Cemetery Musings. Photograph of Carleigh Ocon at the Pioneer Cemetery in Eugene, Oregon. Self portrait photographed by Carleigh Ocon. October, 2021.

My name is Carleigh Margaret Ocon. I grew up in a multicultural household with my Mexican traditions from my dad’s side, Norwegian traditions from my mom’s side, and a passion for understanding the culture of Kazakstan since that is where my baby brother was adopted from. As diverse as my family is, my family is rather Americanized and many of the traditions we have don’t extend past the art we have or the foods we eat.

I began my research by researching the genealogical origins of my name. My first name is a hybridization of my maternal grandmother, Carol, and my mom’s cousin’s name, Marleigh. My middle name is a family name that has been passed down through multiple generations. That is where I was able to anchor my preliminary research and connect to the portion of my heritage not necessarily defined by an immigration story (the American story).

After getting more information on my namesake, Margaret Amanda Mann, I sought more stories about the women in my family. That is how I gained more insight on my second grandmother Birgit Sorenson, who had immigrated from Norway, as well as gained more information on my abuelita, Catalina Ortega.

As my research progressed, I found that I had plenty of primary sources and records for my maternal lineage but far more stories from my paternal lineage. My narrative stems from anchoring the family stories I grew up with and how they interact to the subsequent historical events that contextualize those narratives. My dad’s family immigrated from Mexico in the 50s and there was a clear story to that transition that I sought to give voice to.

I included all the records I found from my maternal side since those documents paint a narrative on their own. My attempts at telling that story would be entirely fabulation so I kept a distance from them so as not to promote an idealization of a history I know I can never fully understand without stories and first hand accounts to back it up.

This is an ongoing project. There is no true completion of a family history but this is the history I collected in my ten weeks working on it.

I started my research with my name and my name gave me records for my maternal lineage. My parents nearly named me Solidad Catalina. I wonder how my research would have differed if my name stemmed from my paternal side rather than my maternal side. Perhaps I would have focused in acquiring more records to go with the rich stories I collected, or maybe not.