R. Magsaysay Avenue. For those in the know, Oyanguren is actually Don Jose Cruz Maria de Oyanguren y Ybarzábal. He is known today as the founder of modern Davao City, a settlement he called Nueva Vergara after his hometown. The whole Davao region he christened Nueva Guipuzcoa after his home province in Spain. Today, on Davao City's founding anniversary as a city, we pay our tribute to the man who is credited to have established the Davao region and what is now Davao City, genealogy style, through this fourth article in the Davao genealogy series.

One of the earliest write-ups on Don Jose Oyanguren is from Jose Montero y Vidal's Historia General de Filipinas Desde el Descubrimiento de Dichas Islas Hasta Nuestras Días which described Oyanguren's life as thus:

José Oyanguren was a native of Guipuzcoa who went to the Philippines in 1825, leaving Spain for political reasons. He passed several years in the province of Caraga (now Surigao), engaged in business, and in the Calamianes. For a number years also he occupied the judicial post in Tondo. In 1846 he was deprived of that post because such offcials were thereafter appointed in Madrid. 

On hearing of the cession of the gulf of Davao by the sultan to the Spaniards, he visited that region. On his return he proposed to Governor Claveria to conquer and subdue the entire gulf district, expel or pacify the Moros there, and establish the Christian religion, if he were given supplies and equipment, the command of the district, and exclusive rights of trade therein. A decree issued by Claveria February 27, 1847, gave him the command for ten years and exclusive rights of trade for the first six years. He was also given artillery, muskets, and ammunition, and permission to raise a company.

By the beginning of 1849 he was in peaceful possession of the entire coast-line of the gulf and then turned his attention into the interior. The government, however, did not live up to its promises, and Oyanguren after the death of Claveria was removed from his command. The last years of his life ( 1852-1859) were spent in the fruitless endeavor to obtain what had been promised him. 

While all histories of Davao City mention Don Jose Oyanguren in varying degrees, two renowned writers have so far been able to write extensively on him. The first one was Marina D. Suazo who wrote Davao: The Love Story of Don Jose de Oyanguren (Its Basque Colonizer). The second and most recent biography is by Aida Rivera-Ford's Oyanguren: Forgotten Founder of Davao. Published in 2010, it is by far the most comprehensive discussion of Oyanguren's conquest of Davao province. It is lovingly written and is meant to rekindle an interest in Oyanguren. In Ford's own words in one of her interviews, her 'greatest dream is to make Dabawenyos remember Don Jose Oyanguren, which she regards as the city's founder'.

Much of Oyanguren's history is tied to his founding of Davao. Some have also focused on his love story with Maria Luisa Azaola. However, no discussion on Oyanguren's parentage or ancestry has ever been done and today, on the 81st anniversary of Davao City's establishment as a city, we finally complete the history of Davao's founder.

The first clue that led me to Oyanguren's family is simple: I located his baptismal record which finally gave me the names of his parents and grandparents. After getting these names, it was just a simple step of checking online family trees. This led me to the Geneanet site showing Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer's family tree, which also let me further to more tidbits on the Oyanguren family through the Caseríos de Bergara site that discusses the properties of certain families from Vergara, Guipuzcoa, including the Oyangorens. 

Villa de Vergara

Most recent histories of Jose Oyanguren have his birthday correctly. He was born on the first of May 1800 in a town called Villa de Vergara, in the province of Guipúzcoa, Spain. While the province was considered part of the Spanish kingdom (and remains so, today) it has always been seen by its inhabitants as a historical territory of the fiercely regionalistic Basques. Guipúzcoa was also home to many famous people in history and could count among its beloved sons and daughters Juan Sebastián Elcano, who is known as the first to circumnavigate the world; St. Ignatius de Loyola; Sta. Cándida María de Jesús who founded the Congregation of the Hijas de Jesús; and Miguel López de Legazpi, the conquistador who colonized the Philippines on behalf of his king.

These possible influences, together with the fiercely independent streak that Basques are known for, probably later contributed to Oyanguren's desire to find his own niche in the world.

He was immediately taken to the Parish of Saint Peter to be baptized a day after he was born. His baptismal record gives his full name as Jose Cruz Maria de Oianguren, the son of Melchor Ignacio de Oianguren and María Ana Josefa de Ybarzábal.

His paternal grandparents were Miguel Antonio de Oianguren and Manuela Josefa Ybarzábal while his maternal grandparents were José de Ybarzábal and María Tomasa Aiastui. His godfather was Jose de Ybarzábal while his godmother was a Maria Ana de Ybarzábal, his grandfather and probably a sister of his mother.

While some of Jose Oyanguren's biographies have stated that he came from a peasant family in Guipuzcoa, this is totally erroneous. In fact, the Oyangurens are one of the oldest and most prominent residents of Villa de Vergara. And while they were not of the nobility, enough records exist to indicate that the Oyangurens, and Don Jose's line in particular, had several properties in Vergara.

One of the earliest mentions of an Oyanguren was in 1569, where listed among the inhabitants belonging to the parish of Santa Marina with the right to vote was a Pedro de Oianguren, almost certainly a direct ancestor of Don Jose Oyanguren. The earliest traceable ancestor of Jose Oyanguren is Nicolas Antonio de Oianguren, also from Villa de Vergara and who was married to Maria Concepcion Laspiur. Nicolas Antonio appears in a 1716 document where he requested permission to plant trees and where he indicated in his application that he and his ancestors have been owners and possessors of their house for generations. 

Nicolas Antonio's son, Joseph Joaquin de Oianguren, was born on June 11, 1713. He married Maria Josefa Unamuno on November 30, 1739 and they had at least two children: Miguel Antonio and Francisca Antonia. Miguel Antonio is the grandfather of Jose Oyanguren.

Jose had 3 siblings: Justo Rufino, Martina, and Micaela. Being the eldest son he was named in his father's will as the executor and successor of his father's estate.

As already mentioned above in Jose Montero y Vidal's brief biography of Jose Oyanguren, Oyanguren, left Spain for political reasons and went to the Philippines in 1825. It is unfortunate that there is not enough records that can shed light into the reasons why he left his homeland. Certainly, being the heir of his father's farmlands, he would have lived a comfortable life in Villa de Vergara. Instead, he left Guipuzcoa and settled in the Philippines.

Setting the Record Straight on Oyanguren's Marriage

All write-ups on Don Jose's life have indicated that he was married only on his deathbed. In Ford's biography, she states that Don Jose had a "lady love" by the name of Maria Luisa Azaola whose brother, Antonio, was one of the Spaniards slaughtered by Moro pirates in 1844. In the chapter on Oyanguren's death, Ford wrote that Oyanguren only married Azaola a day before he died on October 10, 1858. 

Marina D. Suazo's book also say the same thing: that a deathbed marriage took place between Oyanguren and Azaola. In the Suazo family tradition, it was in one of Oyanguren's sorties in Tandag where he met Luisa, the daughter of a capitan general by a local resident. The two agreed to live together as partners because Oyanguren, a Catholic, could not marry her because he had a wife in Spain. After Don Jose's death, she later bore a son by a man surnamed Monteroso who she married years after the Basque colonizer had died.

Perhaps the early biographers of Oyanguren did not have the easy access of the internet today, but it is now clear that there never was a deathbed marriage between Oyanguren and Azaola. It is possible that there was a misinterpretation of the death record of Oyanguren, which stated that:

D. Jose Oyanguren, an adult Spaniard from Vergara, province of Guipuzcoa, married to Dna. Luisa Azaola, is interred on the 11th of October 1858 at the Vergara cemetery, having died the day before.

The Spanish text states: D. Jose Oyanguren Espanol adulto natural de Bergara Provincia de Guipuzcoa casado con Dna. Luisa Azaola mismo el dia antes ala una y media. It is very clear that due to the way the sentence is written it would appear that they were indeed married the day before (October 10). But for those who are familiar with the way burial records are written, it is clear that what is meant by the entry is that D. Oyanguren, who is married to Dna. Luisa Azaola, died the day before. 

The truth is, Don Jose Oyanguren married Dona Luisa Azaola on September 5, 1843, at the Parroquia del Sagrario, Intramuros, Manila. This has been long been established by the descendants of Luisa, who bore 4 children after she remarried in 1861.

More discussions will be made on Luisa Azaola in the next article. But for now, it should be understood that when Don Jose Oyanguren died in 1858, he and Luisa were already married. 

A fuller history, with his genealogy, is perhaps needed to get a clearer picture of this forgotten hero of Davao. For now, I hope this brief tribute has allowed the readers, especially Dabawenyo readers, a closer glimpse into the man who founded Davao.

Happy Araw ng Davao!

Sources:

1. Figueroa, Antonio V. “Conquest in the name of love.” Edge Davao, 15 Feb. 2016, http://edgedavao.net/special-feature/2016/02/15/conquest-in-the-name-of-love/.
2. Ford, Aida Rivera. Oyanguren: Forgotten Founder of Davao. Mindanao Foundation for Culture and the Arts, Inc., 2010.
3. Suazo, Marina D. Davao: The Love Story of Don José de Oyanguren (Its BaSque Colonizer). Mindanao Times, 1980.
4. Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer's Family Tree
5. Caseríos de Bergara

Davao Genealogy: First Dabawenyos in 1936

Titles and names are very powerful. It spells out who a person is and what he stands for. When Spanish rule was no longer tolerable for the native inhabitants, the terms Filipino and indio took on a very powerful, almost spiritual, meaning for those who fought against the Spaniards. The term indio, especially, which the Spaniards used to classify those who were of indigenous origin, became the preferred brand of the revolutionaries.

The children born in the United States after 1783 were the first Americans, in the sense that they were the first children born after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally ended the US Revolution. In the Philippines, the first Filipinos of a sovereign nation are those born in the Philippines after July 4, 1946 when we were finally granted our independence by the United States.

Today, in this fourth installment in the Davao Genealogy series, we take a look at 2 individuals in the history of Davao who have the distinction of being the first to be born right after the municipality of Davao became the City of Davao on March 16, 1936.

Three babies vie for the title of being the "first Dabawenyo" after the town was granted the status of cityhood.

The first is Apolinario Mile, while born on February 11, 1935, was baptized on the very day that Davao became a city. Apolinario was the son of Victor Mile, from Mati, and Basilisa Bustamante, from Panacan.

On the same day that Apolinario Mile was baptized, Coleta Barateria was also being welcomed into the Christian world. Coleta was born on March 6, 1936, the daughter of Luis Barateria from Carcar, Cebu, and Lucina Ciarot, from San Fernando, Cebu.

Of course, nothing beats the special child that was first to be born in Davao on the day it became a city: Hilario Cisneros. Born on March 16, 1936 and baptized April 5 of the same year. He was the son of Tirso Cisneros of San Francisco, Cebu and Rosario Penaflor of Leyte. While he may not be the only one born on the day Davao became a city, he is the first one to appear on official records as being the first child of Davao City.

Davao Genealogy: Top 50 Surnames of Davao City

Six days before the Araw ng Dabaw, we dedicate this third in the Davao Genealogy series in presenting the top 50 last names of the city. Just like the cities of Cebu and Manila, Davao, being a melting pot of so many cultures and migrations since its foundation, has in its list of  top 50 surnames common last names that can be found in almost any major metropolis in the country.

Its top 50 common last names are all almost part of the top 50 common surnames of the Philippines. Fernandez, Davao's most common last name, is the Philippines's 13th most common. Flores, Davao's 2nd, is the Philippines's 7th. In fact, 31 of Davao's Top 50 surnames are also included in the Philippines's Top 50. Davao City, then, is truly a melting pot of different families.

It is those surnames that do not appear as common in most cities in the country that should be studied further. For instance, Bustamante, Davao's top 21, is already the country's 266th most common. Clearly, this family is somewhat unique (though not completely unique) in Davao. As many know, Bustamante is one of the pioneering families of Davao City. It is interesting that from among the founding families of Davao City: Bangoy, Alzate, Bustamante, Palma Gil, Lizada, and others, Bustamante alone has produced enough progeny to be included in the top 50 most common last names in the city.

Of course, that takes more research. For now, enjoy this list of Davao's top 50 most common last names!

Davao Genealogy: The First Baptisms of Davao City

In this second post in the Davao Genealogy series, we explore the baptismal records of the San Pedro church further. Due to the limited time we will limit the records only to the first 100 baptisms. From these we can see some very interesting tidbits about the first few years of Nueva Vergara, or what is now Davao City. Similar to the first in this series, this will simply make use of archival documents from the San Pedro cathedral.

Gender of individuals baptized

The ratio between sexes for at least the first 100 baptisms of Davao is almost 1:1. There were 52% males who were baptized from at least 1848 to 1851 with only 48% being female. Among the local gentry who sponsored baptisms, there appears to be preference for sponsoring females than males, with all female sponsors with the title of Doña sponsoring only female children.

Sponsors

Part of the ritual of baptism is the presence of a sponsor - a godparent - for every child baptized. In some cases there are a godmother and a godfather, but in ordinary families 1 is enough. In Davao, during the first 100 baptisms, 86 individuals acted as sponsors to these baptisms with some being a sponsor more than once.


Doña Luisa Azaola, Doña Margarita Abad, Don Vicente Montolin, Jose Cipriano Sarmento, Martin Navarro, and Vicenta de Castro were sponsors in baptisms at least 3 times, while Don Joaquin Urquiola and Felipa Garcia were sponsors twice.

Ethnicity of Baptized Individuals

The conversion of the native population has always been the primary reason give by the Spanish conquistadors in establishing new colonies. Almost immediately after Nueva Vergara was established, the priests went into the practice of baptizing the locals, both children and adults alike. 

Among the individuals baptized, only 16 were considered indio, or children of Christian locals. Majority of those baptized in the early years of Davao City were described as children of infieles or infidels. Among these, 41 were minors while 37 were adults ranging from the ages of 15 to 40 years old. 

Interestingly, we also see direct converts: 2 who were baptized were classified as Mahometano or obviously Moslems and 1 was described as Bagobo. 

For now it is unknown how they distinguished between indio, infieles, Mahometano, and Bagobo.

Other Interesting Tidbits

Despite the wide evangelization of the early missionaries in Nueva Vergara, very few families were baptized together. That is why it is very interesting that one such family is recorded to have been baptized together just a day apart.

Mariano Sagumbili, aged 40 years old and the son of infieles, was baptized on October 12, 1850. On the same day, Teresa Paguilingan, 25 years old and also the daughter of infieles, was also baptized. A day later, Teresa Sagumbili, 3 days old, was baptized. Her parents are listed as Mariano Sagumbili and Teresa Paguilingan.

Aside from the Sagumbili family, two individuals described as Mahometano, Atanasio (aged 38) and Jose (aged 13) were baptized under the same last name, Bustamante. It is possible they were either brothers or father and son. It is interesting to note here that, if these two married and had descendants, there would be many Bustamantes in Davao today who are, in fact, not related to the prominent Bustamante family, one of the big 4 families of Davao City who came with Don Jose Oyanguren to establish Nueva Vergara.

Davao Genealogy: Some Firsts During the Founding Days of Davao

It is quite known by most Dabawenyos that the old name of the Davao region was Nueva Guipuzkoa and what is now Davao City was called Nueva Vergara. These were the names that Davao's founder, Don José Cruz María Oianguren Ybarzábal, more simply known as Don Jose Uyanguren, gave to his newly established settlements in honor of his hometown, Villa de Bergara in the province of Guipuzcoa, Spain.

Even the name of the first Catholic church of Davao City, the San Pedro Cathedral, was dedicated to St. Peter, primarily because the victory of Don Jose happened on June 29, 1848. And it is also interesting to note that the first church in Davao was also named after Don Jose Uyanguren's parish church back in Spain, the Parroquia de San Pedro de Ariznoa. While the original church built by Uyanguren and the early settlers of the city does not stand anymore, the parochial records, the baptismal, confirmation, matrimonial, and burial records from 1847 until the present, have survived. And these are the records we will be looking at today in this first post on the Davao genealogy series.

First Names to Appear in Records

The earliest baptism in the newly-established Nueva Vergara settlement was a Maria Guillerma, who was born on September 25, 1848 and was baptized on October 1, 1848. She was the daughter of Tomas Ajos and Maria Tomasa. All were classified as indio in the record.

The earliest marriage in Davao occurred the same year as the first baptism: on November 19, 1848 Placido Tomas, originally from Batac, Ilocos Norte, married Cristina Alejandra, originally from Caraga.

And, finally, the earliest recorded burial happened on August 20, 1848: since burials in Spanish-period Philippines happened within 1 day, then it stands to reason that the earliest recorded death in Davao was on August 19. The first death in Nueva Vergara was Antonia dela Cruz, described in the records as just being 6 months old and the daughter of infieles, meaning her parents were not baptized yet, or were already dead before being baptized.

It would be interesting to see if the first to be baptized and the first to marry have left descendants today. That would be for future Dabawenyos to research!