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| Josephine and Vicente Abad |
Some time May 1899, the newlyweds sailed to Manila, a city that had been already secured and occupied by a new colonial master, the United States of America. They stayed here for months, monitoring the security situation and developments in Cebu, Vicente's hometown. Towards the end of September, aware and confident that it was already safe to travel, the couple left for Cebu where they finally settled to raise a family. While the port of Cebu and its immediate environs had been secured by the Americans, the surrounding countryside was still controlled by Filipino insurgents.
Vicente established a bicycle store at the corner of Magallanes and Padre Burgos Streets in downtown Cebu where the craze was immediately picked up by the Cebuanos. With increasing popularity, the bicycle business flourished while Josephine shared space in the same building for conducting her English classes for young students. One of her pupils was the young Sergio Osmeña, Sr. who would later become the first Speaker of the Philippine Assembly and, eventually, a President of the Philippine Commonwealth.
As the Philippine-American War wore on in the hinterlands and, at the same time, the ongoing rehabilitation of city centers destroyed from the ravages of revolution against Spain, the inadequacy of medical care in the Philippines at that specific period was understandable. So when Josephine was about to deliver their first-born, the couple travelled back to Hong Kong where she, as an Irish-British subject, received better medical care for her condition in the British colony. On April 17, 1900, she gave birth to a baby girl the couple named Dolores. The Abad family remained in Hong Kong until the child was a year old. They sailed back to the Philippines in 1901.
On the recommendation of Dr. David Prescott Barrows, former President of the University of California and then the Director of Education under the American occupation of the Philippine Islands, Josephine was given an appointment by the American colonial government to teach English, mainly at the Liceo de Manila in Intramuros and other public schools. Not too long after that, she developed hoarseness in her voice and contracted a disease of the larynx, that was probably aggravated by her job as a public school teacher.
Having been turned down by the US colonial government for financial assistance because of ongoing massive reconstruction efforts, she immediately returned to Hong Kong to seek medical treatment.
next page: Final Rest
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| Old Buildings Near Magallanes and Burgos Streets, Cebu City |
As the Philippine-American War wore on in the hinterlands and, at the same time, the ongoing rehabilitation of city centers destroyed from the ravages of revolution against Spain, the inadequacy of medical care in the Philippines at that specific period was understandable. So when Josephine was about to deliver their first-born, the couple travelled back to Hong Kong where she, as an Irish-British subject, received better medical care for her condition in the British colony. On April 17, 1900, she gave birth to a baby girl the couple named Dolores. The Abad family remained in Hong Kong until the child was a year old. They sailed back to the Philippines in 1901.
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| Dolores Abad |
Having been turned down by the US colonial government for financial assistance because of ongoing massive reconstruction efforts, she immediately returned to Hong Kong to seek medical treatment.
next page: Final Rest
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