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Gaudiel-Toribio Family, 1926-1958 and undated

 Series 10

Asuncion Santos and her five-year-old sister Fermina moved from the Philippines to Washington, D.C. in 1915. Fermina married Mariano Peji and they opened several restaurants, including the Light House Café in Portsmouth, Virginia. Asuncion married Generoso Gaudiel and adopted Doris Eleanor Relucio (1926-2001), whom they renamed Amparing Santos Gaudiel. Asuncion later married Gil Esposo and they opened the restaurant Manila House in Washington, D.C.. Amparing married Leonilo Toribio in 1949. They had five children, including Nila Toribio Straka (b. 1950), bought their first home on G Street in southeast Washington, D.C. and later settled in Accokeek in rural Maryland. Leo Toribio's cousin, Peping Hernandez was a musician who played with Dave Apollon's Filipino Orchestra (1).

This series was donated by Leonila Torbido-Straka in two parts on April 29, 2015 and April 30, 2016. This series includes oversized photographs from the United Filipino Club of New York's Fifth Annual Ball in 1939, the V.F.W. New Year's Eve Dance of the Vicente Lim Post #5471 and the Ladies Auxiliary in 1958 in Washington, D.C. The series also includes 43 digital images of the Peji and Toribio families and their correspondence. The photos depict the family at restaurants (their own and others) and events and show Mariano Peji and Leo C. Toribio during their service in the navy. The digital objects in the series include several letters between Amparing and Leo C. Toribio from 1949 to 1953.

The series also includes a folder of photocopies of newspaper articles about Filipinos in Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia from the 1950s.

The following individuals are pictured in the photographs: Juanita San Juan, Asuncion Esposo, Harold Relucio, Fermina Santos Peji, Amparing Santos Toribio, Nila Toribio Straka, Mariano Peji, Leonilo C. Toribio, Gill S. Gaudiel, and others. This series is arranged with the digital-only photographs and correspondence first, arranged alphabetically, then the electronic record, then the oversized physical photographs, arranged alphabetically by title, and finally, the photocopies of newspaper articles, arranged alphabetically by title.

  1. (1) Rita M. Cacas and Juanita Tamayo Lott, Filipinos in Washington, D.C. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 14, 17, 31, 38, 62, 63, 64, 65.

Dates

  • 1926-1958 and undated

Use and Access to Collection

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

Extent

59 Items

Library Details

Part of the Special Collections and University Archives

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
Hornbake Library
4130 Campus Drive
College Park Maryland 20742
301-405-9212