[2][non-primary source needed] The current Tribal President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians is Rudy Ortega Jr., who is a descendant of the village of Tochonanga.

[citation needed] In 1776, they were noted as a distinct linguistic and cultural group, by Padre Francisco Garcés, and have been distinguished from the Kitanemuk and the Fernandeño.

[citation needed] According to Chester King and Thomas C. Blackburn (1978:536), "By 1810, virtually all the Tataviam had been baptized at Mission San Fernando Rey de España.

"[citation needed] Like many other indigenous groups, they suffered high rates of fatalities from infectious diseases brought by the Spanish.

[citation needed] The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians claims that when the First Mexican Republic passed the Mexican secularization act of 1833 and seized the California missions, that 50 Tataviam leaders where awarded vast land grants amounting to over 18,000 acres, or around 10% of the San Fernando Valley, including vast swaths of what is today northern Los Angeles County.