My mom’s dad’s parents were both from the Basque Country. Blas Telleria was from Mutiloa, Gipuzkoa while Ines Eiguren was from Lekeitio, Bizkaia. They met in Jordan Valley, Oregon, where they had both made their way to find a better life.

Blas was born in 1877. Mutiloa is a very small town, even smaller than Jordan Valley – its population is about 250 people. Despite its size, it still hosts the three elements of every Basque town – the church, the fronton, and the bar. I’ve driven through a few times, though never really stopped to explore. At one time, outside of town, there were three Telleria baserriak. My friend Joseba Etxarri helped me find them and I took my mom there once. All three have collapsed and are overrun with weeds.

I’d heard stories that Blas was a merchant marine and that, during one of his voyages, he jumped ship somewhere in South America and made his way north to the United States. However, he also appears in the records on Ellis Island, meaning he came the more typical way. Whatever the story, after arriving in the United States in 1900, he made his way to Idaho and then Oregon. He first herded sheep until he earned enough money to buy his own flock, which at one point numbered some 8,000. In 1911, he married Ines Eiguren, who had also made her way to that same small town in Oregon. Blas had a number of siblings back in Mutiloa, but if he kept any kind of contact with them, I have no idea. All connections to that side of the family have been lost. Interestingly, there is a Telleria family in Mutiloa that makes cheese. I’ve tried to reach out to them to see if they might be related, but have not had any response…

While it doesn’t seem Blas had any specific draw to Jordan Valley – there was no one there that encouraged him to come – Ines had her uncle, Jose Navarro. Along with his partner Antonio Azcuenaga, Jose was possibly the first Basque to reach Jordan Valley and the US northwest. Jose encouraged a number of his nephews and nieces to come to Oregon, and Ines was one of them. Ines came from an extremely large family – in all, she had 13 siblings. I had the fortune to meet two of the youngest girls – Filomena and Josefa – in Lekeitio when I went there for the first time in 1991-92. They had never married, instead taking on the task of caring for their elderly mother. By the time I met them, they were quite old themselves, their mother having long passed. It seems they hadn’t approved of their brother-in-law Blas, though exactly why, I cannot say.

Ines was born in 1892 and her parents, Jose Eiguren and Jacoba Navarro (Jose’s older sister), lived in a small house on the estate of the Adán de Yarza family, a wealthy family who had gained even more wealth by bringing pine trees from the United States to the Basque Country. (All those pines that cover the Basque Country? They aren’t native…) Jose and Jacoba worked as the groundskeepers for the Adán de Yarza family and their house sat on the banks of the river. The Adán de Yarza’s palace has now been turned into a hotel and I believe that Jose and Jacoba’s place still sits behind it.

Blas’s second surname was Goya. Yeah, the same as that Goya. The famous Goya’s great-great grandfather was from Zerain, which is not far from Mutiloa. I’ve always wondered if there was a connection but I have yet to demonstrate one.

Blas died long before I was born – he died before my mom was born – in 1943. Ines was much younger and lived a longer life. She died in 1979, after I was born so I’m sure I met her, but I have no memories of her. Of course, I got my name from Blas.