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Nicolasa Lujan Asan: Bridging Her Descendant’s CHamoru Roots

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Written by: Bernard Punzalan

Published: 10 July 2021

Since the beginning of time, we know that there are countless stories of CHamoru people who left the Mariana Islands and never returned.  In the past, I have specifically tracked the history and descendants of Maria Castro delos Santos (historically: Maria de los Santos y Castro). She is the CHamoru matriarch of her descendants from the Bonin Islands since 1843, now known as the Ogasarawa Islands. Since then, I have found my DNA connection with them, but still have yet to make the family genealogical connections.

Later, I have tracked the history and descendants of John “Kuk” Fratis, since 1867, the CHamoru patriarch of his descendants in Saint Paul Island, Alaska.  I have not been in direct contact with many of his descendants, but remains a work in progress. 

The current story here is about Nicolasa Lujan Asan/Asang.  The journey for me in this story is different from the other two above. This special story entails a relative of a relative (we know how that goes) reaching out to others and me by referral. This quest looped back to me about four times already: first by Carlos Madrid; secondly, the originator (name withheld for now); thirdly by a DNA connection thru my wife Fina; and now my primo David Tudela Borja.

Unfortunately, this is one story where I have had very little historical information in the CHamoru Roots Genealogy Project archives to draw upon and provide much help.  However, we were fortunate that Herman “Jun Pan” Guerrero, fellow CHamoru historian and genealogist from Saipan had some key information to help kickstart bridging some gaps. 

Once I receive permission from a particular person who has been researching and developing the genealogy of Nicolasa Lujan Asang to share his findings I will publish it here.  Until then, I'm going to let this chart try and convey part of her family's story.