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The Lizarzaburu family has a large number of descendants in countries like Peru, Ecuador, the US, Brazil and Mexico that has become reacquainted over the last few years thanks to the internet and new technology and they have formed a family group called the Lizarzaburu Klan. Now, along with family members in Euskal Herria they are organizing a reunion in their place of origin, in the farmhouse of the same name of the Gipuzkoan town Lizartza, in September 2014.

Lima, Peru.  The descendants of the Lizarzaburu family in America have been working for years on discovering their origins.  This search has gathered several family members, dispersed through countries like Peru, Ecuador, the US, Brazil and Mexico who created an mail group (Lizartza Klan) that they use to stay in touch and which continues to add family members.  This group, supported, among others by, Wilfredo and Jose Luis Lizarzaburu, was the origin of two family reunions in 2008 in Lima and in Trujillo.  “Those were the first family reunions that gathered more than 100 people many of who saw each other for the first time,” Wilfredo told EuskalKultura.com.

After more than 38 years of work, Wilfredo was able to complete the family tree from the mid-1500s until now.  Recently, thanks to social media, the family contacted the Lizarzaburus in the Basque Country who, after visiting the family farmhouse, Lizarzaburu Baserria, in Lizartza, showed interest in recovering it.  This idea is the seed of the family reunion that they are currently planning for September 2014.

[Jon Lizarzaburu and his family traveled to Lizartza from Peru in 2007 to get to know the place their last name came from (photo F. Lizarzburu)]

“Visitors that we have confirmed come from Peru, Ecuador, the US, and Mexico.  Those in Chile and Brazil and also some in the US still have to respond.  Our roots have spread to Barcelona, and so for the first time we will have Basque-Catalans among us, as well as Basque-Americans. We have thirty confirmed so far and I think that we can add another 20 or more, including those in Euskadi,” said Wilfredo.  “This will be the first time that we have a reunion there, in the place of our origin that is why we are calling this adventure “Coming Home.”

[Members of the family gathered around the table in 1978, when Javier Lizarzaburu visited the farmhouse from America.  Pictured here are the Barriolas, descendants of one of the Lizarzaburus and owners of the farmhouse from the beginning of the 1600s (photo F. Lizarzaburu)]

In the Basque Country, Patxi Goenaga Lizarzaburu, from Mutriku, is in charge of organizing the visit, and to prepare activities that “will include visit to important places in Euskal Herria, the family reunion and a visit to the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa,” said Wilfredo, inviting anyone interested in participating to contact the family via email.

Wilfredo Lizarzaburu has also announced the intention of the family to take steps for the creation of a Basque club in Trujillo, Peru; followed by others in Guayaquil and Quito (Ecuador).

Lizarza House

The origin of the family goes back to the town of Lizartza, in Gipuzkoa, near Nafarroa. Wilfredo explains that the first one holding the name “was Capitan don Sancho Martinez, Lord of the House of Lizarza (Lizartza buru) and in exchange for his service in 1512, in the Battle of Belate, the Catholic Kings gave him permission to take the name of the house as his surname.  His son Francisco de Lizarzaburu e Idakez; born in Lizartza was the first to carry the name of the house of which he was also Lord, as his own surname.  Since then all other descendants have carried that name.”

“The coat of arms of the House of Lizarzaburu reflect 12 cannons captured in the Battle of Belate, like that of Gipuzkoa,” according to family members.  Currently the coat of arms shows two canons and a blue and silver flag that identifies the Araxes River in Lizartza, as a symbol of family attachment to their place of origin. “Even though the original family members were linked to the monarchy, it was evident that many have worked in favor of the Basque people,” they say.  "In America various members of the family participated in uprisings in Ecuador, collaborating with Simon Bolivar."