One of the best memories I will carry forward from Jaialdi was meeting so much extended family. Boise is full of Uberuagas, but as a kid, I barely knew they all even existed. For reasons I’ll never know, my dad never really interacted with them – perhaps they were too distant of family and he simply didn’t really know them at all. Regardless, it has been great getting to know some of them better and figuring out how we are all connected. It all starts with three brothers…

I’ve been slowly working on my family tree. If you are a Uberuaga, I’m keen on figuring out how we might be related.

• Pedro José Uberuaga Gerrikagoitia, born in 1833 in Gerrikaitz, Bizkaia, and Maria Ygnacia Kareaga-Telleria Aranburu, born in 1851 in Aulesti, Bizkaia, had 6 children, which they raised in their baserri in Gerrikaitz (Munitibar): Ana Josefa, Pedro José Bernabe, Juan José, José, Domingo, and Venancia. Pedro José Bernabe was my great-grandfather. Three of these siblings – Juan José, José, and Domingo – immigrated to Idaho, where they became fixtures in the Boise Basque community.
• Juan José “John” was born in 1884 and died in 1960. He came to the US in 1905. In 1910, he married Juana Ygnacia Arriola Ymas (or Imaz), a native of Mutriku, Gipuzkoa. Together, they had 8 children. They ran the Arriola/Saracondi boarding house on 6th Street beginning in 1911, though earlier John’s brother José had been listed as the owner. Saracondi was John’s nickname, supposedly inspired by the name of the baserri of John’s parents, though I can’t confirm such a baserri existed – the baserri that my dad and his grandfather were from was Goikoetxebarri. After they left the boarding house, John worked at McGuffin’s Feed and Fuel before working as custodian at the Statehouse. John and Juana were the parents of Jay Uberuaga Hormaechea, who established Basque dancing in Boise.
• José “Joe” was born a few years later in 1887. He died in 1954. He immigrated to the US in 1907, arriving in New York aboard the ship La Lorraine. In 1913, he married Hermenigilda Bernedo Urionaguena, who was from Bolibar, Bizkaia. They had 5 children. Together, they ran what is now the Cyrus Jacobs-Uberuaga boarding house in Boise from 1917 to 1959.
• Domingo was the youngest of the three, born in 1888. He also died the earliest in 1952. The last to immigrate, he arrived in New York aboard the Oceanic in 1910. He married Damiana Erquiga Aboitiz, of Ispaster, Bizkaia, in 1913. In 1920 he began working for the Boise Payette Lumber company, where he worked until his death. Julia Uberuaga, for whom an island off of Antarctica is named, is Domingo and Damiana’s granddaughter.
• While these three brothers immigrated to the United States, my great-grandfather, Pedro José Bernabe, stayed in the Basque Country. This pattern repeated itself a generation later with Pedro’s own sons, with three coming to the United States – Juan José, Juan, and Santiago – and the eldest son – Teodoro – staying behind. In fact, as my cousin Jon told me, when Juan was considering coming to the US, his dad told him “Don’t go. I also had three brothers that went and I hardly know anything about them and I’ve never seen them again.”
• Other Uberuagas also left the Basque Country for other parts, not only the United States but also Australia, Argentina, and Chile, amongst other countries.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Basque Boise Walking Tour; Basques in USA: Amerikanuak; Estornés Lasa, Mariano; Totoricagüena Egurrola, Gloria Pilar. Estados Unidos de América. Oeste americano. Auñamendi Encyclopedia, 2025. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/estados-unidos-de-america-oeste-americano/ar-50446/