Hawaii was a different world. Pretty much from day one, interracial marriage was acceptable. When my Azorean ancestors arrived in 1882, it only took one generation for the women to marry Japanese, Hawaiian, and Filipino men. What was okay in Hawaii was not okay in California though. The law was very much against them.
The Curious Marriages of Sophie Pacheco and Balbino Gabasa
When I started my family tree, I was aware of the case Loving vs Virginia. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruling ended anti-miscegenation laws in the United States. Two decades earlier in 1948, Perez vs Sharp did the same for California.
As I reflect on my relatives who left Hawaii for California, I’ve wondered about my grandfather’s Portuguese cousins who married Asians. They could not marry in California, right?
I found a curious thing when going through the California marriage records. Knowing that it was illegal for these couples to marry, I was surprised to find a couple of their marriages entered in the Alameda County marriage registers before 1948.
For instance, no. 4222 is for Frances (Pacheco) Martinez and Julian Colonzag Laniohan who married 29 Dec 1937. Then, no. 205 is for her sister Sophie Pacheco and Balbino Gabasa who were married 15 Jan 1938.
How was a Filipino man able to marry a White woman if it was against the law? Since they both were married by the Justice of the Peace in the same county it doesn’t seem to be an anomaly. Were there marriages really legal? If so, why did Sophia and Balbino travel north to Washington in 1947 to legitimize their marriage a second time?
Let’s Go Back Up To 1926
I’m not sure if I can answer these questions, but let’s take a look at California law. Up until 1926, Filipinos in California went under the radar. Perhaps it was because their numbers were smaller than other Asian immigrant groups in the state no one bothered with them.
Three groups were prohibited from marrying Whites in California: Negros, Mulattos, Malays/Mongolians. The Chinese were considered Mongolians under the law.
In 1922, Filipinos were not listed in any of these groups. But in 1926, a judicial advisory panel declared that Filipinos were part of the Malay race and, therefore, part of the Mongolian group.
But the law wasn’t settled. In 1930, a judge reaffirmed that Filipinos belonged to the Mongolian group. But a year later, another judge allowed a Filipino man who also had Spanish ancestry to marry a woman who was Mexican. The judge in that case stated he would have ruled the same even if the bride was White.
The case was appealed and the appellate court ruled that Filipinos were indeed of the Malay race and prohibited from marrying Whites. In 1933, the California Supreme Court refused to hear the case and the appellate ruling stood. A month later, the California Governor signed a law preventing such marriages.
Could Being Portuguese Have Something To Do With It?
So, how was it that Frances and Julian married in 1937, then Sophie and Balbino in 1938? These marriages were after 1933. Could it be the murky classification of Portuguese people in the United States? In Hawaii, they were classified as Caucasian but not White until the 1950s. Was this the case for other parts of the US?
Is it possible that both marriages slipped under because the person marrying them didn’t view the Portuguese as White? I will never know the answer to that.
What I do know is for some reason Sophie and Balbino decided their California marriage wasn’t enough. They traveled out of state and at 9:45 am on the 23 of September 1947, they were remarried by the Justice of the Peace.
It must have cost a pretty penny to take this trip, but they did so. Washington had no laws preventing their marriage. After being together a decade, they were finally legally married.
Does It Matter?
Contrary to what we think about the olden days, couples did live together without marrying. Some did not wish to marry, some couldn’t afford it, some were avoiding social or religious stigmas, and like my cousins, some marriages were against the law.
While it doesn’t matter today, it was important back then. Interracial couples were not accepted and living together unmarried carried a stigma all its own.
This conversation with a friend who knew the people I am writing about tells you it was important to the family involved. The mother of these two women, Alexandrinha (Jose) Pacheco confided that she was worried about their marriage status and California law bothered her.
The Sisters Managed To Get Along
All of the daughters of Antonio Pacheco and Alexandrinha Jose were involved in interracial marriages. Maria, Louisa, Frances, Sophie, and Beatrice. For Maria, it was easy. She married a Japanese man in Hawaii. They spent their whole life on Kauai where folks didn’t think twice about such couples.
For the rest of the daughters, life was a bit more challenging. They managed to make it work despite the law and people’s opinions.
It probably isn’t a surprise that they gravitated towards the farming communities of Stockton, California where their was a considerable Filipino presence. Life was probably easier there than in Oakland or other areas of the San Francisco Bay Area.
This article was written for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Week 18: Love and Marriage
