Pablo Tac
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Pablo Tac (1822-1841) was a Luiseño Indian who provided a rare contemporary Native American perspective on the institutions and early history of California.
Tac was born of Luiseño parents at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and attended the Mission school. A promising student, he (along with another boy) was singled out by the Franciscan missionary, Antonio Peyri, to accompany him when Peyri left California in 1832. Tac was in Rome in 1834 and was entered in the College of the Propaganda, studying Latin grammar. He went on to study rhetoric, humanities, and philosophy in preparation for missionary work, but he died in 1841.
As a student, Tac wrote a grammatical sketch and a fragmentary dictionary of the Luiseño language, as well as an essay on the "Conversion of the San Luiseños of Alta California". The latter includes information on aboriginal lifeways (including dances and games) and the history and organization of the Mission, along with two crude drawings by Tac.
[edit] Reference
Hewes, Minna, and Gordon Hewes. 1958. "Indian Life and Customs at Mission San Luis Rey: A Record of California Mission Life Written by Pablo Tac, an Indian Neophyte (Rome, ca. 1835)". The Americas 9:87-106.
