Was it possible that Quincy Tahoma actually did not know his clan as he said? He told people that he had no parents, and that information was in the school records that we found at the National Archives Western office in Denver. But somebody cared for him as a child–and the people who raised him must have been Navajo, since he was well grounded in the Navajo culture. So would they not have told him who his mother was, and therefore what his clan was?

One of the problems with not knowing one’s clan includes not knowing who one can properly marry. Is that why Tahoma apparently never married (although he seemed never to be without a girlfriend)?

With the help of Mark Rosaker, and David Brugge, we kept following the clues. The Santa Fe Indian School records for Quincy Tahoma, incomplete as they were, at least had a registration form  that said “no parents” and listed a guardian, “Manuel Sagantizo.” Someone had written “brother” in pencil. School records indicated Tahoma came from Tuba City. That record also listed Tahoma’s birth date as December 25, 1918 (the 18 was written over top a typed twenty-something)

David Brugge explained that he had never heard of the name Sagantizo, but Saganitso was a rather common name, particularly around Tuba city. A pause here to complain that mis-spelling of names on records complicates research enormously.  And in the case of non-Indians trying to write down what they think they hear a Navajo say, or Navajos using a different variety of their names each time they are asked–well, confusion reigns.

Mark took the information about Manuel Saganitso and ran with it. Digging into on-line birth and death records, he came up with dozens of Saganitsos–most of them demonstrably not connected to Tahoma. To be continued…

Have you had personal experience with a Navajo who was raised by someone other than his/her parents and did not know his or her own clan? We would like to hear such stories.

Posted by Vera Marie Badertscher, May 17, 2009

January 10, 2005

Who are you?

The questions come right after an exchange of names. Where did you come from? What do you do for a living? Do you have children? We tend to quickly try to categorize the people we meet. People think of the questions as friendly exchanges, not prying, and the information exchange helps oil the way to understanding between strangers.

If you come from Ohio, Charnell and I will follow up with, “Where in Ohio?”, because we both came from there. We’ll probably recognize the name of the county and know if you were close to Columbus, Cincinnati or Cleveland. We’ll likely wind up talking about the Ohio State Buckeyes. Likewise, we’ll bond if you’re from Arizona or Texas or Virginia or from Santa Fe. If you have children, we may whip out our PDAs and show you pictures of our families. Of course if you mention Navajo Art as an interest, we’ll talk your ear off.

In the Navajo culture, clan comes first. According to the Saganitso family that took Quincy in as a small child, Quincy was born to EdgeWater and born for Many Goats. (more…)