Spokane Indian Agency (Washington)

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

The Spokane Agency is a currently operating agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its supervising office is the Portland Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Spokane

History
The Spokane Agency was established 28 January 1912 as an independent agency to serve the Spokane Indians on the Spokane Reservation. Prior to 1912, the Spokane Indians had been served by the Colville Agency. The Spokane Agency was again consolidated with the Colville Agency, 31 March 1925, and thereafter served as a subagency to Colville. Some records dating before and after the 1912-1924 period of independence are included in the records of the Spokane Agency.

Records
The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:


 * Allotment records
 * Annuity rolls
 * Census records
 * Correspondence
 * Health records
 * Reports
 * School census and records
 * Vital records

A few of the textual records of the Spokane Agency have been transferred to the Pacific Alaska Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle. Among their administrative files are census rolls, school reports and student case files, land records, and school census records, all of which may be of interest to family historians:

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Spokane Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Spokane Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 119, Spokane Indian Reservation, in Stevens County, Washington.

Microfilm copies of...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Spokane Agency, 1912-1924, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, roll 143, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City and their family history centers (their ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1913 thru 1924. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 546. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.