Puerto Rican family immigrates to Hawai’i for a new beginning

y Melvin MorrisI write this summary of my paternal grandparents based on

research of church and civil records from Yauco, Puerto Rico, civil records of

the state of Hawai’i, interviews with relatives, and my childhood

memories.

My grandfather Serafin Roman Morris, Papita, was born on the 8th

of September 1872 in Aguas Blancas, Yauco, Puerto Rico, to Ignacio Romani Mori

and Maria del Carmen Galarza Roman. Ignacio Mori had migrated from Corsica,

France about 10 years earlier, when Spain, in order to induce immigration of

foreigners to Puerto Rico, offered five free acres of land and five years of no

taxes to anyone who wanted to migrate there. At the end of the five years they

could stay but had to swear allegiance to Spain. There they grew coffee and

sugar cane.

My grandmother, Juana Maria Feliciano Santiago, Mamita, was

born five years later on the 18th of May 1877 in the same place, to Felipe

Echevarria Santiago and Maria Candelaria Feliciano. She was a native of Puerto

Rico, proud to be of Taino Indian mixed with Spanish and Italian.

They met

when Mamita’s father did some work for Papita’s’ father and soon romance

blossomed between them. My first aunt, Maria Nuncia, was born on the 18th of

April 1894. On the 2nd of January 1897 twins girls, Juana Maria and Maria

Serafina, were born. Some say that the records are wrong, that they weren’t

twins. But the church records from Yauco, Puerto Rico shows they were. Toward

the end of that year another Aunt, Carmalita, was born. Around April of 1900

their first son, Ignacio, was born. He was named after his grandfather.

On

the 10th of August 1899, Hurricane San Ciriaco devastated Puerto Rico, more so

on the southern side of the island where they lived. Hundreds were killed and

thousands became destitute. Even after tying down his house with large ropes,

Papita, was amazed at the strength of the hurricane because it destroyed their

home.

After the hurricane, he debated what to do because there was no work,

for all the farms were destroyed. In August of 1900, a labor recruiter from the

Hawai’i Sugar Plantation Association offered contract work on the plantations

of Hawai’i. The offer included free passage, a better pay than what they were

paid at home, better housing, and free education for their children.

The

first ship left Puerto Rico the later part of November 1900. Papita still not

knowing what to do, debated with his family and with himself if he should

accept the offer. It was Mamita’s homeland and he wandered how he could take

her away from there and from her family.

Finally in March of 1901 he made

the decision to accept the offer. But in order to bring his family he had to be

legally married. So on the 25th of March 1901, they got married in Our Lady of

Rosary Church in Yauco, Puerto Rico. A few days later they, along with Papita’s

sister, Florentina, and her four children, departed from the Port of Guanica

headed for the U.S. mainland and their first stop, New Orleans, about 1,800

miles.

About a week into the trip, their first son, Ignacio, passed away

aboard ship. Not wanting to have her son buried at sea, she hid him from the

authorities. Just before they landed they told the authorities, so they could

have him buried on land. They followed the same route that the previous

emigrants took.

After landing in New Orleans, they boarded a train, which

took them through Texas, with a stop in San Antonio, then through California

with a stop in Los Angles and their destination, San Francisco. There they

boarded another ship that sailed them to Honolulu. They were then assigned to

the Koloa Plantation and had to board the interisland steamer, which sailed to

Kaua’i.

They were assigned housing in Mahalapu at the base of Mahalupu

Mountain. They lived in what they called a long house. It’s what we call a

duplex today. While living there, they had three more children. Seraphin Jr..

born on the 3rd of February 1902, Juanito, born on the 19th of May 1904, and

Candita, born on the 12th of November 1905.

Papita worked for Koloa

Plantation for four years as a weed controller, (Sabidong), rising to Luna in a

short time. He develop a reaction to the poisons he worked with and requested a

transfer but there was no other openings. So he transferred to McBryde Sugar

where he worked ‘in the stables taking care of the horses and mules, rising to

Luna in a short time also. He worked for McBryde for 30 years, retiring in

1935.

When he transferred to McBryde Sugar they moved to Kukuiula behind

the old Kukuiula Store, which now has the A & B construction office

trailers.

The old outdoor oven that construction workers found may have

belonged to Papita, for as soon as they moved there, he built one at the

request of Mamita.

While living there the rest of the 16 children were

born. Margaret, born on the 25th of August 1907, Irene, born on the Ist of

January 1909, John, born on the 27th of August 1910, Philip, born on the l8th

of April 1912, Frank, born on the 3Oth of July 1913, Americo, born on the I st

of May 1915, Ignacio, born on the 28th of August 1916, died six month later,

and my dad, Raphael, born on the 13th of March 1920.

All of Papita’s sons

worked for the plantation at one time or other, especially during the summer

months. When Serafin Jr. was 10 years old and his brother, Juanito, was 8 years

old they would roughhouse together and sometimes they got carried away and

ending up fighting. Juanito, although younger than Jr., was bigger than him

and often would get the better of him. Mamita had a hard time with this so she

told Papita to take Juanito to work with him and she would keep Serafin Jr. at

home.

So Juanito’s first job was being a waterboy. When he was 18 years

old he became a Luna. He worked for the plantation for almost 57 years with a

short break when he went to work on O’ahu for short time. And that how Serafin

Jr. became a very good cook, working with his mom at home. He also did work in

the fields when he was older.

During the early years, there was a problem

with our last name. When Papita migrated here he had the last name of Mori,

(with a French pronunciation). With different culture being here, our last name

began to be spelled differently. Some would spell it Mory, or Morey, or Moris.

In 1917 the US Congress passed the Jones Act stating in part that all

people living in the territories of the United States were citizens. So

immigration official went around checking on people who had migrated here. When

they found that the name was spelled differently they told the family that they

had to spell it one way and our name was Anglicized to Morris.

Papita and

Mamita’s dreams of starting over and finding a better life had come true. As

they grew older, they could see that their descendants would excel in different

professions. Their descendants have excelled in almost every profession all

during very well.

Papita passed away on the 27th of June 1945. Maimita

passed away on the 16th of October 1962. They are both buried in the Lawai

Cemetery.

It is amazing to see the amount of descendants that one couple

can generate. When Mamita passed away, she was survived by 10 children, 62

grandchildren, 115 great grandchildren, and 62 great great

grandchildren.

I’m thankful for my grandparents who had the fortitude to

leave their homeland, to seek a new beginning, to brave the unknown, to make

sacrifices, to lay a new foundation for their descendants of which I am proud

to be a part of.