Dawes Commission Case Files

The Dawes Commission was setup by Congress to enroll Native Americans into one of five tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, or Seminole. During the process of enrollment, Native Americans submitted many personal documents (if available) and received an interview in person, which was then recorded on paper. A determination was eventually made by this commission, using the information submitted, and the Commissioners own prejudices, on whether the applicant had the right to be part of that Nations Tribe. All the information was compiled into a packet of material and assigned a Case Number. Without discussing the injustice of such a move by the American Government, some valuable material is left for Native American researchers inside those packets.

It has always been our policy to inform researchers on how they could go about ordering their Dawes packet information. With current pricing it has gotten quite expensive for individuals to order these, and there is often a slow response time in getting the information. With the advent of Footnote placing the actual Dawes packet images online, this should all change.

In cooperation with Fold3.com we can now provide you an index into their digital documents. If you see an image to the right side of the search, then Fold3 has digitized the specific Dawes Packet (Case File). If there is not yet an image there, then please check back next week. Footnote consistently updates their images throughout the month. There is a registration fee for viewing/printing/downloading the case files at Footnote, but that cost is equal to, or less then the fee for ordering.

Note: We do not suggest you try and pay by image, as a single Dawes Packet can have many images.

Back to:   Dawes Roll Search

Dawes Footnote

Back to:   Dawes Roll Search

The information found below is relevant to the specific card/case number used to identify each Dawes Packet. This is an index of the census card, and not a complete index of the Dawes Packet. But it should give you an idea of the people who may be mentioned inside the packet.

Dawes Card Information

Back to:   Dawes Roll Search