Are You Connected to the Morales-Tamayo Line?
If your family research overlaps with the From Aklan to America: The Morales-Tamayo Story documentary biography series, this page is for you.
The series traces two families from Numancia, Aklan Province, across four generations and 150 years — from the rice fields of the Western Visayas through Spanish colonial rule, American occupation, and World War II, to new lives in the United States. Filipino genealogy holds particular challenges: burned town registers, Spanish-era parish records, and family lines that survive in memory before they surface in documents. Research like this is better as shared work — documented trees, DNA matches, family papers, and family stories from cousin researchers can all move it forward, and contributions are acknowledged in published research according to each contributor’s preference.
Research collaboration is informal, peer-to-peer, and reciprocal. There is no fee, no client engagement, no formal arrangement — just shared work on shared ancestry. (Prospective genealogy clients are welcome to use the main contact page instead.)
Two Families of Numancia
The Morales Line
Don Felipe Morales & Doña Maria Menes → Juan Apdon Morales (1862–1908) m. Petrona “Tonang” Quimpo (b. 1845) → Mamerto Morales (1900–1942), the notary public who died on Agtawagon Hill, m. into the Gonzales line of Captain Lucas Gonzales → Dr. Romulo G. Morales (1931–2017), who carried the family name to America.
Numancia & Kalibo, Aklan · with Gonzales and Quimpo ancestryThe Tamayo Line
Juan Tamayo → Felipe Tamayo (1880–1937) m. Natividad Icamina → Jose Icamina Tamayo (1910–1970) m. Maria Corazon Roldan (1913–2005), of the Roldan and Isturis families → Dr. Hally R. Tamayo (1932–2017).
Numancia, Aklan · with Roldan, Icamina, and Isturis ancestryThe two lines united on January 22, 1958, when Dr. Romulo G. Morales married Dr. Hally R. Tamayo — two Aklanons who had each made their way to Manila, joining families with deep roots in the same small town.
For the full documented story — the episodes, the case studies, and the companion pieces — see the series landing page: From Aklan to America: The Morales-Tamayo Story.
The Morales-Tamayo Surname Signature
Core Family Lines
Morales · Tamayo
Morales Ancestral Lines
Gonzales (the Captain Lucas Gonzales line) · Quimpo · Ferrer · Menes · Torres
Tamayo Ancestral Lines
Roldan · Icamina · Isturis · Servañes · Malinag
The Numancia Network
Martelino · and the wider web of intermarried Numancia families documented across 150 years: Roldan, Gonzales, Quimpo, Tamayo, Isturis, and Martelino
Geographic path: Numancia, Kalibo, and Ibajay in Aklan Province, Western Visayas → Manila and Quezon City in the mid-twentieth century → Ohio and beyond in the United States from 1969. If your family record places ancestors in Aklan Province across the Spanish colonial, American, and Commonwealth eras — or among the Aklanon families who emigrated to the United States — your research may overlap with this series.
What You Might Bring to This Research
Forms of contribution that move research like this forward:
- Documented family trees — pedigrees with source citations for the Numancia, Kalibo, and Ibajay families, or for the emigrant generations in the United States
- DNA test results — from Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage, or FamilyTreeDNA, especially kits uploaded to GEDmatch where chromosome comparison is possible
- Record access — Aklan parish salvage books, notarial registers, delayed birth registrations, land deeds, or U.S. immigration records (the SS-5 and A-File) that so often hold the answers when town records have burned
- Family oral history — the stories your elders carried, including names remembered only as nicknames, even when they conflict with documented records
- Photographs, letters, and family papers — graduation portraits, residence certificates, immigration documents, and similar materials from the relevant timeframe
Open Research Questions
The Interconnected Families of Numancia
DNA evidence and FamilySearch Full Text Search have revealed six intermarried families spanning 150 years — Roldan, Gonzales, Quimpo, Tamayo, Isturis, and Martelino. A 26 cM match opened the Martelino line. Researchers with documented descent from any of these Numancia families, or DNA matches to the Morales-Tamayo descendants, would meaningfully extend this network.
Reconstructing the Burned Records
When World War II burned Numancia’s civil and church records, the family scattered into other archives — parish salvage books, notarial registers, delayed registrations, and the immigration papers of relatives who emigrated. If your family holds documents from the Aklan families of this era, or U.S. records (SS-5, A-File) for Aklanon immigrants, those pieces help reconstruct what the fire took.
The Quimpo Family of Kalibo
Mamerto Morales’s mother survived in family memory only as “Tonang Quimpo” until three generations of Kalibo parish baptisms — naming Potenciano Quimpo and Mena Ferrer as grandparents — made the documented case that she was Petrona Quimpo. The same Quimpo grandparents appear on the Gonzales side as well. Researchers with documented Quimpo or Ferrer ancestry from Kalibo would help extend this recovered maternal branch.
How to Reach Out
The form below is the most effective way to begin. The fields are designed to give us both the right starting context — what you have, what you’re looking for, and how our research might intersect.
I read every inquiry personally and respond as I am able — typically within a week, sometimes longer for inquiries that require research before a substantive reply.
Privacy and Use of Submitted Information
Information shared through this form is used only for research collaboration purposes. Names, DNA kit identifiers, family details, and other personal information are not shared with third parties, are not added to public-facing pages without explicit permission, and are anonymized (initials only) in any subsequent publication unless you indicate a preference for full attribution.
Living individuals are not named in published research. Deceased ancestors documented in primary sources are named in full as part of standard genealogical practice. If you have specific privacy preferences for your contribution, please indicate them in your inquiry and they will be respected.
If you’d prefer to reach out directly rather than through the form, email mary@storylinegenealogy.com.
Genealogy Is Better as Shared Work
A mother remembered only as “Tonang,” a town whose records burned, a family scattered across an ocean — and yet the names came back, one parish register and one cousin’s memory at a time. Your family records, your DNA matches, and your family stories may be the next piece that moves this research forward. Thank you for considering the work.