euskalkultura.eus

This month a group of the Argentine branch of the Urruty family, originally from Zuberoa, will travel to Euskal Herria to reunite with family members there.  The last name goes back to 1740, when their grandfather immigrated to Argentina from Mitikile-Larrori-Mendibile, in Zuberoa.  The family has been working for several years to reconstruct its family tree, with the help of the Euskal Argentina Association, and has been able to unite descendants on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Donostia-San Sebastian.   Pablo Enrique Urruty, born in Puerto Madryn, will travel this summer from Argentina to the Basque Country, along with his father, Victor Jose, to reunite with cousins and other family members in Iparralde.  Victor Jose Urruty (born in Buenos Aires, 1933), is the son of Enrique, grandson of Joseph who was born in Mitikile-Larrori-Mendibile in 1866, and who died in Buenos Aires in 1924.  The family has been working over the past few years “to reconstruct the ties with Euskal Herria,” Pablo says, thanks to his father’s contribution and dedication.  

“In the mid-90s, my father, driven by curiously, got a certificate of arrival to America issued by the Center for Latin American Migratory Studies.  This was the tip of the iceberg; many years afterwards, the right time to start the adventure arrived, around 2011, when he began searching the internet for the origin of our last name, its meaning, in Euskera: far from town….the value of the metaphor, driven by the challenge, we took our first trip in July of 2012.”

The family traveled to Iparralde, making its base in Donibane Garazi.  There they met the Urrutys, specifically with Isabelle Urruty Arrechea, from Baiona.  “After a magical lunch, she oriented us in the search for the town that my great-grandfather had left.”

The Euskal Argentina Association also collaborated in the search, facilitating the retrieval of the original birth certificate from the town hall of Mitikile-Larrori-Mendibile.  “It is a very valuable jewel that arrived in 2016, for my father’s 86th year,” Pablo explained.

Now the family is planning a new reunion during our trip to the Basque Country from July 23-28.  “We will meet Isabelle, who we have also welcomed to Buenos Aires, and we will meet Bertrand Laplume, who in his own genealogical search has discovered that we share genealogy: his great-grandmother, Catherine, was my great-grandfather Joseph’s sister.”  The travelers invite anyone interested or who are related to the this branch of the Urruty family to get in touch with them.