Pinoy Roots

Tombstone Tuesday: Haneper Duroy

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The grave of my father-in-law Haneper Astoriano Duroy, born 27 September 1939 in Samar, died 29 April 2010 in Leyte.

Photos by the author. Cemetery of Capoocan, province Leyte.

Philippines genealogy blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Are there any other blogs about genealogy in the Philippines? I am aware of two other blogs (three if you include this one). The Geneabloggers resource site lists the same three:

Ang Aming Angkan, by Mona Magno-Veluz, about Mona's ancestors
Carcar families: A Genealogy Blog for Carcar, about the genealogy of the families of the town Carcar on the island Cebu
Pinoy Roots, the blog you are reading now, about my wife's ancestors

Do you know any other Philippines genealogy blogs? Maybe you write your own blog about your Filipino ancestors? Let me know, and I'll add you to the Resources for genealogy in the Philippines.

Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Last year I wrote two posts about resources for Philippines genealogy, Online resources and Offline resources. Since then, the record search pilot of the LDS that I mentioned has ended, and the records are now available through the FamilySearch website.

The LDS also added a new record collection to FamilySearch: scans of the Manila Civil Registration (1899-1994).

I created a new, up to date, page on my site, Resources for genealogy in the Philippines, with all the online and offline resources that I know about. Let me know if I missed anything!

What's next?

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Over the last few weeks, I iterated over my wife's ancestors. For each ancestor, I listed what I knew about them, what I could find online, and what I could do to find out more. I updated the family tree with the information I found, and I created a list of steps that I could take to continue my research.

Questions for relatives

There are a few things I want to ask my mother-in-law, or other relatives. There are, of course, the questions any genealogist should ask older relatives, about their youth and about those that came before them. At the moment I have two additional questions for my mother-in-law: When and where did her parents-in-law pass away? (And if she does not know, she should at least be able to tell me if they were still alive at the time of her marriage.) And when and why did her family move from Kawayan on the island Biliran to Capoocan on the island Leyte?

We plan to visit the Philippines next year. Some questions I can ask before that time, some questions I will keep until we see the family, next year.

Research on location / Field trips

This is not for the near future, unfortunately. We plan to travel to the Philippines next year, but we will travel with our soon to be born baby. That makes travel to remote locations difficult, if not impossible.

Places I want to visit are San Isidro in Northern Samar, and Kawayan in Biliran. I want to search for relatives on the cemeteries, and I want to find out if any church records exist, and if I can consult them.

Order list from the FHL

I should order the following items from the FHL (a few items at a time):

Samar (Philippines): Registros civiles, 1808-1897. Civil registration of births and baptisms 1808-1818, 1843-1844 (film 1210941 Items 4-5), marriages 1883-1888 (film 1213522 Item 2) and 1888-1897 (film 1213523 Item 1), and deaths 1886-1893 (film 1211567 Item 4).
Samar (Filipinas): Padrón, 1896. Film 1779917. This should be a census, and I want to look for my wife's great-grandparents Isabelo Duroy, Alfonsa Monte, Jose Astoriano, and Salvadora Arroyo.
San Isidro (Northern Samar): Civil registration, 1954-2001. Film numbers 2253593 (birth registers 1954-1973, marriage registers 1954-1999) and 2253594 (death registers 1955-2001). At the moment I am mainly interested in the latter, to find the death of Norberto Duroy.
Allen (Samar): Copies of civil registration, 1922-1931. Marriages 1922-1931 film 1778459 Items 3-4. Should have the marriages of Gregoria Doroy (daughter of Isabelo Duroy and Alfonsa Monte) and Concepcion Astoriano (daughter of Jose Astoriano and Salvadora Arroyo).
Leyte (Philippines): Death certificates, 1945-1996, 215 film reels. I am looking for the deaths of Cornezo Ambe in 1988 (film reels 1718143, 1745776, 1718594, 2076726, 1719637) and Fernanda Bulasa in 1978 (reels 1770608, 1770588, 1771150, 1770641, 1770614). That is still a lot of films, I wonder if I can narrow that down?
Leyte (Philippines): Registros civiles, 1867-2001. Five films, with civil registrations of births 1945-2001, marriage banns and deaths for Leyte. Far from complete, unfortunately - let's leave this one, for now.
Leyte (Philippines): Marriage contracts, 1867-1897. Film 1779475 Item 3. Wait with this one until I know a little more.
Kawayan (Leyte): Copies of civil registration, 1922-1931. Film 1748535. Should have the marriage of Cornezo Ambe and Fernanda Bulasa, among others.
Brief history of Kawayan, Biliran. Film 2253985 item 8.

I also want to find the death certificate of Norberto Duroy among the death certificates from Northern Samar (47 film reels) and its predecessor Samar (64 reels), but that is only possible if I narrow it down first. Hopefully my mother-in-law or another relative knows his (approximate) death year.

Records from the NSO

The NSO (National Statistics Office) is the organisation responsible for the civil registration in the Philippines.

Try to order death certificates of my wife's father and grandparents. Or let my wife or mother-in-law do that, if it has to be done by the next of kin.

Estanislao Bulasa and Juana Balondo

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0000

This is the last post in the iteration of my wife's ancestors. Today we look at Estanislao Bulasa and Juana Balondo, numbers 14 and 15 in the ahnentafel.

All I know is that Estanislao and Juana had a daughter, Fernanda, on 22 January 1924 in Kawayan, province Leyte at the time, now province Biliran. I found nothing on this couple on Google or Family Search, and the record search pilot only had the marriage of daughter Fernanda.

The to do list for this couple is the same as for Tranquilino Ambe and Antonia Gadugdug, last week.

Files: Estanislao Bulasa, Juana Balondo

Tranquilino Ambe and Antonia Gadugdug

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Tranquilino Ambe and Antonia Gadugdug are the numbers 12 and 13 in my wife's ahnentafel. All I know of them is that their son Cornezo was born on 9 September 1902 in Kawayan, Biliran, Leyte. So that's where I should start searching. Biliran, an island north of the island Leyte, was part of the province Leyte at the time, but is now a separate province.

I found nothing on Google and Family Search, but on the new record search pilot I found the marriages of two children: Cornezo and Recardo.

I already mentioned Cornezo's wedding in a previous post. His brother Recardo is new: Recardo Ambo [sic], 23, son of Tranquilino Ambo and Antonia Gadugdug, married Bartolomina Pazon, 18, daughter of Zacarias Pazon and Cornelia Florida, on 27 June 1927 in Caibiran, Leyte. Note the spelling: We already encountered three different spellings of the Ambe surname (Ambe, Ambi, Ambo).

The next step is ordering a few microfilms from the FHL: Copies of civil registration, 1922-1931 from Kawayan, maybe Marriage contracts, 1867-1897 from Leyte, and Registros civiles, 1867-2001 from Leyte.

I should also find out if any church records from Kawayan exist, and where they are.

Files: Tranquilino Ambe, Antonia Gadugdug

Jose Astoriano and Salvadora Arroyo

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Next in my iteration of my wife's ancestors are Jose Astoriano and Salvadora Arroyo, numbers 10 and 11. Like Isabelo Duroy and Alfonsa Monte last week, I know nothing about them except their name, and that their daughter Venturada is allegedly born in San Isidro, Samar.

No luck again on Google or Family Search, but on the new record search pilot I found the marriage of a daughter: Concepcion Astoriano, 22, daughter of Jose Astoriano and Sivadora Aroyo, married Roque Avendanco, 18, son of Santiago Avendanco and Rosana Filonia, on 29 January 1927, in Allen, Samar (now Northern Samar).

The next step is consulting the same records from Samar I listed last week.

Files: Jose Astoriano, Salvadora Arroyo

Isabelo Duroy and Alfonsa Monte

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0000

I continue my iteration through my wife's ancestors with generation IV, the great-grandparents. For each ancestor I list what I know (not much, unfortunately), what I can find online, and what I should do next. Today the numbers 8 and 9, Isabelo Duroy and Alfonsa Monte.

All I know of Isabelo and Alfonsa is their names. Presumably they lived in the province Samar, at least that is where their son Norberto was born.

I had no luck searching Google and Family search, but on the new record search pilot I found the marriage of a daughter: Gregoria Doroy [sic], 21, daughter of Isabelo Doroy and Alfonsa Monte, married Mamerto Dolong, 25, son of Cipriano Dolong and Bembenuta Gatacelo, on 21 November 1929 in Allen, province Samar (now province Northern Samar).

The next step is to get some records from (Northern) Samar from the FHL. I should check out the 1896 census, the Samar Registros civiles (Civil register) 1808-1897, and Copies of the civil registration (1922-1931) from Allen (with Gregoria's marriage).

I also have to find out if there are still church records from San Isidro (and possibly other places), and if so, where they are.

Photo: The San Juanico bridge connects the islands Leyte and Samar. Photo by the author.

Files: Isabelo Duroy, Alfonsa Monte

Cornezo Ambe and Fernanda Bulasa

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I'm still iterating through my wife's ancestors, in numerical order. For each ancestor I list what I know, what I can find online, and what I should do next. Today I looked at numbers 6 and 7, Cornezo Ambe and Fernanda Bulasa.

Cornezo and Fernanda are buried in Capoocan, and last year, while we were in the Philippines, we were able to visit their grave.

The inscription on the grave reads: "In memory of Cornezo G. Ambe born Sept. 9 1902 died Dec. 14 1988 Fernanda B. Ambe born Jan. 26 1906 died Feb. 19 1978 Family Remembrance". So we already know the birth and death dates of both spouses. According to the family, they were both born in Kawayan on the island Biliran (now province Biliran, but at the time part of the province Leyte), and they both died in Capoocan, province Leyte.

The next step was searching Google, Family search and their new record search pilot:

No luck on Google.
I found many Ambi's [sic] in Biliran on FamilySearch, but could not prove a relationship (yet). Interestingly, I did find a Bulasa-Ambi couple: Arcadio Bulasa, born 1 June 1901 in Balacson, Kawayan, Leyte, died 12 June 1975 in Buyo, Kawayan, Leyte, married Fortunata Ambi, born 4 August 1904 in Buyo, died 28 August 1979 in Buyo. Maybe siblings of Cornezo and Fernanda?
Record Search has the marriage of Cornezo Ambi and Fernanda Bolosa: Cornezo Ambi, son of Tranquilino Ambi and Antonia Olaguer, 23, and Fernanda Bolosa, daughter of Estanislao Bolosa and Juana Balondo, 20, married 22 January 1924 in Kawayan, Leyte. Unfortunately the collection of Philippines records is not scanned, only indexed.

So what's next? Some of their children are still alive, I should talk to them to get some background information, and maybe a photo. I have the basic dates (birth, marriage and death), but nor from primary sources. I will need to check a few BMD certificates. I can probably order copies of the death certificates from the NSO (maybe I have to do that through my mother-in-law, who is next of kin).

From the FHL I should order the Brief history of Kawayan, Biliran for the historical background, Death certificates, 1945-1996 from Leyte, and Copies of civil registration, 1922-1931 of Kawayan.

I should also find out if church records from Kawayan survived, and where they are now.

Files: Cornezo Ambe, Fernanda Bulasa

Norberto Duroy and Venturada Astoriano

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0000

As I said last week, I will iterate over my wife's known ancestors, in numerical order, and list for each ancestor what I know, what I can find online, and what I should do next.

I have done that for the first three people in the tree, but for privacy reasons I will not publish the result here.

Numbers 4 and 5 are my wife's paternal grandparents, Norberto Duroy and Venturada Astoriano. My father-in-law told me they were born in San Isidro, in the province Northern Samar (Samar, at the time - Northern Samar is a separate province since the 1960s). Norberto also died in San Isidro, his wife in Santo Tomas, province Davao del Norte. Unfortunately my father-in-law passed away before I could ask him any further questions. My wife knows nothing about her paternal grandparents, presumably they died before she was born, or possibly during her infancy.

Norberto and Venturada had (at least) three children. My father-in-law, born in 1939, was the youngest. That means Norberto Duroy and Venturada Astoriano probably married in the 1920s or early 1930s, and they were probably born between 1900 and 1915.

I searched Google, Family search, and the new record search pilot without result.

So what's next? The first thing I should do is talk to my mother-in-law. She will certainly know if her parents-in-law were still alive at the time of her marriage, and hopefully a bit more. I should also try to find the children of Norberto Duroy and Venturada Astoriano that are still alive, if any. And I want to go to San Isidro to see if there is a grave.

Records I should order from the FHL include the civil registration of San Isidro and death certificates from Northern Samar and its predecessor Samar. They can only contain the death certificate of Norberto Duroy, though, as his wife probably died elsewhere and records from the time of their marriage are not available. Available censuses are probably too old, though they will be useful for the next generation.

Finally, I should find out if there are any church records left from San Isidro, and where they are kept. This seems essential as it is probably the only way to move back a generation.

Files: Norberto Duroy, Venturada Astoriano

Plan de campagne

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Capoocan cemetery. Photo by the author.

Now that I know which resources are available to me, both online and offline, it's time to get started.

What I have, so far (information on living family members withheld):

8. Isabelo Duroy [file]	9. Alfonsa Monte [file]	10. Jose Astoriano [file]	11. Salvadora Arroyo [file]	12. Tranquilino Ambe [file]	13. Antonia Gadugdug [file]	14. Estanislao Bulasa [file]	15. Juana Balondo [file]
4. Norberto Duroy [file]		5. Venturada Astoriano [file]		6. Cornezo Ambe [file]		7. Fernanda Bulasa [file]
2. Haniper Duroy 1939-2010 [file]				3. mother i.l.
1. my wife

Over the coming weeks I will iterate over this list and write a blog post for each couple. In this post I will list what I know, I will search the online resources, and I will decide what sources to consult next. Once I'm finished I should have a list of records I want to order for consultation at a family history center, and a to-do-list for my next visit to the Philippines.

Offline resources

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0000

View of Manila, by Johannes Vingboons. Image bank, Dutch National Archive.

The Philippines Research Outline that I mentioned in my previous post contains a very useful record selector. It is clear from this record selector that to find births, deaths, marriages or parents (the basic data of the family tree) I need to look at the civil registration and church records. Secondary sources include the census, military records, cemeteries, and probate records.

Let's concentrate, for the time being, on civil registration, church records, census, and cemeteries - the most promising record types, it seems. Some of these I will be able to consult in a family history center here in Europe, others I have to consult when I am in the Philippines.

Civil registration

The National Statistics Office (NSO) maintains and keeps the civil registration since 1932 (the date the civil register was introduced). Many records from 1932-1945 were lost in the second world war. The NSO has a useful FAQ on civil registration.

The Family History Library has filmed all NSO records and some other records, e.g. Copies of civil registration, 1922-1931, Kawayan, Leyte.

Church records

The FHL does not have church records from the villages in which I am interested. I need to find out if they still exist, where they are kept, and if I can consult them there. I probably need to get in touch with the parish administration.

Cemeteries

To visit a cemetery I obviously have to be in the Philippines. Last year we visited the local cemetery in the village my wife came from. Her maternal grandparents were buried there (I posted a photo of their tombstone). Next time we are in the Philippines we will go there again, to visit her father's grave.

Other graves will be more difficult to visit, unfortunately. My parents-in-law came from different remote regions: Biliran and northern Samar.

The Records Management and Archives Office has cemetery records in its collection, which are filmed by the FHL. I expect these are mostly from the Manila region: I doubt that cemetery records from small villages in rural areas ended up in Manila (if these were even kept at all). The FHL catalog confirms that.

Census

The Records Management and Archives Office, the Philippines' equivalent of the National Archives, keeps census records. These are filmed by the FHL. Censuses are not indexed yet. In the 19th century censuses covered Luzon and the central Visayas region, so I may be out of luck here (I'm researching the eastern Visayas). Indeed, the FHL has no censuses from Leyte (which included the Biliran region at the time). They do have an 1896 census from Samar, though.

Language

The official languages of the Philippines are English and Tagalog. Modern sources will be in these languages (mostly English, I expect). Languages spoken in the region I research are Waray-Waray and Visayan. Older church records are in Spanish. According to the Philippines Research Outline, there are also records in Latin, French, Dutch, and Hebrew.

I expect the vast majority of records will be in English and Spanish. English is not a problem. I know some high school Spanish, and with the help of a dictionary I expect I can understand most Spanish records too.

Online resources

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 17 May 2010 03:42:00 +0000

So, what resources are available to someone researching their Pinoy roots? In this blog post I will look at the available online resources, in future posts I will try to find out what is available offline.

One of the most useful online resources is the Philippines Research Outline of the LDS. The guide discusses what records are available and how to use them. It is a bit outdated, though - its focus is on research in family history centers or possibly on location, and ignores the internet. I will get back to this guide when I discuss offline resources. Another important (and related) LDS resource is the Family History Library catalog Philippines, listing many offline resources that are (usually) available in FHCs. Again, I will get back to this resource when I investigate offline resources.

The NSO (National Statistiscs Office), who is responsible for the civil registration in the Philippines, has a useful FAQ on civil registration. The FAQ is not aimed at genealogists, but it does contain important information on how the civil registers are set up, what they contain, and how to order copies.

The Katálogo ng mga Apelyidong Pilipino, or Catalog of Filipino Names, contains an interesting discussion on how the Filipino's got their surnames, and a list of truly Filipino surnames, without Spanish roots. From the surnames in our family, only Balondo is listed - apparently the other surnames have Spanish roots (though I have my doubts about Gadugdug).

Genealogy in the Philippines on About.com lists only a handful of resources. The page is outdated, and at least one link is broken.

WVR's Philippines Genealogy Search claims to search "90 websites related to doing genealogy in Philippines", but I can't seem to find anything useful on it.

The Philippines Genealogy Web Project, part of the WorldGenWeb project, was hosted on the now defunct Geocities. A copy of the site can still be consulted at Reocities, but the site, last updated in 2001, is hopelessly outdated.

The Rootsweb mailing list for the Philippines is very quiet, but there is some activity on the Ancestry Message Board. I have not used them yet, but probably I will post some queries in the future.

There are very few online records. The only ones I have found are from the LDS: the IGI (available via Family search) and the new record search pilot (births and baptisms, deaths and burials, and marriages). Unfortunately the record search contains only indexes, no scans, from selected localities only. Just 5,128,622 death and burial records and 2,247,381 marriage records seems quite low for a country the size of the Philippines, and with only 334,139 baptism and birth records the chance of finding the one you need is very low.

Ancestry.com seems to have only one Filipino database: the Philippines Country Study. In their words: " This database contains significant material useful to the researcher looking into Filipino ancestry. Although not a database with defined lists of names, it is an aid to persons trying to understand the larger culture and context in which their ancestor lived." I have not looked at this database yet and do not know what it might contain.

I will get back to these resources in future posts, while I try to apply them to my Pinoy genealogy research.

Haniper Duroy 1939-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:37:00 +0000

Haniper A. Duroy, my father-in-law, passed away on 29 April 2010 at the age of 70.

File: Haniper Duroy

A tombstone

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

When we were in the Philippines last year we passed by the new cemetery of Capoocan (prov. Leyte, the Philippines), where my wife's maternal grandparents are buried. Unfortunately our visit was cut short by a tropical shower, but I still managed to take a few photos.

Apparently my grandparents i.l. were buried elsewhere before, but they (and many others) were reburied when this cemetery opened. The (flat) memorial stone is new, it was placed here at the time of the reburial.

The inscription shows this is the final resting place of Cornezo Ambe (born 9 September 1902, died 14 December 1988) and Fernanda Ambe (born 26 January 1906, died 19 February 1978). Fernanda's maiden name Bulasa is not inscribed (only the initial B.). Though Cornezo and Fernanda died in the region, they were not born here: The family is originally from the neighbouring island Biliran.

Photos from the new cemetery at Capoocan, Leyte, the Philippines. Taken by the author in 2009.

Files: Cornezo Ambe, Fernanda Bulasa

The tree so far

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

My parents in law provided me with the names of their parents and grandparents, and a few dates and places. With their information I now have a small tree that I can use as a starting point.

The tree so far (information on living family members withheld):

Isabelo Duroy [file]	Alfonsa Monte [file]	Jose Astoriano [file]	Salvadora Arroyo [file]	Tranquilino Ambe [file]	Antonia Gadugdug [file]	Estanislao Bulasa [file]	Juana Balondo [file]
Norberto Duroy [file]		Venturada Astoriano [file]		Cornezo Ambe [file]		Fernanda Bulasa [file]
father i.l.				mother i.l.
my wife

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:46:00 +0000

I have been tracing my Dutch roots for a long time now, but I still have to start on my wife's roots. One of my genealogy plans for 2010 is to do just that: Trace my wife's roots. I will record the progress of my research in this blog.

My wife is born on the Philippines and therefore has Filipino roots. Or, as they say on the Philippines: Pinoy roots.

In the next post I will present the small tree I have to start with, that I created after an initial conversation with my wife and with my parents in law. After that I will find out which resources are available to me, and create and present a plan de campagne.

While I have plenty experience researching Dutch genealogy, Filipino genealogy is completely new to me. So far I did two things: I talked to my parents in law and got the names of their parents and grandparents (so I now have a four-generation ahnentafel), and I tried to find out which resources are available online (disappointingly few). More about that in future posts. At the moment, I don't know what is possible, or if I can even expand that four-generation tree. I know tracing my wife's roots will be a lot harder than tracing my own!

A new blog

noreply@blogger.com (Henk van Kampen) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:48:00 +0000

This blog will launch on 12 April 2010.