Wantabes and Outalucks: Searching for Indian Ancestors in Federal Records
by Kent Carter
Director, National Archives-Fort Worth Branch
Every year, the staff of the Fort Worth Branch of the National Archives gets thousands of letters from people all over the United States who are trying to prove that an ancestor was an Indian. These researchers comprise what must be one of the largest "tribes" in North America, the Wantabes. People wantabe an Indian for a variety of reasons but most are not successful in their efforts to find proof and thus join the ranks of another very large "tribe", the Outalucks. Many people fail in their genealogical research because they are not familiar with the records of the Federal government which relate to the American Indian. Hopefully, the following information will help researchers avoid becoming an Outaluck.
Getting StartedAs with most genealogical research, the best results are obtained by beginning with yourself and working your way backward in time. It is virtually impossible to begin with Pocahontas and Captain John Smith and work your way forward. With the exception of Emmett Starr's Old Cherokee Families and a few similar works, there are very few published genealogies of famous Indians. There is no computer that will provide you with a list of all Geronimo's descendants.
Interviewing family members, especially at picnics and reunions when they may be in a good mood and willing to talk, often provides enough basic information about names, places of residence, and approximate dates of birth and death to allow you to begin the search.
Finding the TribeThe first step is to determine what tribe the elusive Indian ancestor was a member of. That sounds simple but many researchers have no idea. In many cases, all they have is an old photograph of someone who "looks like an Indian" or a family legend that says grandmother was an "Indian princess". If you know approximately where the ancestor lived, you can consult The Indian Tribes of North America by John R. Swanton published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. It provides information about the tribes, sub-tribes, bands, etc. which lived in each state. Muriel H. Wright's A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma and W. W. Newcomb, JR's The Indians of Texas are valuable sources of information about the tribes which lived in those areas.
Having decided on a tribe or tribes, the next step is to do some basic homework on the tribal history. The best place to begin is with a good general survey such as William T. Hagan's American Indians, Angie Debo's A History of the Indians of the United States, or Arrell Gibson's The American Indian: Prehistory to the Present. Francis Paul Prucha's A Bibliographical Guide to the History of Indian-White Relations in the United States provides references to studies of specific tribes. The time spent on background reading is worth the effort because it will help you evaluate the accuracy of the family legends. You'll realize, for example, that there is something wrong with the story that you're great-grandfather was a Cherokee who lived in Michigan in 1850.
Searching in Federal RecordsWhen you have penciled in the names of relatives who were living in 1900 on your family tree chart, you're ready to start searching in Federal records. You might start by browsing through the Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians compiled by Edward E. Hill which is available from the Government Printing Office. The amount of material available is enormous as evidenced by the fact it takes the Guide 412 pages just to give brief descriptions of it. The trick, of course, is to focus on records relating to your ancestor's tribe and time period. Some of the records mentioned in the Guide have been reproduced on microfilm and you should consult American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications for information about the contents of the film. The Catalog is available from the National Archives, Publications Sales Branch, Washington, D.C. 20408.
Even a casual glance through the Guide will show that there is information about Indians contained in the records of many Federal agencies. Most genealogical searches, however, concentrate on the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (the BIA). The headquarters of the BIA has been responsible for formulating Federal policy towards Indians. Its records are in the main Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Responsibility for actually implementing that policy and dealing with individual Indians fell on Indian Agents and School Superintendents. Their records are generally in the Field Branches of the National Archives or still in the custody of the BIA. The Fort Worth Branch of the National Archives has records from seven agencies located in Oklahoma (Five Civilized Tribes, Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Osage, Shawnee, Pawnee, and Miami or Quapaw) which contain information about more than fifty tribes. A list of the Field Branches and the areas from which they have records can be obtained from the National Archives (NNA), Washington, D.C. 20408.
As a general rule, Indian Agents did not create records with the needs of genealogists in mind. Their main concerns were accounting for every penny they spent and convincing their bosses that they were doing a better job of "civilizing" the Indians than their predecessors had done. Thus, the bulk of most agency files consist of accounting records, narrative reports, and correspondence with BIA headquarters in Washington. When they did record information about an individual Indian it generally related to the payment of money, the allotment of land and its subsequent leasing or sale, and the determination of heirs entitled to inherit a deceased Indian's land or money.
Genealogists must always keep in mind that the agent was only keeping track of people who were recognized as tribal members (either by the Federal government or the tribal government) and who resided with the bulk of the tribe (either on a reservation or within the recognized boundaries of the tribal domain). For the most part, the agent did not maintain records on Indians who moved away and, in effect, ended their affiliation with the tribe. If, for example, your ancestor left the recognized boundaries of the Choctaw Nation and took up farming across the Red River in Texas or went back to Mississippi or Alabama you will probably never find them mentioned in the agent's records. Such people can often be found in the regular Federal population censuses that were taken every ten years, but there will be no indication that they are Indian. In addition, people who remained behind when the bulk of their tribe was moved by the Federal government will probably be "lost" as far as official BIA records are concerned. Unfortunately, many people with legitimate claims to Indian heritage will never be able to "prove" their claim because their ancestor did not stay with the tribe or did not choose to be recorded in official records as an Indian.
Indian Census RecordsIf you know what tribe your ancestor belonged to, and if your ancestor stayed with the tribe, and if they were recognized by that tribe as a member, and if the agent kept good records, and if those records were not destroyed by a fire or some other calamity, you should start your research with National Archives Microfilm Publication M595 which reproduces "Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940". Agents were required by an act of Congress of July 4, 1884 (23 Stat. 98) to submit these census rolls annually and they generally contain each Indian's name ("English" and/or "Indian"), age or date of birth, sex, and relationship to the head of the family. Beginning in 1930, most rolls include degree of blood and marital status. The Select Catalog provides a list of the contents of each of the 692 rolls of microfilm. Unfortunately, M595 does not include any rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes (Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole) except for an 1885 Choctaw census (which is on roll 623). If you find an ancestor in one of these rolls you are off and running on your trip back in time.
Unfortunately, M595 will only take you back to 1885. What next? Depending on the tribe you are researching, there are probably earlier census or annuity rolls and the Field Branch which has the agent's records can probably give you information about them. In general, the earlier the roll the less data it contains. In many cases, the agent only listed the Indian's name and perhaps the amount of money he or she received. The "roll numbers" from one list seldom have any relation to earlier or latter rolls and will not help you make positive identifications. One source of lists of names that is often overlooked is the Congressional Serial Set which contains documents received by Congress from various sources (primarily agencies of the Executive Branch) and reports published by Congressional committees. Many of these documents relate to claims against the government for Indian depredations or claims by Indians for rights under treaties. Some documents include lists of Indians but seldom provide much genealogical information. Steven L. Johnson's Guide to American Indian Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 is an essential tool to using these documents.
School RecordsIf your ancestor attended a school operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, either on the reservation or one of the non-reservation boarding schools, the records maintained by the school often contain genealogical information. If you can determine what school the ancestor attended and if records for that school exist for the right time period, you may be able to locate the student's case file which will probably contain an application for admission and related documents.
Sometimes there are even pictures of the student and correspondence with family members. The Fort Worth Branch of the National Archives has some records from Carter Seminary (1917-1970), Chilocco Boarding School (1912-1980), Euchee Boarding School (1912-1947), Eufaula Boarding School (1925- 1959), Jones Academy (1920-1952), Sequoyah High School (19111960), and Wheelock Academy (1911-1953) in addition to schools operated by agencies.
CorrespondenceWhen you have searched all the census and annuity rolls you can locate, you might try reading the letters sent by the agent to his bosses back in Washington. These letter for the period from 1824 to 1881 have been reproduced on 962 rolls of microfilm as National Archives Microfilm Publication M234. You can use the Select Catalog to determine which rolls pertain to your tribe. The letters relate primarily to administrative and other bureaucratic matters but sometimes include petitions or other documents listing tribal members and often include information about people and events. The letters are in chronological order with no name or subject indexes so be prepared to do lots of reading. Letters sent after 1881 are not on microfilm and the best source of this correspondence is the records of the agency which are probably in the custody of one of the National Archives Field Branches.
Prior to the establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824, the War Department was responsible for relations between the Federal government and Indian tribes. Correspondence of the Secretary of War relating to Indian affairs has been reproduced as two Microfilm Publications. Letters sent by the Secretary from 1800-1824 are on six rolls of M15 and the letters received are on four rolls of M271.
Pre-Federal RecordsPrior to 1789 there was no Federal government so there were no Federal Indian agents to make census rolls. From 1774 to 1789 the Continental and Confederation Congresses were in charge of relations with Indians and most of their records have been reproduced on 204 rolls of microfilm as National Archives Microfilm Publication M247. Documents about individuals and tribes can be located using the five volume name and subject Index to the Papers of the Continental Congress compiled by John Butler and published by the Government Printing Office. The single volume Index to Journals of the Continental Congress compiled by Kenneth E. Harris and Steven D. Tilley is also helpful in locating documents relating to Indian affairs.
The British and the various colonial governments controlled Indian affairs before the American Revolution and State archives are generally the best source of information about what records exist for the pre-Revolutionary period. If you are able to trace your Indian ancestry back this far you have been extremely lucky. Most researchers will run out of records long before they run out of questions.
Dawes RollsMore than 95% of the letters received by the Fort Worth Branch of the National Archives relate to the Five Civilized Tribes and most of those pertain to the Cherokee. If you are tracing a Cherokee ancestor, the place to begin is with the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes (commonly called the Dawes rolls). They contain the names of more than 101,000 people enrolled under an act of Congress of June 27, 1898 (30 Stat. 459) which authorized a Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (under the chairmanship of Senator Henry L. Dawes) to determine who was eligible for tribal membership and thus entitled to an allotment of land. In 1887 the Federal government embarked on the policy of extinguishing tribal title to land and allotting it to individual Indians so there is generally a similar "final roll" or allotment roll for most tribes. Tracing your ancestry to someone on a "final roll" is usually the key to recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Dawes rolls only include people who were alive during the 1898-1907 enrollment period. The index to the Dawes roll has been reproduced on roll 1 of National Archives Microfilm Publication M1186 and many libraries in Oklahoma have copies of the index printed by the BIA. If you find your ancestor' s name, their Dawes roll number is the key to various other records. Unlike most other "roll numbers", it was used by the BIA as a means of positive identification (thus it is something like a social security number).
Census Cards and Application JacketsThe Dawes roll number will lead you to a "census card" which contains information about other family members who might have been enrolled, references to earlier rolls used to verify eligibility (such as the 1880 Cherokee census), and the names of the enrollee's parents (which will take you one generation farther back, but no farther). The cards were prepared by the Dawes Commission to enable the staff to keep track of the status of enrollment applications and the originals were hauled around Indian Territory in wagons as the staff gathered applications and took testimony. The cards have also been reproduced on M1186.
For each card there is usually an application jacket which contains transcripts of any testimony taken by the Commission, birth and death affidavits, marriage licenses (sometimes), and correspondence between the Commission and the applicants, their attorneys, and tribal officials. These application jackets are microfilmed as M1301. In general, the more controversial the applicant's claim the thicker the jacket. The jackets for many full-bloods whose claim to membership was not disputed by the tribal government usually contain very little genealogical information.
Land Allotment JacketsOnce a person was enrolled they were eligible to select the land they wanted as their allotment. The amount of land each person received varied from tribe to tribe but generally consisted of a "homestead" which was inalienable for a period of time and "surplus" which was often quickly sold or leased. For each person enrolled, there is an "allotment jacket" which contains an application giving the legal description of the land selected and information about improvements on it and related documents such as plat maps showing the location. The allotment jackets seldom contain much genealogical information. In many cases, the Indian agency supervised the subsequent sale or lease of allotted land but the records relating to these transactions have very little genealogical value.
The fact that an ancestor "got land" in Oklahoma does not prove they were an Indian because many non-Indians bought lots in townsites or purchased "surplus" land from allotted Indians or "unallotted land" directly from the Federal government.
The Dawes Commission rejected the applications of almost two out of every three persons who applied so don't be surprised if your ancestor is not listed in the "final roll". There is no comprehensive index to all the rejected applicants but there are partial indexes to persons rejected as Cherokee or Choctaw. For each rejected applicant there is a "census card" and an "application jacket" but the catch here is that you have to know (or find out) the census card number to find the records.
The best source of information about the allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes is And Still the Waters Run by Angie Debo. For information about allotment of other tribes see The Dawes Act and the Allotment of Indian Lands by D. S. Otis. Most tribal histories also contain a chapter or two about allotment.
1900 CensusIf you do not find your ancestor's name listed in the "final rolls" and you are sure they were living in Indian Territory you should check the Soundex index to the 1900 Federal population census of the area which has been reproduced as National Archives Microfilm Publication T1082. The index will tell you exactly where the person is listed in the actual census schedules that are reproduced as rolls 1843-1854 of T623. By 1900 there were almost four times as many non--Indians in Indian Territory as there were Indians so you may find that the ancestor has been enumerated by the Federal census taker as White.
Guion Miller RollsAnother source to check is a roll prepared in 1909-1910 of applicants for a share of an award by the U.S. Court of Claims to Eastern Cherokees and their descendants alive on May 28, 1906. The roll was prepared by Guion Miller from 45,847 applications covering about 90,000 persons. The applications, which have been reproduced on 348 rolls of microfilm as M1104, were received from persons living all over the United States (not just in Indian Territory) and contain the applicant's name, residence, age, sex, place of birth, and information about children, parents, and other relatives. The index to applicants, which is reproduced on roll 1 of M1104, covers all the applicants including the more than 60,000 whose claims were rejected.
Census of IntrudersIf you haven't found your ancestor listed on any rolls of persons recognized as tribal members, you should check for lists of "Intruders". The correspondence between tribal officials and agents is full of complaints about non-Indians living on tribal land and sometimes includes lists of the names of these people with a request that they be removed. The Cherokees compiled a census of intruders in 1893 which has been microfilmed by the Fort Worth Branch (control number 7RA-55) and censuses taken by the tribe in 1880 and 1890 (microfilmed as 7RA07 and 7RA08) contain separate schedules of Intruders. Many of the persons enrolled by the Dawes Commission found non--Indians living on the lands they selected as allotments. The Commission investigated these complaints from 1901 to 1909 and the indexes to these intruder cases are available on microfilm (7RA5-3) at the Fort Worth Branch. Many Outalucks are the descendants of these "intruders".
Non-Indians on Tribal LandNot all non-Indians living on tribal land were intruders. Some were traders operating under permits from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, teachers at tribal schools, or employees of the agency such as clerks or blacksmiths. You may be able to find such people mentioned in an agency's personnel or accounting records (if any still exist) but there will probably be very little genealogical information. Some tribal governments, such as those of the Five Civilized Tribes, issued residency permits to non--Indians allowing them to farm tribal land or operate businesses. These permits and most of the other records created by the tribal governments (as opposed to the official records of the Indian agent) are in the custody of the Archives and Manuscripts Division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. In some cases, there are name indexes to these records that may help you locate references to the ancestor who is in Indian Territory but does not appear on any tribal roll.
Pre-1896 Cherokee RecordsIf you have found your ancestor on the Dawes rolls, you will probably want to go back as many generations as you can. Unfortunately, the Dawes Commission was only concerned with the people who were alive to claim an allotment and its staff only gathered as much information about an applicant's ancestors as was necessary to support their claim to tribal membership. The Dawes card will give you references to rolls taken in 1880 or 1896 by the Cherokee tribal government which were used by the Commission to verify eligibility and those references may lead you to the names of relatives of the enrollee who died prior to the start of the allotment process.
The Fort Worth Branch of the National Archives has microfilmed a number of Cherokee census and payment rolls including those done in 1867, 1880, 1883, 1886, 1890, 1893, 1894, and 1896. Most of these rolls are not indexed, contain only the person's name, and do not include degree of Indian blood. We also have dockets of the Cherokee Citizenship Commission, which include the names of persons who applied to the tribal government for admission between 1879 and 1889. These have been microfilmed as 7RA25. If you can work-your way back to ancestors who were alive during the Civil War, you can request a search of military service and pension records by getting an NATF Form 80 from the Military Service Branch (NNMS), National Archives, Washington, D.C. 20408 and submitting it in accordance with the instructions it contains.
Prior to the Civil War there are relatively few rolls of Cherokee citizens. In Occupying the Cherokee Country of Oklahoma (published by the University of Nebraska in 1978) Leslie Hewes estimates that there may have been as many as 22,000 Cherokees living in the Southeast prior to the arrival of European settlers. Unfortunately for genealogists, no one made lists of their names. As early as 1792, some Cherokees began moving west as the area of European settlement expanded and the National Archives has "emigration rolls" for the period 1817-1838 which contain the names of people who wished to relocate. Many of these rolls have been transcribed by Jack D. Baker and published in 1977 by the Baker Publishing Company in Oklahoma City.
The first major census of Cherokees living in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee taken by the Federal government was compiled from June-December, 1835 and is generally called the Henderson Roll. The roll, which only lists the name of the head of each family,and an index to it have been reproduced as National Archives Microfilm Publication T496.
From 1835-1837 the Cherokees living in what is now Arkansas and Oklahoma were joined by thousands of Cherokees who moved under the terms of the treaty of New Echota signed on December 29, 1835. The Old Settlers Roll of 1851 and the Drennen Payment Roll of 1851 are the best sources of the names of people who voluntarily moved west. They are both reproduced on roll 12 of National Archives Microfilm Publication M685. There is also a roll prepared in 1896 of the Old Settlers and their heirs who received a payment resulting from a decision of the U.S. Court of Claims of June 6, 1893. The payment roll has been microfilmed by the Fort Worth Branch (control number 7RA34) and an index to the roll is available as National Archives Microfilm Publication T985.
Most Cherokees, however, refused to relocate and were forcibly moved by the Federal government in 1838-1839 in what has come to be called The Trail of Tears. There is no consolidated list of all the people on the Trail of Tears (or their descendants) but the National Archives in Washington, D.C. does have numerous muster rolls prepared by the military officers in charge of the removal parties. R.S. Cotterill's The Southern Indians is an excellent source of information about the Five Civilized Tribes before removal and the numerous footnotes to the various books by Grant Foreman are a source of valuable information about the tribes both before and after removal.
Some Cherokees avoided the army and stayed behind to become what is now called the Eastern Cherokee. The Mullay Roll of 1848, the Siler and Chapman Rolls of 1851, and the Hester Roll of 1884 provide the names of many of these people. The "Enrollment Records of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians" by Gaston Litton which appeared in the July, 1940 issue of The North Carolina Historical Review provides detailed information about these records. Many of the rolls were used by Guion Miller to prepare "his" roll and have been reproduced on roll 12 of M685.
Genealogical research is hard work and filling in the blanks on any family tree chart requires lots of effort and a sense of humor. Finding an Indian ancestor can be particularly difficult but there are numerous sources of information which might be useful. The National Archives is committed to preserving and making available the records of the Federal government which document the heritage of Native Americans.
For More InformationFor more information, please write to the National Archives at Fort Worth, 1400 John Burgess Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76140. Email: ftworth.archives@nara.gov
See Also:
- Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Microfilm on Native American Records in NARA's Fort Worth facility
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