The YSURSA family story

Here we are with Aittitte Ramon (Feb. 2004)

YSURSA  In modern Basque my last name is spelled "Izurtza" while in Spanish it's "Izurza" (the "t" was likely dropped to accommodate the Castillean lisp).  Great-grandfather Benito changed the spelling from Izurza to Ysursa when he became a legalized U.S. citizen.  The name means "lots of pleats or waves."   There is small town in Bizkaia, just south of Durango, with this name.  This provides a hint as to the origins of our name.  Most Basque surnames are topographical or place names.  The town is situated at the base of large mountains in a valley of rolling fields which can be described as "izurtzak" or waves.  

It's still uncertain how we ended up with the name.  There are several possibilities.  An early ancestor was significant, hence the town was named after him.  Then there's the other option:  it was common to name kids with unknown fathers after local places.  So there might be a scandal in my closet somewhere.  Then finally, there's Uncle Bernardo Jose's explanation:  my ancestor owned the town of Izurtza but then lost it in the card game of Mus.  This is very probable since no one the Ysursa family has yet won a mus tournament.

Benito, Asuncion, Ramon & Ruby

  The baserria ("farmhouse") Iturburua ("by the fountain"), located in the Basque town of Iurreta in the Basque province of Bizkaia was the birthplace of my great grandfather Benito.  This is where all the Ysursas that we know of came from.

Benito immigrated here to the United States where he met and wed Asuncion Comporedondo in 1919.

Their first son, my "Aittitte" Ramon, was born in Boise, Idaho at the old St. Alphonsus Hospital in January, 1920.   

Of course we're happy that he made it back okay from serving the country in WWII.

His sister Ruby married John Basabe.  Together they had three children

Tom, Raymond & Marie who married Larry Alder.

Marie, our Dad & Tia Ellie in front of my great-grandparents boarding house, the Valencia in Boise, ID

Looking out over the Sawtooth range, Idaho (July 2003)

Aittitte Ysursa and Kaiet fishing at Redfish Lake, Idaho (July 2003)

Feb. 2004