Before
civil registration of birth, marriages and deaths,
Native American elders told of the history of their
people down through the generations and then later, the
government & churches recorded the events in our
ancestor's lives.
Such is the case with some of the records listed here.
The Federal government, because of an act of Congress,
started in 1790 to record the population every 10
years. We, as genealogists, benefit tremendously from
these as they show family structure, ages, immigration
information, occupation, ethnicity, etc. Native
Americans not only appear in the U. S. Federal censuses
but they also appear in U. S. Indian Census Schedules
that were taken more often -- usually yearly.
And here's a little
bit more about these schedules...
U.S. Indian Census Schedules,
1885-1940
This database contains an index to the Indian census
rolls from 1885-1940. Information contained in this
database includes:
|
Name
(Indian and/or English) |
|
Gender |
|
Age |
|
Birth date |
|
Relationship to head of family |
|
Marital status |
|
Tribe name |
|
Agency and reservation name |
Other information about
an individual, such as degree of Indian blood, as
recorded in the later census years, may be available on
the original record. The Indian Census schedules
are census rolls usually submitted each year by agents
or superintendents in charge of Indian reservations ,
as required by an act of 4 July 1884 (23 Stat. 98). The
data on the rolls varies to some extent. For certain
years – including 1935, 1936, 1938, and 1939 – only
supplemental rolls of additions and deletions were
compiled.
There is not a census for every reservation or group of
Indians for every year. Only persons who maintained a
formal affiliation with a tribe under federal
supervision are listed on these census rolls.
So, why are they
listed here on the VITAL RECORDS page instead of the
CENSUS PAGE? Part of the
1924 - 1932 CENSUS ROLLS contained BIRTH & DEATH ROLLS
which were part of the Indian Census Schedules.
We will transcribe these BIRTH & DEATH rolls as
we have time... if you see your ancestor's name and
would like a copy of the page it was transcribed from,
email me and I'll send it. ENJOY! |
