Filipino Ancestry

My Filipino family tree basically stopped at my great-grandfather, Bartolome Arcala.  I found the baptismal record for my great-uncle Hilarion "Pedro" Arribas Arcala.  He was born October 19, 1893 and christened October 21, 1893.  It lists Bartolome Arcala as his father, and on another record, Bartolome is also listed as "Felipe."  Felipe is most likely his baptismal name.  It lists Narcisa Arribas as his mother (her last name was erroneously spelled Ribas).  

Bartolomé Agan Arcala 

Bartolome's parents, my 2nd great-grandparents were documented as his father Angel Arcala (which I previously had as a female ancestor) and his mother Antonia Agan.  This means Bartolome's middle name was Agan.  And, he did have an accent mark on the ending E of his first name.

Narcisa Alcancion Arcala (Arribas)

Narcisa's parents, my 2nd great-grandparents were listed as her father Feliciano Arribas and her mother Feliciana Alcancion.  This means Narcisa's middle name was Alcancion.  

Hilarion's God Parents

At his baptism were Pete's God Parents.  His Godfather was named Bartolomé Argallon. His Godmother was Eugenia Flores.  

*Documentation coming soon.

Santiago Arcala

November 26, 2018, my husband, Trevor, took me to Tacoma, Washington to visit the grave of my paternal great uncle, Santiago Arcala.  This was an early birthday present to me, one that I will cherish forever.

Santiago Arcala was the first of the Arcala brothers to pass away after emigration to the United States from the U.S. Territory of the Philippine Islands (since 1935 Commonwealth of the Philippines; then on July 4, 1946, The Republic of the Philippines).

He was buried in Calvary Cemetery  at 5212 70th St. W., Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, U.S.A. 98467.

Me at the grave

I picked these wild flowers in the cemetery and added them to his headstone before I left.

Tacoma Hotel where my great dduncles lived. 

Santiago Arcala's death cwrtificate 

Funeral record

The cemetery pictures are my own. The death and funeral records are from my uncle Barry Arcala.

The Monkey and the Turtle

I have always been very proud of being a Filipino descendant as well as French-Canadian and Korean.  Having a grandfather from the Ilocos Sur region of the Philippines fascinated me, for I was different.  Most, if not all, the Filipino people I had met spoke Tagalog.  My grandfather spoke Ilocano, and didn't understand Tagalog.  It was as foreign to him as Russian is to Spanish.  The problem about being proud is I couldn't really relate.  I didn't speak the language, never been to the Philippines, haven't really eaten the food, do not have any Ilocano friends, so I could only hold on to the sprinkle of Filipino I have in me.

I wanted to learn about the culture, and so I started from the beginning, checking out children's stories and fairy tales.

The story of the Monkey and the Turtle is a popular Ilocano fable with a moral at the end of the story.  In short, the story begins with a crying monkey.  A turtle comes across him and asks him why he's crying.  The Monkey tells him that the other monkeys ate all the squash and he didn't get any and was very hungry.  The turtle tells him about a place where there were bananas, and that he loved bananas and was hungry, too.  He shows the monkey the way.  The monkey climbs the tree and promised to send down bananas, but instead, stays in the tree and eats the bananas, throwing the peels down at the turtle.  The turtle gets upset and brings bamboo spikes, and stabs the ground.  He then yells to the monkey that a crocodile is coming and so the monkey is startled and falls to his death, where he is impaled by the bamboo spikes.  The monkey's family finds out and persecutes the turtle by throwing him into the ocean to die.  The turtle comes back to the monkey village eating a lobster.  They asked him how he got the lobster and he said he tied a rope around his waist with a large rock tied to the other end.  When he went down to the water, he hit the lobster with the rock and that's how he ended up with lobster meat.  The monkeys thought that was a great idea, tied ropes and stones to themselves and plunged into the sea where they never resurfaced.

On August 24, 2014, I went to the tattoo shop and had a monkey and turtle tattooed on my back, over my right scapula.

Immediately after I was tattooed.
Tattoo created by Phillip Alcala of Bad Influence Tattoo in Fountain Valley, CA.

Aunt Betty and Uncle Tony

Aunt Betty and Uncle Tony and me at my Long Beach house.

My 7th birthday.

Aunt Betty was born Margaret Agnes Ross on August 19, 1915 in Akron, Ohio.  She was the daughter of David George Ross and Adelaide (or Adeline) Woyner (born in Germany).  I don't know how she got the name Betty, but that's what everybody knew her as.  She was married many times and then she married Uncle Tony whom was also married many times.  Uncle Tony was born Antonura Arribas Arcala on May 10, 1905 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines.  He was the older brother of my grandfather, Mamerto Agan Arcala.

Mamerto whom was known as "Jimmy" died at 47 years old from a heart attack.  When Grandpa Jimmy shipped out, Uncle Tony stepped in.  It's the Filipino way.  In the Philippines, Uncle Tony would be considered my grandfather, too, because he's the same generation that my grandfather is, and his brother.

Aunt Betty in Long Beach, CA.
Christmas, circa 1988.

Uncle Tony and Aunt Betty lived in Pasadana, Los Angeles county, California.  I was born in Glendale, which is the neighboring city of Pasadena.  Uncle Tony and Aunt Betty were there for my delivery and for many of my birthdays as a young child.  Even though they were my great-Aunt and great-Uncle, they were true grandparents in every essence of the meaning.

They bickered a lot, but they were in love, and it was fun to be around them.  Aunt Betty collected a lot of Oriental decor, souvenir spoons, and mice.  She had many photo albums and would dote on her many children and grandchildren, and their accomplishments.  Aunt Betty kept her house cozy.  It was a very small house, but every inch of the home had something interesting to look at, including her artistically painted toilet seat!  I enjoyed going into their kitchen and dining area.  Aunt Betty had a big Asian chair, and it looked like a wooden throne.  She loved to cook and Uncle Tony once said, "She's German, but cooks Filipino food better than most Filipinos."

Uncle Tony in Long Beach.
Christmas, circa 1988.

Aunt Betty was a cigarette smoker.  Almost every photo I have of her, she has a lit cigarette.  It was the craze when she was younger.  By the time I was a teenager, cigarettes were starting to go out of style.  Aunt Betty eventually succumbed to complications due to her usage of cigarettes on February 8, 1993.  I was fifteen years old.  It was like losing a grandmother, very painful.

Not a week later, on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1993, Uncle Tony, in all his grief, laid down in a hospital bed and peacefully passed.  He went to be with his Valentine.  He was the first decedent I had ever seen or touched, and the first person I ever lost, that I felt close to.  It completely broke my heart.

I have very fond holiday and birthday memories of Aunt Betty and Uncle Tony.  I can't even say their names separately, they were inseparable.  It's now going on 21 years since their passing, in February 2004.  I'm grateful to have known them.  I miss them, dearly.

Detroit, Michigan

My father, Thomas James Arcala Sr. (born December 18, 1941) and his mother Lenore Evelyn Barron (born January 8, 1923) were from the southwest part of Detroit.  My grandfather, Mamerto Arcala (born May 19, 1908), was originally from Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines and came to America, landing in Seattle, Washington.  From there, he trekked to southwest Detroit to become a working class citizen in the booming Detroit, where an influx of immigrants went for work, particularly to work in the automobile industry.

1889 - Panoramic view of about a 3 mile stretch of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States.









1891 - Excellent map of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States.

Pedro "Pete" Arcala's Headstone

This is the headstone for my great-Uncle Pedro Arribas Arcala (formerly known as Hilarion Arcala).  He was born October 19, 1893 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines to Bartolome Arcala and Narcisa Arribas and died October 23, 1955 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA.  He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA.

He was a teacher.

This headstone was purchased by my uncle Barry Arcala.  The photo was given to me by a volunteer researcher for Findagrave.com.

Please view Santiago Arcala's memorial at Findagrave.com by clicking here.

Santiago Arcala's Headstone

This is my great-uncle Santiago Arcala's headstone.  Santiago Arcala was born in 1896 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines to Bartolome Arcala and Narcisa Arribas and died July 2, 1925 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, USA.

He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, USA.

The picture was kindly taken by a volunteer researcher named Kathy Stroope Veasey for Findagrave.com.  Another kind volunteer named Liane gave me the profile to curate over.  Please click here to view Santiago Arcala's Findagrave Memorial.

Ilokano People

My grandfather, Mamerto Agan Arcala, was from Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines.  When most people think of Filipino people, they think of those who speak the Tagalog language.  My grandfather was indigenous to Ilocos Sur, a region in the northern-most part of Philippines, just under China.  Below is a snippet from the website Jane's Oceania to give you a little understanding of whom the Ilokano are.

POLYNESIAN ORIGINS
Modern DNA evidence strongly supports the view that the Polynesian people have their origins in a small group of Austronesian speaking people in Taiwan. This web site takes a preliminary look at some of the many tribal traditional groups and provinces in the Philippines Islands with regard to their traditions, language, music and culture with particular emphasis on the apparent similarities with those of the Polynesian people.

IlOCANO
The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguist group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from the word "Iloco" or "Yloco."

Originally indigenous to the narrow coastal strip of northwestern Luzon, the Ilocanos have migrated throughout the Philippines. There are also an important Ilocano communities in Manila, as well as the world over. Ilocanos number about 9,136,000 and are primarily of Austronesian stock. Their homeland is the closest region in the Philippines to China.  Ilocanos speak the IIokano language (also called Iloko language), which is part of the Northern Philippine subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages. The Austronesian ancestors of the present-day Ilocanos came to the Philippines through bilogs, or outrigger boats during the Iron Age.

The IIocano people are characterized as being hardworking and frugal, and they engage primarily in farming and fishing. The Ilocano culture represents very simple, sometimes spartan day-to-day living, focusing mostly on work and productivity, spending only on necessities and not on so much on ostentatious material possessions. Ilocanos also exemplify a great degree of respect and humility in their everyday dealings.

One of the most notable Ilocanos Ferdinand Marcos, 10th President of the Philippines (1965–1986).
Source:  http://www.janesoceania.com/polynesian_origins/index.htm


LANGUAGE
Ilokano or Ilocano (Ilocano: Ti Pagsasao nga Iloco; also Ilocano, Iluko, Iloco, Iloco, Ylocano, and Yloco) is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines.

An Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Malagasy, Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro , Tetum, and Paiwan.

Pedro Hilarion Arcala WWII Draft Registration Cards

Hilarion Arcala was born on October 19, 1893 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines.  He was the older brother of my grandfather, Mamerto Agan Arcala.  He changed his name to Pedro when he came to the United States, and was known as Pete and to my father, "Uncle Pete."  These are his WWII Draft Registration cards.