Availability of Records
While some members of the Narcho family do appear in recorded vital records, especially further into the twentieth century, more often their births, marriages, and deaths were simply not recorded with state officials. There was no traditional marriage ceremony and many individuals were born and died at home, where records were not kept. Cemeteries, which could offer information on birth and death, as well as clues to family relationships, are closed to the public. One potential source for this information is the Catholic Archdiocese of Tuscon, which possesses sacramental records for the Tohono O'odham parishes and missions dating back to the 1700's. However, this information is not online and may only be searched in person. The archdiocese is willing to search these records on an individual's behalf, for a fee, provided enough information is already known about the ancestor being searched for.
United States federal census records are also hit or miss. In the case of the Narcho family, the earliest census records of use were from the 1920's. While they are a wealth of information and provide insight into the life of a family, they often missed individuals owing to the migratory nature of early twentieth century Tohono O'odham life. Bureau of Indian Affairs records can help fill in these gaps, especially since they were conducted nearly every year, but they provide substantially less information about the lives of the people recorded. In addition, not all of them are readily available online. Of those not online, some may be ordered as microfiche through the National Archives for a fee, provided a researcher knows which roll to examine.
United States federal census records are also hit or miss. In the case of the Narcho family, the earliest census records of use were from the 1920's. While they are a wealth of information and provide insight into the life of a family, they often missed individuals owing to the migratory nature of early twentieth century Tohono O'odham life. Bureau of Indian Affairs records can help fill in these gaps, especially since they were conducted nearly every year, but they provide substantially less information about the lives of the people recorded. In addition, not all of them are readily available online. Of those not online, some may be ordered as microfiche through the National Archives for a fee, provided a researcher knows which roll to examine.
Naming Conventions
As the Narcho family history demonstrates, at least until the early 1960's when the Papago Population Study was conducted, names could be changed at any time and a child's surname depended on who he or she lived with. The mercurial nature of Tohono O'odham names makes tracing individuals over the course of their lives difficult without consulting multiple sources unless a document recorder was particularly diligent. In addition, the use of European style names did not begin until the second half of the nineteenth century. Prior to this, traditional Tohono O'odham names and naming conventions were used. These names often changed over the course of the different stages of an individual's life. This makes tracing Tohono O'odham genealogy before this time period nearly impossible. In Ruth Underhill's biography of a Tohono O'odham woman named Chona, who was born sometime in the 1840's, Chona describes how even though she and her husband had been named by a medicine man, when her first child was born they let a Catholic priest name him, because they were modern. Under these circumstances, it is unlikely the Narcho family can be documented further back than the generation born in the late 1800's unless they resided in the community around the San Xavier del Bac mission.
Marriage and Divorce
Divorce was not uncommon among the Tohono O'odham during the period the Narcho family was researched, despite their conversion to Catholicism. Traditionally, there was not a marriage ceremony, the families arranged the marriage and the girl moved to her husband's family's house. Divorce could be accomplished simply by a woman returning to the home of her birth family. In these circumstances, marriage and divorce records are non-existent. Children who reside with their mother may end up taking a step-father's name, complicating the situation for researchers.