Manuel San Nicolas: Chamorro Settler in Louisiana
I located this 1919 Passport application image of Manuel San Nicolas and found it quite interesting.
Manuel was born on August 6, 1878 at Agana, Guam. His father, deceased, is Mariano San Nicolas. All evidence available with the Chamorro Roots Genealogy Project seems to indicate that he is manggåfan “Bahu.” If this is correct his father’s full name was Mariano Muna San Nicolas (1836-?) and his mother was the former Maria Duenas Sablan (1843-?).
Furthermore, his siblings were:
- Rita Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1870)
- Pedro Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1876)
- Jose Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1881)
- Manuela Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1882)
- Vicente Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1883)
- Joaquin Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1884)
- Maria Sablan San Nicolas (b. 1896)
Apparently, Manuel left Guam some time in 1893 and has since resided in the United States. In this particular case he was residing in New Orleans, Lousiana. His Passport application shows that it was for a six-month visit to Havana, Cuba and that he was a “Centrifugal Foreman.”
I found several other travel documents that indicated he also traveled again to Cuba in 1921, to Mexico in 1927, and then the Honduras in 1941 and 1942. I would imagine that his job required him to travel and he may have been part of the crew for each sailing ship.
Among those travel documents reveal that sometime between 1919 and 1921 his marital status went from single to married; however, the documents did not identify his wife. Also, his residential address was listed as 932 Gov. Nicholls St., New Orleans, LA.
I also found a copy of his World War II draft registration card completed in 1942. By this time, it does not appear he had any immediate family residing with him. On the card it listed his next-door neighbor, Anthony Schiro, as the name and address of a person who will always know his address.
I would be curious to hear from extended members of his family that may know more about him; or even perhaps if Chamorros out in Louisiana may know of him or his family.
And finally, one last observation over the Passport application and some of his travel documents. I suppose Guam’s 1898 cessation to the U.S. still had some Federal agencies (at least the State Department) not knowing exactly how to handle U.S. Nationals from Guam. In some cases, Guam was noted as being part of the Philippines. In other travel documents the people processing the documents took the time to cross out any pre-printed reference to Guam being a part of the Philippines.
Image Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; U.S. Passport Applications, Puerto Rico and Philippines, 1913-1925; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 1244179 -- Entry # A1 539; Box #: 4233; Volume #: 2.
