North American Indians of the Plains discusses the original content of the Hall of Plains Indians – American Museum of Natural History. This collection provides an extensive review of the houses, clothing, food, hunting, religion, language and other ethnological studies of the Plains Indians. Replete with maps and many photographs.
Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. The following articles written by him, most of them exclusively for AccessGenealogy, advance the findings of this group and Richard’s personal studies. These articles take a look at the Muskogean peoples like none other that can be found online. To study their heritage, and not to have at least read his writings, is to assume that we already know everything about this people.
During the war of the rebellion a number of the residents of the Indian Territory, members of the various tribes therein located, were organized into regiments for military service in the armies of the United States, and were designated as the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Indian Home Guards. They were regularly mustered into the United States service, borne upon the rolls of the Army, and paid upon the monthly muster and pay rolls by paymasters of the Army. Numbers 1 and 2 of accompanying documents show that those troops were regularly recognized as in service.
When many years ago Oshkosh, now the second city in Wisconsin, was a hamlet of a few scattered wooden houses along the beautiful forest banks of the deep, wide Fox river, it was known by the classic name of Athens. An election being held to settle on a sure enough name for the future city, the river men, not so much in love with the ancient glory of the city of Athens as they were with the more appropriate name of the old head chief of the Menomonee, came partly in fun and some in earnest and casting the deciding … Read more
We, the undersigned Chiefs and Head Men of the Orchard Party of Oneida Indians residing at Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing lists, is a just and true Census and enumeration of the number of persons belonging to said party, that is to say, Fifty-three (53) men, Fifty-two (52) women, and One hundred and one (101) children, making a total of Two hundred and six (206) souls, and that the same was taken by H. S. Baird, U. S. Commissioner, in open council, in our presence, at Duck Creek, on the 15th day of … Read more
The consensus of modern scientific opinion favors the belief that the so-called American-Indian race represents the autochthonous people or aborigines of the great American Continent. Referring to the origin of the American Indians, Professor Pritchard says: “The era of their existence as a distinct and insulated race must probably be dated as far back as that time which separated into nations the inhabitants of the Old World, and gave to each branch of the human family its primitive language and individuality.” The origin of the Amerinds of America has still to be sought amid the sources of the various races … Read more
The map entitled “Linguistic Families of American Indians North of Mexico”, by J. W. Powell, issued by the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, some years ago and several times revised and reprinted, indicates the position of the various groups of tribes when they first became known to Europeans. The map, as its title implies, includes the entire North American continent north of Mexico, but in the present paper, only that portion bordering on the lower Mississippi, and eastward to the Atlantic coast, will be considered.
The McKennon Rolls were a specific list created by the Dawes Commission; a group responsible for identifying members of the Choctaw tribe in Mississippi. These rolls were supposed to include all the people who were officially recognized as Choctaw by the government in 1913.
To animate a kinder feeling between the white people and the Indians, established by a truer knowledge of our civil and domestic life, and of our capabilities for future elevation, is the motive for which this work is founded. The present Tuscarora Indians, the once powerful and gifted nation, after their expulsion from the South, came North, and were initiated in the confederacy of the Iroquois, and who formerly held under their jurisdiction the largest portion of the Eastern States, now dwell within your bounds, as dependent nations, subject to the guardianship and supervision of a people who displaced their … Read more
We have no authentic history of a people inhabiting this country anterior to those who occupied it on the advent of the Europeans, and who are classed under the generic term Indians. Even their history prior to their intimate association with civilized people is shrouded in obscurity and is transmitted to us in the form of vague and fragmentary legends. The aborigines were a barbaric race and have left no written history, except that we occasionally discover traces of their rude paintings and still ruder engravings. But this is in a measure compensated by the more enduring relics, consisting of … Read more
Middlesex County Ontario Indians: A descriptive collection on the Nations history in Middlesex County Ontario. Extracted from the History of the County of Middlesex, Ontario: from the earliest time to the present, containing an authentic account of many important matters relating to the settlement, progress and general history of the county, and including a department devoted to the preservation of personal and private records, etc.
The following biographies are small glimpses of Indians, who’s names most of us have heard. From these brief writings you can decide if you are interested in further information on one of these great Chieftains. Major-General Oliver Otis Howard, US Army, served in the Civil war prior to coming west. He directed several campaigns against the Native Americans, and negotiated with Chief Joseph in 1877. He has written numerous books on his experiences with the Indians. This particular manuscript is often met with outcries from our readers as his particular point of view of the Chiefs he met often differs with popular sentiments. Come read what Major-General Howard’s assessment of each chief he met was.
These pages are meant as a guide for researching your Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole ancestors, also known as the Five Civilized Tribes. Dusty has provided us with a guide and suggestions on how to start the process, we have added URL’s for additional information. So, there’s a story in your family that great, great grandma (or grandpa) was an Indian, and you’d like to find out if it’s true? Good for you…it’s about time the millions of descendants of this country’s original inhabitants were reconnecting with their lost families. However, stepping off into the quagmire of Native American … Read more
The Guion Miller Roll index includes the names of all persons applying for compensation arising from the judgment of the United States Court of Claims on May 28, 1906, for the Eastern Cherokee tribe. While numerous individuals applied, not all the claims were allowed. The information included on the index is the application number, the name of the applicant, and the State or Territory in which the individual resided at the time the application was filed. The name being there does not mean the person was admitted.
This collection provides the names of Delaware and Cherokee Indians involved in the segregation and allotment of lands in the Cherokee Nation to the Delaware Indians. It also provides a comprehensive history with supporting documentation of the actions taken. For those researchers attempting to identify their ancestor in the Final Rolls, this may help identify the card number for your ancestor. After you find your ancestor listed on these pages, make a note of the Card Number, and go to the Final Roll Database and search there. Put OS (Old Settler or Old Series) in front of the Card Number and search.
The text provides an insightful overview of the Teton Dakota (or Sioux) tribe, derived from observations during a seven-year period near Fort Snelling. This fort, built in 1819 and strategically placed at the Mississippi and St. Peter’s rivers, resembles an old German castle and played a key role in local native interactions. Noteworthy is the account of the Sioux chief Wabashaw, who successfully halted the resettlement of the Winnebago tribe by swaying them to stay near his land. This situation escalated to the involvement of Fort Snelling personnel to resolve the delay caused. The contents also cover a broad range of topics on Dakota customs, ceremonies, significant individuals, and cultural narratives, enriching the understanding of this nearly extinct tribe’s heritage and societal structure.
The publication of the Tribal Rolls, in 1907, gave the roll number, name of the allottee, age, sex and blood, and operated to a large extent to inform the public, but this information was not sufficient, in fact, it aided only those who, by reason of their familiarity with the workings and records of the Indian Offices, knew how to secure additional information. John Campbell set out to help researchers determine the family relationships between the allottee’s by providing an abstract index of all names from the records. This index has proven invaluable over time by providing a quick method to research family relationships within the tribal rolls.
In the early 1800’s the Smithsonian Institution printed a small vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon, furnished by Dr. B. R. Mitchell, of the U.S. Navy, and prepared, as we afterwards learned, by Mr. Lionnet, a Catholic priest, for his own use while studying the language at Chinook Point. It was submitted by the Institution, for revision and preparation for the press, to the late Professor W.W. Turner. Although it received the critical examination of that distinguished philologist, and was of use in directing attention to the language, it was deficient in the number of words in use, contained many which … Read more
The Chickasaw Nation contains 7,267 square miles, or 4,650,935 acres, of territory (treaty of June 22, 1855, volume 11, U. S. Stats., page 611). In 1837 the Chickasaws sold outright to the United States their lands in the state of Mississippi. For the sum of $530,000 in 1837 the Chickasaws bought an interest in the Choctaw lands now in Indian Territory.
Whatever may be their origins in antiquity, the Cherokees are generally thought to be a Southeastern tribe, with roots in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, among other states, though many Cherokees are identified today with Oklahoma, to which they had been forcibly removed by treaty in the 1830s, or with the lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokees in western North Carolina. The largest of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes, which also included Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, the Cherokees were the first tribe to have a written language, and by 1820 they had even adopted a form of government … Read more