Every now and then when I hit a road block on my family tree I set it aside and come back to it later. On my father’s side I have been stuck on making direct connections to the Pereda and Tenorio families. So I recently re-activated my focus on those families and will share part of this journey here in hopes that more information will surface from others.
Some Background
My dad, Eustaquio Anderson Punzalan, was one of those guys that primarily worked behind the scenes of Guam politics. He supported both parties. When he needed the help he would ask me to accompany him and help with delivering food and drinks to support pocket meetings. At those meetings he would introduce me to all our relatives. I wasn’t really into genealogy then, so I never asked my dad to show exactly how we were related to people.
I don’t recall ever meeting a Pereda at any of those meetings, but I did meet with a variety of Tenorio clans that my dad said were our relatives. Again, I just never asked him how. My Tenorio roots seem to also have ties to the Tenorio clans in Saipan, but again, I just don’t how, yet…Through my late father’s recollection, his grandmother Antonia Tenorio Pereda had two other sisters, Tomasa and Maria. From that I am at least able to reconstruct the very bare base of my Tenorio-Pereda heritage.
For the most part, during the 1897 census my father’s ancestors lived in Hagåtña, Guåhan. My great-great grandmother Ana Tenorio was recorded as a widow, aged 58, and with what appears to be her youngest daughter, Maria Pereda Tenorio, single and 26 years old in the 1897 census.
(p.99-2b)
Ana’s oldest daughter (my great grandmother) Antonia Tenorio Pereda, age 29, was living with her husband Leon Quitugua Anderson, manggåfan CHe’, age 28, and their oldest daughter Maria Pereda Anderson, age 2.
(p.99-33b)
Strangely, I could not find any 1897 census recording of Ana’s second daughter, Tomasa Tenorio Pereda.
Guam News Letters
The power of the pen…or something like that…The US Navy was the publisher of the Guam News Letter from 1909 - 1922. In some of those editions, it contained vital statistic information such as marriages, births and deaths.
This image was captured from the December 1919 Guam News Letter edition. The Navy incorrectly recorded the name of my grandmother’s sisters’s husband as “Jose Materne Materne,” when it should have read Jose Matanane Matanane.
This next image was captured from the September 1920 Guam News Letter edition. The Navy misspelled my namesake grandfather’s first name (Bernardo) and incorrectly recorded my grandmother’s middle name as “Peraira,” when it should have read “Pereda.”
1920 Catholic church census.
From this census, it appears that my immediate Pereda-Tenorio families lived next door to each other in Hagåtna. I could not find the enumeration of Ana Tenorio or her daughter Maria Tenorio Pereda in this census or within the 1920 US census, so at this point, I would presume that they both passed away earlier.
And that's all I have for now...
