The nuclear family of today was rare among Indigenous
groups, existing only insofar as a man could take his wife
and move away from the camp, in effect setting up his own
independent household. He could only do this after he had
paid off any obligations to his father-in-law, and perhaps
when his wife was about to have their first child. Usually
such a bold move indicated a strong personality, one
associated with being a chief, and other family and
supporters would gravitate to the nuclear family and form a
community. Extended families were the norm, as Driver notes:
"Extended families would appear to be widespread if we
noted low frequencies. Practically every tribe had at least
a few three-generation groups of relatives living together
at a given time. While we do not have adequate statistical
evidence to prove this statement, the abundant reference to
grandparents and grandchildren in biography and folklore
indicate plenty of three-generation propinquity." (236).
Furthermore, he notes that there were two types of
extended families: "On the northern Plains, it is
difficult to choose between independent polygynous and
patrilocal extended families. Both were present among all
tribes, and any difference among them can at best be a
matter of emphasis. Probably the larger unit was more
typical before the horse, and later gave way to the more
individualistic polygynous unit when the fur trade changes
many features of the socio-political organization."
(Driver 238).
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