A relative warned us not to go too far in researching into ancestry and relatives. "They might think you want to borrow money," he said, "or worse, they might borrow from you." We didn't pay attention and after decades of occasional interviews and peering at cemetery lapidas, church records, national archives documents, and the Mormon genealogical website, an even more determined third-degree cousin and I got our Bulacan family trees pretty much complete to six or seven generations-a network of hundreds.
What most people usually study is the big picture-colonial rule, the Propaganda Movement, the Philippine Revolution, the wreckage of the Filipino-American War, the Independence Movement, the destruction of World War II, the Filipino diaspora.
Climbing family trees gives one an idea of the ordinary people who live through these grand events. Theirs, one realizes, was the labor that built churches, roads, and dams. They were the tenants or overseers of friar haciendas. They were the Katipuneros and foot soldiers of Aguinaldo, theirs were the homes that went up in flames, the ones who fled to the hills when the American Infantry marched towards Malolos. And now they are at once affected and responsible for vanishing farms and disorderly urbanization.
The earliest ancestors my cousin and I found seem to have been quite rich, with lands extending several kilometers along the river. Over the past 150 years or so, however, their descendants' fortunes have varied and today, the related families mirror Philippine society-a few are wealthy, most are middle class and below. Many have continued to live in the old hometown but more have moved away. Some have achieved distinction, but most are among the great mass of the Filipino people, their lives and times no doubt typical of the average Filipino family of small town Philippines since the mid 19th century.
It is remarkable how in just a few generations, the descendants of brothers and sisters have ended up in widely different circumstances. Many have made something of their lives and have become well adjusted individuals able to cope with the challenges of daily life, while others have not.
Some distinguished themselves in the church and government, in the professions and the business world. Others were not so fortunate. For each person who lives in a grand mansion, there is another who is in a hovel. There were one or two black sheep who gambled or womanized away much of what they had. At least one made the rounds importuning relations and strangers.
Some inherited much but never did get anywhere. A few inherited plenty that through hard work, good judgment and luck, they and their descendants managed to enlarge even more. And one or two started out with practically nothing and achieved truly spectacular success in the business world.
Surely one willing to listen to voices that are now still and to learn from the lives of his ancestors and relatives can learn much to guide him and his descendants of generations yet to come.Comments are cordially invited, addressed to walalang@mb.com.ph.
Climbing the Family Tree.(Arts and Living)
A relative warned us not to go too far in researching into ancestry and relatives. "They might think you want to borrow money," he said, "or worse, they might borrow from you." We didn't pay attention and after decades of occasional interviews and peering at cemetery lapidas, church records, national archives documents, and the Mormon genealogical website, an even more determined third-degree cousin and I got our Bulacan family trees pretty much complete to six or seven generations-a network of hundreds.
What most people usually study is the big picture-colonial rule, the Propaganda Movement, the Philippine Revolution, the wreckage of the Filipino-American War, the Independence Movement, the destruction of World War II, the Filipino diaspora.
Climbing family trees gives one an idea of the ordinary people who live through these grand events. Theirs, one realizes, was the labor that built churches, roads, and dams. They were the tenants or overseers of friar haciendas. They were the Katipuneros and foot soldiers of Aguinaldo, theirs were the homes that went up in flames, the ones who fled to the hills when the American Infantry marched towards Malolos. And now they are at once affected and responsible for vanishing farms and disorderly urbanization.
The earliest ancestors my cousin and I found seem to have been quite rich, with lands extending several kilometers along the river. Over the past 150 years or so, however, their descendants' fortunes have varied and today, the related families mirror Philippine society-a few are wealthy, most are middle class and below. Many have continued to live in the old hometown but more have moved away. Some have achieved distinction, but most are among the great mass of the Filipino people, their lives and times no doubt typical of the average Filipino family of small town Philippines since the mid 19th century.
It is remarkable how in just a few generations, the descendants of brothers and sisters have ended up in widely different circumstances. Many have made something of their lives and have become well adjusted individuals able to cope with the challenges of daily life, while others have not.
Some distinguished themselves in the church and government, in the professions and the business world. Others were not so fortunate. For each person who lives in a grand mansion, there is another who is in a hovel. There were one or two black sheep who gambled or womanized away much of what they had. At least one made the rounds importuning relations and strangers.
Some inherited much but never did get anywhere. A few inherited plenty that through hard work, good judgment and luck, they and their descendants managed to enlarge even more. And one or two started out with practically nothing and achieved truly spectacular success in the business world.
Surely one willing to listen to voices that are now still and to learn from the lives of his ancestors and relatives can learn much to guide him and his descendants of generations yet to come.Comments are cordially invited, addressed to walalang@mb.com.ph.
