Library Research Guides

American Indian Genealogy

Introduction

This guide provides generalized information on researching American Indian genealogy with a special emphasis on north-central Wisconsin. McIntyre Library holds many of the sources listed in the Bibliography; in particular the Government Publications Dept. has microfilm for selected Indian census rolls as well as much historical material published by the federal government.

The 14 Area Research Centers (ARCs) located throughout Wisconsin, coordinated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, are important sources of genealogical records and assistance. You may also call 608.264.6460.

Research Strategy

Parker (see Bibliography) suggests these steps in researching Indian genealogy:

1. Gather information from family sources.
2. Determine tribal affiliation of ancestors.
3. Study historical background of those tribe(s).
4. Determine BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) agency serving tribe.
5. Search BIA agency records.
6. Search records of churches associated with tribe.
7. Search records held by archives, universities, historical societies.
   
   

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is increasingly an excellent genealogical resource. Webpages created by the Special Collections Dept. of McIntyre Library, UW-Eau Claire, provide links to Indian and genealogy websites:

• American Indian weblinks
• Genealogical weblinks
  
  

Brief History of Indian Policies

An understanding of changing policies of non-Indians toward Indians is essential to make the best use of the records generated in accordance with those policies. See Important Records on Indian Genealogy for more detail on records. Here is a synopsis of Indian policies based on Parker pp. 211-26:

1. Intermingling or Conversion - This policy dates back to the first arrival of Europeans; church records and land cession records are the most important for this period
2. Removal or Concentration (1830 to mid 1850s) - As outlined by Pres. Andrew Jackson in 1829, the idea was to remove eastern Indian tribes and "concentrate" them in a guaranteed district west of the Mississippi—Indian Territory, later Oklahoma. This led to two valuable sets of records:  
   • Early census rolls (National Archives).
   • Removal muster rolls—lists of Indians removed to the West (National Archives)
3. Reservations (c. 1850-1887) - generally gave Indians what were regarded as worthless lands. Important records generated:
   • Annuity rolls - record annual or quarterly payments to heads of families pursuant to treaties. 
   • School census records (BIA; 1870s-early 1880s) - a product of BIA concern for education when Indians were confined to reservations.
   • Indian census rolls (1885-1940) - Congress passed this act in July 1884 authorizing annual Indian censuses.
4. Allotment (1887to c. 1930) - This new policy was to break up reservations and instead allot a parcel of land to each Indian to be held in trust until the individual proved "capable" of handling affairs, at which time the Indian would be issued a government patent with sole title to the land. With little training, few Indians ever received patents, but allotment records are an important genealogical resource:
   • Allotment registers (1905- ) - recorded individual allotments.
   • Registers of families - provides much genealogical information.
   • Heirship records - successor to register of families.
5. Reorganization (1934- ) - The Wheeler-Howard Act of June 1934, also known as the Indian Reorganzation Act, authorized self-governing tribal councils. Tribes now began generating their own records, including vital records.
   
   

Important Records on Indian Genealogy

Note that all the standard records documenting non-Indians also apply to Indians living off-reservation (as well as many living on a reservation), including military service records, federal decennial censuses, state censuses, probate records, circuit and county court records, vital records, and tax rolls and other land records.  The following are records specifically related to Indians.  The regional branches of the National Archives are located in 11 cities across the U.S. 

BIA records constitute NARA Record Group 75. (BIA = Bureau of Indian Affairs; NARA = National Archives and Records Administration; DC = Washington DC; ILL = interlibrary loan.

Census Records, Tribal Enrollments, and Muster Rolls

• Early Censuses (early Removal era) - tribal censuses of eastern tribes before removal (primarily Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole). Arranged by agency, reservation, or other jurisdiction. BIA; at NARA in DC. 
• Removal Muster Rolls - list Indians who moved west during Removal era (primarily Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole). Chronological by date of removal; most not indexed so need to know date of removal. BIA; at NARA in DC.
• Indian Census Rolls (1885-1940) - annual Indian censuses were authorized by act of Congress in July 1884 and conducted by the BIA. Include Indian and English name, sex, age, relationship to head of family (and sometimes to others), order of name on this roll and previous roll. NARA microfilm M595. May be available through ILL. 
• Tribal Enrollment Records - are the "official censuses" for individual tribes or nations. They usually give tribe, validity date, roll number, names (birth, given, married), sex, death date, probate number, degree of Indian blood, parents, blood degree of parents. Held by tribe. 
• Individual Indian Index Cards (BIA) - Males only; prepared as a result of Indian Office Circular 652 (1912); gives name, address, allotment number if any, tribe. Held by NARA regional branches.  
• Indian Schedules for the Federal Decennial Censuses of Population (1900, 1910) - Special Indian schedules were appended to the 1900 and 1910 population censuses for some counties and can be found on the standard manuscript census microfilm for Wisconsin that can be ordered through ILL. On the regular census, Indians were only listed if they were not living on reservations and were not nomadic. They were not necessarily identified as Indian.
  
  

Annuity Payrolls

Annuity payrolls (1848-1940) treaties or acts of Congress sometimes provided for annual or quarterly payments to tribal members for a certain length of time. BIA; in bound vols. held by NARA in DC (also at NARA regional branches), arranged by name of tribe and then chronologically. Names are not alphabetical. Include name, age, sex, amount of payment.

Land Allotment Records (1887-c. 1930), Claims, Estate Files (BIA)

Created by treaties and acts of Congress when federal government extinguished titles to reservation lands and allotted them to individual tribal members. Arranged by tribe and then individuals by enrollment number. Records include applications for enrollment, plat maps showing enrollments, names of allottees and description of allotment, sometimes place of residence and enrolled relatives. 

• Allotment Registers - Registers begin in 1905 but include information back to early 1800s. Data include legal land description, acres, Indian and English name, date allotment approved, and patent information. At NARA in DC (and NARA regional branches).
• Register of Families - These were used by Indian agents to determine family relationships for allotment heirs. At NARA regional branches. Include Indian and English names, age, % of Indian blood, tribe, marital status, marriage date, how married, parents’names and whether living, allotment register numbers.
• Heirship Records - Successor to register of families (see above). At NARA regional branches. Include correspondence with examiners, date of allotment, death date of allottee, names of approved heirs.
• Claims Records (BIA) - Claims against U.S. government. May give claimant, birthplace and date, residence, children, siblings, parents, grandparents. At NARA in DC.
• Estate Files - Starting in 1910, Indians could make a will with approval of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Contain reports on heirship, wills, etc. Data include name, tribe, residence, death date, age at death, spouse, marriage date, parents names and marriage date, children, siblings. Held by NARA in DC.
  
  

Indian School Records

In 1870s and early 1880s BIA became concerned about educating Indians confined on reservations and established a series of Indian schools. Records include school reports, pupil records, school censuses. Most are held by regional NARA branches.

• School Census Records - For each student, includes name, sex, age, where born, % of Indian blood, parents, name of school, no. of grades attended.
• School Reports - Includes attendance, exams and promotion, supervisory visits to home. The quarterly reports provide much data about each student.
• Individual History Cards - For students at Indian schools; provide name, tribe, sex, birth date, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles.
  
  

Vital Records, Church Records, and Health Records

Nonnomadic Indians living off-reservation are to be found among the civil birth, death, and marriage records found in county register of deeds offices (courthouse) or Area Research Centers (through 1907). Church records may provide a substitute for vital records through baptismal, marriage, and funeral records. Microfilm of church and cemetery records are held by the ARCs.

• Vital Statistics (BIA) - Births and deaths, arranged chronologically. Birth records may include child’s name, birthdate, parents, degree of Indian blood, tribe, residence. Death records may give name of deceased, age, sex, degree of Indian blood, tribe, place, date, cause of death, residence. Held by NARA regional branches. 
• Marriage Registers (BIA) - Include names of spouses, ages, nationality, tribe, parents, previous marriages, sometimes divorces. Held by NARA regional branches.
• Marriage Cards (BIA) - Give Indian and English names, sex, tribes, how married, census and allotment numbers, if divorced and when, children. Located in NARA regional branches.
• Tribal Vital Records - Result of Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 authorizing tribal councils. Include birth and death records. Held by individual tribes.
• Sanitary Record of Sick, Injured, Births, Deaths, etc. - Recorded by BIA agents by 1886 for all Indians who used health services for physical or mental health. Usually arranged chronologically; held by NARA regional branches. Includes name, age, sex, disease, date taken sick, recovery or death date; births include parents’ names.
  
  

Bibliography

• American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995. Comprehensive roll-by-roll listing.
• Bantin, Philip C. with Mark G. Thiel. Guide to Catholic Indian Mission and School Records in Midwest Repositories. Milwaukee: Marquette University, 1984.
• Bristol, Linda. Liber Defunctorum: St. Joseph Mission and Holy Family Catholic Church Death Registry, 1835-1900 [Bayfield, WI]. Bayfield, WI: Linda E. Bristol, 1994. (P.O. Box 402, 54814).
• Bristol, Linda. St. Joseph Mission and Holy Family Catholic Church Marriage Records, 1835-1880 [Bayfield, WI]. Bayfield, WI: Linda E. Bristol, 1993. (P.O. Box 402, 54814).
• Byers, Paula K., ed. Native American Genealogical Sourcebook. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Paula Stuart Warren considers this the best guide to Indian genealogy.
• Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1986. Vol. 1 includes "Historic Indians" and "The Fur Trade." Excellent historical summaries of individual tribes with maps and bibliographies.
• Danziger, Edmund Jefferson, Jr. The Chippewas of Lake Superior. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.
• Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives. Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1983. Excellent, concise description of Indian resources pp. 157-70.
• Hill, Edward E. Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1981. Gives detailed account of each field office and the tribes under the office’s jurisdiction.
  
  

  ---, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. P. I. No. 163. 2 vols. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1965.

• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, Bull. #30, 1912. Includes short tribal histories.
• Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, The: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. 73 vols, the last two of which are a comprehensive index. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers, 1886-1901. Official reports of the Jesuit missionaries in the original languages with an English translation. Fundamental historical source on Indians in the Great Lakes/upper Mississippi area.
• Lac Courte Oreilles: Interviews with Elders. Eau Claire: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1991. 9 videotapes. Available in McIntyre Library, UW-Eau Claire. History, traditions, culture, crafts of this Ojibwe band.
• Lost in Canada? Quarterly journal on Canadian genealogy. NWTC&FHC, P.O. Box 29397, Brooklyn Center, MN 55429.
• Munnell, Michael D., ed. American Indian Marriage Record Directory for Ashland County, Wisconsin, 1874-1907. Reproduces and indexes 279 Ashland Co. marriages involving Indians taken from official Wisconsin vital records.
• Parker, Jimmy B. "American Indian Records and Research," in Jessie Carney Smith, Ethnic Genealogy: A Research Guide. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1983, pp. 209-38. Excellent discussion of strategies and sources.
• Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Bureau of American Ethnology Bull. 145, 1952. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, reprint 1969.
• Warren, William Whipple. History of the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1984 (reprint of 1885 ed; written 1851-53).
• Wisconsin Historical Collections. 21 vols (vol. 21 is index). Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1903-15. Vast publication of original documents held by the State Historical Society including much material on Indians. Comprehensive index.
• Witcher, Curt B. and George J. Nixon. "Tracking Native American Family History," in Loretto Dennis Czucs and Sandrda hargreaves Luebkin, eds, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, 2nd ed., pp. 520-72. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997. Very comprehensive and authoritative treatment of Indian genealogy.