Featured NA

Featured Native American articles.

Chilocco Indian School Records 1884-1980

Founded in 1883-84, the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School was one of the first, large off-reservation boarding schools established by the Federal government for the education of American Indian students. It offered academic and vocational training to children of tribes across the United States. This dataset comprises an historical collection of manuscripts and records pertaining to the school and its pupils.

Chilocco Indian School Records 1884-1980 Read More »

Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians

The Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians is a work of over 300 pages and is an original contribution of the highest value to ethnography. Its title affords but an imperfect idea of its scope; for, in addition to an elaborate description of the Kiowa calendars, the author gives us, in 106 pages, a sketch of the tribe including its documentary history, a list of western military and trading posts, an extensive glossary of the Kiowa language, and other items of information which lead to a thorough understanding of the calendars.

Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians Read More »

1860 Census West of Arkansas – Creek Nation

Free Inhabitants in “The Creek Nation” in the County “West of the” State of “Akansas” enumerated on the “16th” day of “August” 1860. While the census lists “free inhabitants” it is obvious that the list contains names of Native Americans, both of the Creek and Seminole tribes, and probably others. The “free inhabitants” is likely indicative that the family had given up their rights as Indians in treaties previous to 1860, drifted away from the tribe, or were never fully integrated. The black (B) and mulatto (M) status may indicate only the fact of the color of their skin, or whether one had a white ancestors, they may still be Native American.

1860 Census West of Arkansas – Creek Nation Read More »

Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations

The Mohawk Valley in which Sir William Johnson spent his adult life (1738-17 74) was the fairest portion of the domain of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. In this valley William Griffis had lived nine years, seeing on every side traces or monuments of the industry, humanity, and powerful personality of its most famous resident in colonial days. From the quaint stone church in Schenectady which Sir Johnson built, and in whose canopied pews he sat, daily before his eyes, to the autograph papers in possession of his neighbors; from sites close at hand and traditionally associated with the lord of Johnson Hall, to the historical relics which multiply at Johnstown, Canajoharie, and westward, — mementos of the baronet were never lacking. His two baronial halls still stand near the Mohawk. Local traditions, while in the main generous to Johnson’s memory, was sometimes unfair and even cruel. The hatreds engendered by the partisan features of the Revolution, and the just detestation of the savage atrocities of Tories and red allies led by Johnson’s son and son-in-law, had done injustice to the great man himself. Yet base and baseless tradition was in no whit more unjust than the sectional opinions and hostile gossip of the New England militia which historians have so freely transferred to their pages.

Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations Read More »

Catholic Sioux Herald Newspaper 1896-1912

By the treaty of Washington Apr. 19, 1858, the Yankton Sioux ceded all their lands in South Dakota, excepting a reservation on the north bank of Missouri river, where they have since remained in peace with the whites. Rev. Jerome Hunt and the St. Paul’s Catholic Indian Mission of the Yankton Tribe of the Sioux Indians, at Fort Trotten, published the S’ina sapa wocekiye taeyanpaha (short name of Eyanpaha) for at least the years of 1896-1912 in the Yankton Sioux native language and in English. This newspaper, who’s English translation of it’s name means the Catholic Sioux Herald was published for the Yankton Sioux residing on the reservation about Fort Trotten. Many of the issues from this newspaper have been retained and are presented below. Some of these are labelled as “supplements.” You’ll have to scrounge around a little to find articles in the English language, but they do exist.

Catholic Sioux Herald Newspaper 1896-1912 Read More »

The Native American History of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee Basin

The Lake Okeechobee region contained some of the most sophisticated indigenous cultures that ever existed north of Mexico. Its towns built large earthworks and ponds in the shape of the ceremonial scepters carried by leaders in the Southeastern Ceremonial Mound Culture, but they were built several centuries before the Southeastern Ceremonial Mound Culture appeared elsewhere. Its engineers constructed several hundred miles of canals and raised causeways to interconnect the towns. They even built locks to enable cargo canoes to bypass rapids. Yet despite all this cultural precociousness, so far there is no evidence that the people of South Florida ever practiced large scale agriculture. However, intensive cultivation of raised garden beds in a semi-tropical climate, also a practice of the Mayas, may have produced a far higher percentage of their diet than anthropologists currently presume.

The Native American History of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee Basin Read More »

Appalachian Colonists from the Mediterranean Basin

Throughout the Southeastern United States can be found “old families” in rural areas whose appearance is not quite the same as the European or African peoples who colonized the region, but also not what a person with substantial indigenous ancestry looks like either. In earlier times they might have called themselves Cajun, Black Irish, Redbone,

Appalachian Colonists from the Mediterranean Basin Read More »

Ethnology of the Powhatan Tribes of Virginia

In the Ethnology of the Powhatan Tribes Frank Speck completed the third of a series of monographs dealing with the modern cultural life of communities of descendants tracing their origin from the tribes inhabiting the Chesapeake tidewater area. The future student of American folk-communities of Indian descent will find here new tribes with new trait-complexes to analyze and interpret. These contributions represent some culture aspects of the humble groups who were at the time of writing of this paper, at a climax and turning point in their history. Replete with over 100 photographs and maps, and at least that many surnames, this paper proves its value to both the historic researcher and the genealogist.

Ethnology of the Powhatan Tribes of Virginia Read More »

Indian Biographies

Biographies are a good source of information on our ancestors. They can be used as a tool to provide facts: names, dates and locations for the events in our ancestors lives. They can also provide “meat” for genealogical research, and by that we mean the story behind the person – events which shaped and molded the character of a person. We have put a great number of biographical information online, both Native American and general biographies, and have gone through all of them and provided links to the one’s specific to Native American.

Indian Biographies Read More »

Parsons and Abbott Roll

By a treaty of March 24, 1832, the Creek Tribe ceded to the United States all of their land east of the Mississippi River. Heads of families were entitled to tracts of land, which, if possible, were to include their improvements. In 1833 Benjamin S. Parsons and Thomas J. Abbott prepared a census of Creek Indian heads of families, which gave their names and the number of males, females, and slaves in each family. The entries were arranged by town and numbered; these numbers were used for identification in later records. The genealogical researcher who is able to locate an ancestor on this document is most fortunate, as it forms the basis for many other documents relating to Creek claims cases through the 1960’s.

Parsons and Abbott Roll Read More »

Native Americans in World War 2

Native Americans played the same rolls as many other Americans who entered into World War 2. They enlisted, fought in battles, suffered wounds, many were killed, some were captured, some received medals. Many of the women and men who didn’t go off to war, still participated at home, joining service groups and volunteering their time. This manuscript provides stories of these brave men and women Native Americans who fought for freedom during World War 2, casualty lists of injured, POW’s and KIA’s, as well as taking a brief look at the most important Navajo Code Talkers roll in WW2.

Native Americans in World War 2 Read More »

History of the Cherokee Indians

Originally published in 1921, History of the Cherokee Indians, a reference originally created “for the purpose of perpetuating some of the facts relative to the Cherokee tribe, that might otherwise be lost,” in the words of author Emmet Starr. The result is a straightforward history of the Cherokee tribe with especial attention upon the 1800’s, an assortment of primary source writings, and thoroughly extensive genealogies of old Cherokee families. Genealogists and anyone tracing Cherokee ancestry are sure to find History of the Cherokee Indians especially illuminating; other readers curious about a more general history of the tribe will also find a wealth of insightful information about the Cherokee’s conflicts with other tribes, adoption of its constitution, emigrations, treaties, and much more. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this solid historical and genealogical accounting.

History of the Cherokee Indians Read More »

Kern Clifton Rolls

In 1896-1897 the Kern-Clifton Roll was created to fill in the omissions of the Wallace Roll. Genealogists not finding their Cherokee ancestor in the Kern-Clifton Roll, should search the Wallace Roll to insure that this ancestor was not one of those originally identified by the John Wallace census. This census of the Freedmen and their descendants of the Cherokee Nation taken by the Commission appointed in the case of Moses Whitmire, Trustee of the Freedmen of the Cherokee Nation vs. The Cherokee Nation and the United States in the Court of Claims at Washington, D. C., the said Commission being composed of William Clifton, William Thompson and Robert H. Kern, the same being made from the testimony taken before said Commission in the Cherokee Nation between May 4th and August 10th, 1896.

Kern Clifton Rolls Read More »

1896 Census of New York Indians

Census of the New York Indians taken in 1896. The following census extractions provide the details from the 1896 census for the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, St. Regis and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians.

As the progression of white settlers moved west into the territories of the New York Indians, the tribes were decimated by disease and war, and “forced” into treaties that eventually restricted their settlements onto five Reservations set aside in the state of New York, Oklahoma, or for those siding with the British, in Ontario Canada. While at one time independent, these tribes (Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, St. Regis and Tonawanda) over time came together and were known as the Seneca Indians.

1896 Census of New York Indians Read More »

The Trail to Yupaha

An AccessGenealogy Exclusive: The Trail to Yupaha – Is Yupaha the Mayan connection to the Indians of the United States? This is a highly contentious look by Richard Thornton at the possibility of a trail he found in the Track Rock Gap area of Georgia being the connection to the Mayan of South America… The History Channel premiered it’s new show “American Unearthed” investigating this very issue. One of the people they interviewed on the show, now tells you in his own words, how this discovery all came about.

The Trail to Yupaha Read More »

Native Americans of the Shenandoah Valley

An Exclusive to AccessGenealogy: The following series of articles takes a look at the early Native Americans of the Shenandoah Valley region. Who peopled the area before European contact? How did these Native American’s influence the early events of American history? What archeological evidence remains of these people’s? Part one looks at a couple of unusual clues to the identity of early Shenandoah Valley residents. In part two the history of the Shenandoah Valley after the arrival of Europeans is summarized in order to understand why the Native American history has been largely forgotten. Part three explores the pre-European past of the Shenandoah Valley. Part four looks at many of the early European eyewitness accounts of the Shenandoah Valley and it’s peoples. Part five reviews the professional archaeological studies carried out in the Shenandoah Valley in recent years.

Native Americans of the Shenandoah Valley Read More »

A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians

Writing more then just a book about an Indian legend, Samuel Gatschet’s classic ethnographic manuscript delves deeply into the enthnography of the Southern tribes of Creek Indians, providing a look into the linguistic groups of the Gulf States, the tribes which spoke those languages, the villages they lived in, and a more comprehensive study of Creek life. Finally, Gatschet provides an overall look at Indian migration legends, and then gives an English translation of the Creek migration legend.

A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians Read More »

The Choctaw Freedmen and Oak Hill Industrial Academy

The aim of the Author in preparing this volume has been to put in a form, convenient for preservation and future reference, a brief historical sketch of the work and workers connected with the founding and development of Oak Hill Industrial Academy, established for the benefit of the Freedmen of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, by the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., in 1886, when Miss Eliza Hartford became the first white teacher, to the erection of Elliott Hall in 1910, and its dedication in 1912; when the name of the institution was changed to “The Alice Lee Elliott Memorial.”

The Choctaw Freedmen and Oak Hill Industrial Academy Read More »

Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi

Life on the prairies or mountains with the best built house had to be hard for our ancestors, but consider the Indians of the 1800’s. With few implements, or tools, they constructed their homes from their surroundings. David Bushnell, provides a vivid picture of the traditional homes, hunting camps, and travels of the Algonquian, Caddoan and Siouan tribes. Even without the photos and drawings, all of which are included here, Bushnell paints a picture of these tribes life and culture with his words.

Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi Read More »

Pin It on Pinterest

Scroll to Top