Francisca was born in Gabika-Ereino, Bizkaia in October of 1927 to Marcelo Hormaechea and Segunda Aldamiz. She was one of twelve children, but her brothers were taken by disease before their first year. The family farmed on their baserri, called “Andiketze,” which has been renovated and is on the historical registry today.
Francisca grew up in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. She gives a heartrending, detailed account of the bombing of Gernika, which she could see, at 12 years of age, from their farmhouse. She also describes the period of food rationing, hunger, and abject poverty that followed the war, when soldiers, who were as hungry as everyone else, would come to her family’s farmhouse looking for scraps of bread or some broth. The conditions during and after the war made it necessary for her to find work in Kortezubi and Gernika, where she served as a maid from the age of 11 until she was 21.
She married Juan (John) Lejardi, who had been working in the United States for 20 years, in 1951. Francisca and John decided to emigrate to the United States, and set sail from Santurze on a cargo ship. When they arrived in Boise, Idaho they rented an apartment for a month before moving to a farm in Marsing, where they raised their family. After 20 years of renting, they bought a farm in Homedale, Idaho and started their own farming operation. Francisca worked very hard on both farms, but made it a point to stay in touch with her sisters in Australia and the Basque country. She became a US citizen in the mid 1960s.
TAPEMINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Tape 1, side 1
0-3:15 Francisca was born in Gabika/Ereino (Ereño), Bizkaia, in October of 1927, to Marcelo and Segunda Aldamiz Hormaechea. She had 12 brothers and sisters, 5 brothers died when they were young with some sort of disease. Seven girls were left alive after the disease ran its course. Oldest sister died 4 or 5 years ago, but the rest are alive. Some of them live in Ereino, some in Natxitua, two in Gernika, one in Australia (Avelina Hormaechea Aguirre), and Francisca is the only one living in the United States. Her family’s baserri is called “Andiketze.” When Francisca returned to the baserri after living in the United States for 20 years, she found that everything was different. She describes the differences. The farmhouse had been renovated quite a bit, and is now quite elegant.
3:15-8:45 Francisca describes the school she went to in Ereino. The children from the 20-25 baserris in the area attended school there. They went to school from about 8:00am until 11:00, when they would break for Catechism from 11:00 to 12:30, then had lunch at home. After lunch, they would return to school for afternoon classes. She remembers not learning very much at school, and living very modestly. It was wartime (the Spanish Civil War 1936-39), and she remembers watching the bombing of Gernika, which she could see burning from the farmhouse. Her memories are vivid. She also remembers what the soldiers looked like and how they were dressed. Their jackets had holes, their shoes were falling apart, and they were malnourished. An aunt’s house was burned, as well as banks, and they found children dead in the rubble of fallen buildings. She remembers her father working to clear the roads of bodies and rubble so that traffic could pass through. Her father had gone to Gernika on foot the morning of the bombing, but sensed that something was wrong. Before the bombing, people had started to break store windows to steal things. He finished his business in town and returned home early, not liking what he saw. He told his family that something was wrong. Later, they saw planes go over Ereino to Gernika and the bombs started to fall. Every time a plane would come her family hid under a bridge, because when the planes returned from their bombing runs, the fighter planes accompanying the bombers would strafe people working in the fields or running away from the city.
8:45-13:30 Francisca describes the period of food rationing after the war. Rationing lasted until she came to the United States. Sugar, bread, and other food staples were rationed. In the farms, they grew corn and wheat, but since milling the grain was also rationed, some millers would help farmers at night. After dark, many farmers would go the mills with sacks of grain loaded onto donkeys, mill as much grain as they could, and return home before dawn. They did this to reduce the chances of getting caught by the Guardia Civil (the police). They could not butcher pigs or bake bread for fear of punishment. To avoid hunger, her father butchered their pig at night while the children slept, and hid the meat so that nobody knew where it was. He would pull out just enough for meals. He did this because hunger was widespread, and children talked at school. If they didn’t know about the meat, the family would be safe. Soldiers came to the farmhouse looking for food. The family would give them as much as they could, but there was hunger on both sides – the Franquistas and the Basque government side, the Republicans (called the Reds by Franco). Two announcements came from Franco: one, that the Reds were coming, and two that everyone should take their animals to a meeting place. These announcements were meant to scare people. Francisca’s father took some food and blankets and headed to the hills. He and other men were afraid of execution. She describes some of the ways people tried to hide or burn anything that could link them to the Republicans (the losing side) by the time Franco’s forces passed through the area.
13:30-21:30 At the age of 11, Francisca went to Kortezubi to work as a maid for six years. She remembers hearing announcements, such as “Vivan los Requetés de Forua,” over loudspeakers for the winning Requeté faction (Carlist fighters). Francisca tells the story of a judge in town who had a man, a father of seven, killed as a reprisal. She notes that there were wrongs done by both sides during the war. She was not politically motivated herself, but saw horrible things done by both sides. After six years in Kortezubi, she went to work as a maid in Gernika for four years, then went home until she married at the age of 23. After she married, she came to the United States. Backing up, Francisca describes the work she did as a maid. She cooked, cleaned, and waxed floors in Gernika. Every day, bed sheets had to be removed, shaken and hung outside to air. Every day, mattresses had to beaten and fluffed, and the floors had to be scrubbed, waxed, and buffed until she could see her face in the reflection. Her days started at 6:00am. Francisca tired of the work, and decided to learn to sew. She made an agreement with her employers to work until 2:00pm, then go to learn to sew with a “modista,” a lady tailor for women, who now lives in Boise. Francisca and the lady are still good friends.
21:30-24:15 She talks a bit more about the food rationing and hunger in Spain during the 12 years she worked as a maid. The family she worked for in Gernika took her rations of sugar and other items, but fed her enough. Bread was also rationed (one round loaf of bread per family per day), but lentils were plentiful.
24:15-30:00 Francisca married in Gabika on June 22, 1951. Her husband had been in the United States for 20 years and was 17 years her senior. They decided to come to the US and left on November 1 on a ship from Santurze (on a cargo ship – see minute 27). The voyage took them 13 days. Francisca had no idea what to expect. She did not speak any English. They arrived in New York after a long voyage, which took longer than normal because of the rough ocean. Many ships had turned back because of the storm, but her ship kept going and arrived in New York with much of its top torn apart. When Francisca and her husband arrived at the harbor, they noticed that there were strikes going on. The ship had to detour to Boston. Backing up, she explains that the sea was so rough that passengers could not stand up straight. They had to lie down to keep from being thrown around as the ship tossed in the waves. She did not stay with her husband on the ship. Francisca’s roommate was a Jewish woman who had two fur coats. She asked Francisca to help her wear one of them to get it through Customs in Boston. They went to a bar, but she had to wait outside because women were not allowed in the bar. They took a train to New York and stayed at a Basque boarding house for 2 or 3 days, them boarded another train for Boise, Idaho. Francisca’s first impression of the United States was that she could not understand or talk to anybody. On the way to Idaho, they stopped in Rock Springs, Wyoming to visit her husband’s godfather (who was also his uncle). The fact that children wore long pants (Levi’s) was a shock to Francisca. She would laugh at train stations when she saw children wearing pants running around in the snow. They spent the night in the train station at Rock Springs, but did not find the godfather. She asked her husband how people could live in a place where it was too cold outside and too warm inside. Another surprise was seeing black people working as waiters on the train. She had never seen them before.
Tape 1, side 2
0-2:15 Backing up, Francisca describes the servers on the train. They were extremely helpful, but she was surprised that they wore white shirts. In the Basque country, men usually only wore white shirts to church on Sundays. She asked her husband for an explanation, and he replied that it was the way it was done. She was also surprised that they were so friendly.
2:15-4:05 They stayed in an apartment in Boise for one month while they prepared to move in to the farmhouse they were going to rent in Marsing. They lived in that house for 20 years, where they raised their children. After that, they have lived in their own farm for 25 additional years. She had difficulty adjusting to life in Marsing, both culturally and to the farmhouse itself. But she never thought of returning to the Basque country. Although her life on the farm in the US was tough, it was better than back home. Bluntly speaking, she says, they were hungry during the war years back home. And here they had plenty to eat. She tells a story about when she was able to have as much sugar as she wanted, which had been strictly rationed in Spain until the day she left.
4:05-9:00 She learnt English by watching TV with the children and listening to the children. Did not go to school in the US. She was always home with her children. When the oldest daughter (Teresa) started school, she was initially behind the rest of the students because she did not know English. They spoke only Euskera at home. Their children are Teresa, Juan (John), Elizabeth, and Esteban (Steve).
9:00-13:00 She returned to the Basque country for the first time in 1973 with her son, Steve. Her father and mother had already passed away, and she found enormous change in the country. She had left when there was hunger, but the situation had improved unbelievably by then. She would move back to the Basque country. A first cousin is the only relative she ever had in the US, except for her immediate family. She had relatives on her husband’s side, but only one on her own. Francisca returned to visit the Basque country with her husband, and more recently with her two daughters after he passed away. She also went to Australia to visit her sister, whom she had not seen for 44 years. She says that she jumped for joy when she saw her sister after so many years. Her sister has ten children of her own, one of which lives in Spain with her husband. Francisca phones her sisters in Australia and the Basque country frequently. She sends letters every now and then, a practice she started when she first came to America.
13:00-20:00 She worked a lot on the farms in Marsing and Homedale. While Francisca took care of her husband, who had fallen ill, for eight years, her son took over operation of their farm. In addition, she helped take care of her grandchildren. Francisca has worked hard all of her life, both in the Basque country and the United States. She gives examples of the types of work she did on the farms. Even today, she feeds the farm animals in the morning and evening. She says that since she did not have much schooling, she has had to work hard to make a living. Francisca learned to drive so that she could take her children to play sports in high school. A teacher helped her study to get her license.
20:00-27:00 Francisca cooks mainly Basque food or American food with a Basque twist (no hamburgers), but has also started to cook more American food (roasts, etc.). She used to go to the Basque Center in Boise fairly often when her husband was alive (monthly dinners, etc.), but does not spend much time there anymore. She enjoys watching the children dance every now and then. She shows Begoña some of her family photographs and describes who is featured in them. Francisca shows a photo of her husband’s baserri, which has been renovated a great deal and was featured in a calendar.
27:00- She became a US citizen in the mid-1960s, but does not remember exactly when. She talks about the citizenship process. She was tired of renewing her residency every year, but forgot to do it one year, and received a letter that advised her to renew her status or risk deportation. The following year, she started the citizenship procedures. Francisca and her family go to church regularly. She compares attitudes to church in the United States and in the Basque country. She has noticed that in the Basque country, only the older generation still goes to church. Younger generations do not go as often. She is a member of St. Hubert in Homedale.
NAMES AND PLACES
NAMES:
Aguirre, Avelina Hormaechea – Francisca’s sister in Australia.
Aldamiz, Segunda – Francisca’s mother.
Avelina — sister.
Elizabeth – one of her daughters.
Esteban (Steve) – one of her sons.
Feli — sister.
Franco, Francisco – Spanish dictator.
Franquistas – those who sided with Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
Hormaechea, Marzelo – Francisca’s father.
Irene — sister.
Juan (John) – her husband and one of her sons.
Maria — sister.
Primi — sister.
Republicans – those who sided with the Basque government during the Spanish Civil War.
Requeté faction – Carlist fighters during the Spanish Civil War, sided with Franco’s insurrection.
Teresa – one of her daughters.
Tomasa — sister.
PLACES:
Andiketze – the name of her family’s baserri.
Boise, Idaho – her first residence in the United States.
Gabika/Ereino, Bizkaia – Francisca’s birthplace.
Gernika – one of her sisters lives here.
Homedale, Idaho – her current residence.
Kortezubi – Francisca was living here when she witnessed the bombing of Gernika.
Marsing, Idaho – she farmed here for 20 years.
Natxitua – one of her sisters lives here.
New York, New York – she and her husband arrived here first, but were detoured to Boston, Massachusetts.
Rock Springs, Wyoming – Francisca and her husband stopped here on their way to Boise to visit an uncle.
Santurze – the harbor town where Francisca and her husband left for the United States.
St. Hubert Church, Homedale, Idaho – her church.
THEMES:
Basque clubs and organizations
Bombing of Gernika
Family
Farming
Food Rationing
Hunger
Non-Boise Basque communities
Spanish Civil War
Work