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Basque Oral History Project Index Interview Tape Index
NAME: Maria Gabica(gogeaskoa)
TAPE MINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Tape 1
Side 1
0-5:30 Maria was born in Ereño, Spain, and since she was only two when she came to America, she has no recollection of either her life there or her passage over. Her parents always spoke to her of the hard times in the Basque Country. Maria’s earliest memories are of being in the first grade, when she was about five. Her family homesteaded in Owyhee, near Kuna; the government gave people a permit to do this, and it took five years to earn ownership of the land. She attended Kuna-Mora School, then Greenhearst; in the summer, they went to school in Nampa, where her mother cooked. Her father was a sheep owner at the time. Maria’s mother came to the US for the first time in 1908, when she brought her family. She was a seamstress in Euskadi, traveling from house to house to mend clothes. The family lived on a baserri until Maria’s father went to the US, when her mother moved into town and traded farming for sewing. When her husband sent for them, they all went to Idaho. Maria traveled with her brothers Joe and Salu. Her oldest brother was already in Idaho, and the youngest one was born there.
5:30-13:00 Maria had a very pleasant life at the sheep ranch. She helped her mother clean when she was not at school, and during the summer, when the herders were in the hills, there was less work. She remembers the boarding houses and socializing that prevailed at the time. Maria served tables and danced with Basque boys starting at age 12. Barbara and Gregorio Urquiaga owned the first hotel in Nampa. Tomasa and John Jausoro later bought the same house; Maria helped make beds and clean for this establishment when she was young. The Bicandis had a house as well, and Boni Bermensolo had a rooming house that didn’t serve meals. These meals have since been remodeled or torn down. Maria continues discussing these establishments.
13-20:00 When Maria and her mother came over from the Basque Country for the first time, she stopped in New York briefly before heading to Idaho. Her father had bought and furnished a home for them. At that time the Basque were very clannish (except for some mixing at school). She spoke Basque with her friends at school initially, and it took her a while to learn English. Maria enjoyed school, and continued her training as a nurse when she left high school; she explains how she got into this. Her parents wanted her to finish high school, but she wanted to learn to be a nurse. She needed her father’s permission, and a storm garbled his voice on the telephone enough to convince her mother that she had gotten it. She trained for 2 years, and was married at 18. Joaquin was working for Maria’s father, when he stepped on a nail and got blood poisoning. When he got to the hospital, she helped take care of him there (she had met him previously at the Jayo boarding house), where he proposed to her! Maria’s parents really liked him. Joaquin didn’t want to wait to marry, and threatened to return to Euskadi if she didn’t marry her.
20-26:30 Up to the time she got married, Maria’s family hadn’t had much success with sheep (not due to lack of work—they were hard workers—but due to general economic depression). She followed her husband to New Meadows where he worked as a logger, and she cleaned houses and worked as an interior decorator. Men were very protective at the time. Herders were notorious for wasting their wages at boarding houses. Maria describes meals. The herders cam to the US to save a bit of money, but it didn’t always work out that way.
26:30-30:00 Life downtown was very happy for both Basque boys and girls. Maria had a lot of fun. She was paid a dollar a day to clean beds at the boarding houses, serve tables and entertain the boys (dancing only!). Maria had to ask her mother to go anywhere, and had to be home by 9pm; Joaquin tried to circumvent this rule often. Life was homier back then! She describes the boarding house culture at the time, including going from dance to dance in the boarding houses along Grove Street when at Christmas. Maria recalls that once she learned English, it wasn’t long before she could communicate with her friends at school.
Side 2
0-5:30 Maria recalls that Nampa was more fun for her than Boise. She couldn’t go to all the boarding houses because they were unsuitable for women. She was raised strictly, and is proud of this now, even if she was a little disappointed there. Maria relates her yearly schedule as a young girl, which followed her father’s herding schedule. Several families followed the sheep, and they were all friends. Later, her children had no problems adjusting to life in America. Today, her son can still understand a little Basque. A generation has made a lot of difference. Maria remembers being called a “Black Basco” by some townspeople jealous of the Basques success (cars, nice houses, etc.). Not all Basques were successful, but Maria’s father always helped them get on their feet.
5:30-7:45 As an adult, Maria never worked for pay outside of the house. She discusses a few Basques at the University of Idaho; her grandson Bob went there.
NAMES AND PLACES
NAMES: Arte, Bob: Maria’s grandson
PLACES: Ereño, Bizkaia THEMES: Boarding houses |
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