Nicholas Albaniel was born in 1879 in the Visayan Islands, Philippines to Marcos Albaniel and Ygnacia dela Rosa. He was one of the twelve Filipinos who went to Papua New Guinea in the 1880s as part of the missionaries.

Nicholas married Rosy Bombay, daughter of John ‘Juma’ Bombay with a part Torres Strait Islander and part Australian Aboriginal woman from New Norcia missions near Darwin. Nicholas and Rosy had six children—Emmanuel, Joseph, Nicholas, Mary Mecedes, Catherine (Katie) and Ligouri Albaniel.

Katie married Pedro Torrisheba, son of Manilaman Gregorio Torricheba, who was born in 1869 in the Visayan Islands, Philippines. Ligouri, on the other hand, was married to Salvatore Kala Fabila, son of Manilaman Marcello Fabila, born in 1869 in Dancalan, Antique, Panay Island, Philippines.

The narrators, Emmanuel Ryan Ali-Torrisheba, sisters Micheline Lucille Fabila and Leoncia Geraldine Fabila, trace their lineage to three Manilamen—Albaniel, Torrisheba and Fabila.