Dinagat Heritage
Dinagat is founded as a municipality
The oldest settled community on the island, formed under Spanish colonial order — long after the Mamanwa had already made it home.
An archive begun in 2026 · Caraga, Philippines
Two islands.
One family's record.
Dinagat Heritage traces a family carried between two shores — my mother's people from the Dinagat Islands, my father's from Tagbilaran, Bohol — and sets it against the wider record of the province itself: its Mamanwa roots, its churches, its civil registries, and the long paper trail that outlives everyone who signed it.
Dionisia Millanar — the earliest record found, so far
Born in Cortes in 1907, gone by 1955 — the furthest back the paper trail currently reaches. Every record before her is still missing, not disproven.
Dinagat becomes its own province
Republic Act No. 9355 separated Dinagat from Surigao del Norte — a province young enough that the people who remember its founding are still telling the story themselves.
Eight siblings, and everyone who came after
My mother's generation — the branch this archive is built to hold together, one record and one story at a time.
Recently added
Family Roots
Trees, records, and the eight siblings this archive started with — plus the paternal Bohol line that reaches back to 1907. Civil registries, baptismal records, and the stories that never made it onto paper.
Explore the family record →Island & Culture
The Mamanwa, the earliest known inhabitants of the region; the Spanish and American-era towns; and the 2006 founding of a province still young enough to remember its own beginning.
Read the island's history →Research Guides
Practical notes for anyone else digging through Caraga-region records — FamilySearch navigation, civil registration gaps by decade, and what to do when the trail goes cold.
Start researching →