Below is a picture of the first page of the two page civil birth record of Maria, Benita’s sister.
Then in the early afternoon we drove to Marije’s house in Mendata. Marije had gathered a number of her family members to meet us there. As they always did, there were numerous pastries and other fine things to eat and drink.
Valerie and Izaskun
Marije then took us to Guernica (Gernika in Basque) to meet Pilar, a 1st cousin once removed of Ramon, and our oldest living relative from Benita’s side of the family. She was in a retirement center. She is the daughter of Maria, Benita’s sister, and she remembered well stories that Maria and Tereza had told her about Benita.
Pilar Chopitea Uribarri was the youngest daughter of Maria Uribarri (and Maria’s husband Vicente Chopitea).
Libertad “Libe” Uruburu Zabala: Eulogia/Tereza. Izaskun’s mother. Her husband had passed away.
Itziar Ormaecha Uruburu: Libe/Eulogia/Tereza. Libe’s oldest daughter.
Pilar was so excited and full of energy. She so much wished we could visit more and get to meet her living children. We stayed until closing time and the nuns made us leave. She had many stories to tell, and I wish that we had more time and opportunity to record the things she knows. When we showed her the picture of Benita (below), she laughingly said that Benita had the same nose as the rest of the family.
She told us that Maria (her mother) always had hope that Benita might come back for a visit. They had heard the rumor that Benita (and her only children) had died in a car accident, which is true about Benita, but not the children. Thus, they did not think that there were any living American relatives. They were all very excited to find out from us more about Benita and that they had many relatives in America. Pilar remembers a story that the Priest returned a charitable donation given by Benita, because Benita had no shoes at the time. She also tells the story that Maria gave Benita her watch (which Benita had really wanted) just before Benita left to America. Pilar’s oldest sister Benita was a nun and she was named after our Benita.
We then went with Libe and her daughters to the Plaza in front of their apartments in Guernica. They live right in the heart of downtown. We spent a last couple hours talking with them before going home, worn out after a wonderful day. They had us scheduled to start again at 9am the following morning.
Libe, Itziar, Marije, Izaskun, Jon Junior
Spain Trip - Saturday, May 28
We were scheduled to meet at Marije’s house in Mendata in the afternoon. So we used the morning to make a visit to Amoroto, just a couple miles south of Lekeitio. Amoroto is where Benita’s maternal grandmother and her family were from. This is the Marque-Herquiaga line and we have found records of hundreds of family members who were baptized in the church at Amoroto. Note Valerie and I waving from the bell-tower.
Below is a picture of us with a family of the Charcartegui line in Amoroto, which was the line of Benita’s great-great grandmother.
Below is a picture of an old chair in the Church with our family name Erquiaga inscribed in it.
Back: Gregorio, Izaskun, Edna, Alberto, Gloria, Valerie, Goretti, Troy, Marije
Front: Aitziber, Markel, Ruben, Igone (girlfriend of Ruben), Jon, Jon Junior
I’ll put more details on each person, when they are first pictured.
Gregorio Zugazaga Goita: Husband of Marije.
Izaskun Ormaechea Uruburu: Pronounced Ithaskun. Daughter of Libe, daughter of Eulogia, daughter of Tereza (sister of Benita). For now on I will just show a family line as follows after the person’s name - Libe/Eulogia/Tereza.
Alberto Lejardi Goyogana: Husband of Goretti.
Gloria Mallea Zabala: Maria/Tereza. Marije’s older sister.
Goretti Zugazaga Mallea: Marije/Maria/Tereza. Marije’s oldest child.
Maria Jesus “Marije” Mallea Zabala: Maria/Tereza
Aitziber Urzuriaga Mallea: Gloria/Maria/Tereza. Gloria’s youngest child.
Markel Lejardi Zugazaga: Goretti/Marije/Maria/Tereza
Ruben Zugazaga Mallea: Marije/Maria/Tereza. Marije’s youngest child.
Jon Calzada: Husband of Izaskun
Jon Junior Calzada Ormaechea: Izaskun/Libe/Eulogia/Tereza
Just left of Troy’s head in the background is the house of Jose Ignacio, Marije’s brother, who we would visit the next day. We spent an hour or two talking and getting to know each other and also writing down names and information as seen in the next couple of pictures.
Ruben and Goretti with Edna and I
Libe, Valerie, Itziar, Ramon, Edna, Marije, Troy, Izaskun, Pilar in the wheelchair
