Seminole Indian Agency (Florida)

The Seminole Agency continues to operate. Its supervisory office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Eastern Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Seminole

History
The Seminole Agency (or Florida Agency) was established in 1822, with a subagency for the Indians of Florida. In 1826, a the Apalachicola Subagency for the Indians along the river of the same name was established. The Seminole Agency located its headquarters on the Seminole Reservation in central Florida. In 1834, the agent for the Seminoles was made Superintend of Emigration, in anticipation of the moving of the Seminoles to Indian Territory. Since not all Seminoles moved to Indian Territory, a subagent was appointed in 1849 for those remaining in Florida.

In 1842, a separate subagency for the western Seminole was established on the Deep Fork of the Canadian River and was moved to the Little River in 1845. Many of the Seminoles of Florida moved to Indian Territory in 1858 and came under the Seminole Agency there, which had become a full agency in 1855. This Seminole Agency was later consolidated into what became the Union Agency in Oklahoma.

The Seminole Indians who remained in Florida had no regularly assigned agent in Florida after 1858, but some individuals were assigned field duties concerning them from time to time.

A special commissioner was assigned to the Seminoles of Florida in 1913, and from that, a permanent Florida Agency evolved.

Agents and Appointment Dates
Gad Humphrey 1822, John Phagan 1830, Wiley Thompson1833

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

A small amount of general correspondence of the Seminole Agency, 1934-1952, is in the National Archives Southeast Region (Atlanta).

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Seminole Agency, 1824-1876, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 800-807. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their.

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Seminole Agency, 1896-1899, are on roll 24 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Mackinac Agency, 1913-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 131, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1913 thru 1940. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 486-487. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.