Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 1999 12:18 PM
To: SJA0108@webtv.net
Subject: Father'account of family history
Dear Uncle Bomboy,
I'm sending you the following text written by my father. He sends his
regards to all of you and hope that you respond/comment on the following
tale:
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| Kaka Epang Hernandez Aves with her apos |
speaking, my side of the family is no longer connected to the Jimenez part. This is our
story.
The Hernandezes came from Bulacan (per my father Rosendo Gamboa
Hernandez' account). Dionisio Hernandez was the first to reach Peñaranda. He was a
teacher appointed by the Spanish government to teach grammar. Also called
Maestro Dionisio, he sired two sons.
The elder, Isidoro Hernandez, married Florencia of the distinguished Gamboa
family. He died a captain of the Philippine Army of the Aguinaldo government
against the American invaders. He was under the command of Brig. Gen. Urbano
Lacuna of Gapan, N.E. Later, his unit was attached to the regiment of Lt.
Gen. Pio del Pilar which blocked the forces of Gen. Lawton at San Isidro.
Their purpose was to delay the Americans in their pursuit of Gen. Emilio
Aguinaldo. The then Generalissimo of the Army and President of the Republic
was in flight from the Americans and escaping towards the northern
provinces. Capt. Isidoro died in this battle probably in Oct. 1899, leaving
behind a young son and a pregnant wife.
My orphaned father, Rosendo Gamboa Hernandez, was raised by his
godfather Cabesang Aurelio Jardiel. His elder brother, Pedro, died of cholera in his
teens and so my father was the only surviving son of Captain Isidoro.
Unfortunately for my father, his guardian discouraged him from
attending school even though it was free and compulsory. Cabesang Aurelio said that
the Americans would teach the children their language so that they could be
conscripted as workers and slaves of the invaders.
My father married Felipa Canlas and the union was blessed with
thirteen children: Pedro, Maria, Ramon, Agripina, Lucia, Carmen, Felicisima, Julia,
Felisa, Consorcio, Elsa, Jaime and Emma. Pedro died in infancy while
Felicisima (a classmate of Luzviminda Aves, her second cousin) died at age
13, just before graduating from elementary school.
Isidoro's widow, Florencia Gamboa, remarried someone with the family
name of Bahacan. Her second marriage produced three children: Alberto, Barbara,
and Leandro.
According to Amang Paulino and other sources, the younger son,Silvestre
Hernandez (Maestro Beteng), followed the footsteps of his father and
eventually became a teacher under the American military government. He
married Bibiana Madrid. Silvestre also died early leaving behind two young
daughters.
The elder daughter, Felipa Hernandez, married Casiano M. Aves. Her
husband was appointed by Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon as town mayor of
Peñaranda in 1939. Casiano continued as holdover mayor in 1942 under the
Japanese military government. He was re-elected after independence was
declared.
The younger daughter, Pilang Hernandez, married Fernando Guansing
Paulino.
Maestro Beteng's widow remarried and her second husband was Silvino
Jimenez.
Per my father's account, the Peñaranda market site belonged to their
grandfather, Maestro Dionisio, in addition to a large tract of agricultural
land in Laur, N.E. that is now part of Palayan City. This account is
buttressed by historical facts. During the Spanish regime, only educated
people owning land were allowed to vote. Presumably, the landholdings were
awarded to Dionisio because of his position as a government teacher.
My father further related to me that his cousin-in-law, Mayor
Casiano, told him that the one-block property presently occupied by the Peñaranda public
market was donated to the municipal government by the Hernandez heirs. It
was only during our Fairview reunion that Ted mentioned that lands were sold
and the proceeds partly used by the wife of Silvestre, Bibiana Madrid, to
acquire the Muñoz properties. Whether the lands sold included the market
site is not clear.
All along, my father's understanding was that the town property was
merely donated. Be that as it may, I only mention this because of historical and
human-interest twist. The large tract of land in Laur was likewise sold to
the Maravilla family which in turn sold it to another family and the
property eventually ended up as an Iglesia ni Cristo residential settlement.
And so the short story of the original Hernandez family ended in
poverty.
The children of the eldest and second son all grew up uneducated. I hope
that this will somehow contribute to your bm family tree, even only as a
footnote.
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Best regards to all!
Ferdie Hernandez
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