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Eustaquio Lopez Website

An online attempt to collect historical gems of information and reconnect Lopez descendants with each other.

Eustaquio & Ana

Lopez Reunion in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 6 and 7, 2010. For more information, click here Lopez Reunion Info.

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Once upon a time in Jaro Iloilo(?), there was a couple named Maximo Lopez, a repairman, and Juana Hilario, a seamstress. They had two children named Placido and Fermin Lopez. Placido, who married Maria Jacobe, had children named Domingo, Pedro, Graciano, Candelaria(?), Ramon, and Doroteo. Graciano, who never married or never had any children, grew up to be known as Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

The other son, Fermin, married Fernanda Regina Hechanova, and had children named Eustaquio, Protacio, Marcelina, Vicenta, Cirillo, Pablo, Teopista, Mercedes, Agustin, Laurente, Agapito, and Nicanor.

Like his friend and contemporary Dr. Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena (1856-1896) is etched in Philippine history because he challenged the existing government and religious influence at that time by revealing the oppression of the Filipino people. He was 18 years old when he wrote the story Fra Botod that satirized the priests and friars that supposedly served the community with a heavy hand and overfed themselves as their flock starved (Yoder, 1999). Botod, in Ilonggo, means, someone ate so fast that they swallowed too much air causing stomach ache. Graciano seemed whimsical in nature and may not have been too careful of what he said publicly which got him in trouble with the authority. He studied to become a physician but did not finish. While he practiced medicine in his small hometown, his deep resentment emerged as he cared for the prisoners and victims of the government and religious orders. He dabbled in farming as well. With the help of his cousin, Eustaquio, Graciano Lopez fled to Barcelona Spain in 1880. He changed his name to Lopez-Jaena to separate himself from the other Lopezes there. He started the newspaper La Solidaridad (Yoder, 1999). Writings seem to suggest that his gift as an orator and possibly charisma always got him the good graces of friends who helped in get out of trouble. He attended Universidad de Valencia to study medicine, and then, journalism, but again, did not finish (Global Pinoy, 2006). At 40 years old, he died of tuberculosis in Spain. That same year, his friend, Marcelo del Pilar also succumbed to tuberculosis (Wikipedia, 2007) while Dr. Jose Rizal was killed by the Spaniards in a firing squad later that year (Yoder, 1999).

Information about Eustaquio Lopez is scant. Apparently, "Lolo Takoy", my father said, amassed land and wealth in Silay on the island of Negros, Philippines. Silay is in the northwest coast known for its sugar production. Barrio Eustaquio Lopez today is one of Silay's 16 rural barangays (Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board, 2007). A public elementary school was also named after Eustaquio Lopez (Philippine Department of Education, 2004).

There was a May 26, 2007 clan reunion in Silay City. Unfortunately, I knew this too late. I'm hopeful that there would be more of these reunions and more information uncovered as family members reconnect.

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All my sources come from internet searches and I have had no family corrobation so far since I only started this project recently. My notations of (?) means that I'm unsure of the information or it is missing. This is an open invitation to anyone who can share stories, photos, sound bytes, or videos about anyone in the Lopez' lineage or about Eustaquio Lopez of Silay, Negros Occidental, Philippines.

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SOME SOURCES
Graciano Lopez Jaena (1999)
Graciano Lopez Jaena: Ilonggo national hero (2002)
Negrenses should join the 150th birth anniversary of Graciano... (2006)
Graciano Lopez-Jaena (2006)
Genealogical researchers bare Lopez Jaena descendants in Negros (2007)
Iloilo airport to be named after Graciano Lopez Jaena (2007)
Lopez Jaena Reunion (2007)

OTHER INTERESTING SITES

The Lopez Memorial Museum
Lopez Family Tree Website
The Oral Interview in Research
Step by Step Guide to Oral History
Heritage Conservation Society of the Philippines
Philippine American Historical Society
Ivan About Town

Remembrance of Things Awry

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Muriel C. Lopez. All rights reserved.