Yankton Indian Agency (South Dakota)

The Yankton Agency is a currently operating agency. Its supervising office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Aberdeen Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Sioux, Yankton Sioux, Santee Sioux, Ponca

History
The Yankton Agency was established in 1859 and was located on the Missouri River near Greenwood in what is now South Dakota. The Yankton Agency was abolished in 1933; the Yankton Sioux were transferred to the Rosebud Agency and the Santee Sioux and the Ponca were transferred to the Winnebago Agency, 30 June 1933. Yankton was opened as a subagency to the Rosebud Agency in 1936, and in 1967 was reestablished as an agency.

Agents and Appointment Dates
Alexander H. Redfield 1859, Walter A. Burleigh 1861, Patrick Henry Conger 1865, Capt. William J. Broatch 1869, Maj. J.M. Goodhue 1870, Samuel D. Webster 1870, Frederick G. Holmes 1871, John G. Gasmann February 23, 1872, John W. Douglas March 28, 1878, Robert S. Gardner (special) May 16, 1879, and William D. E. Andrus June 30, 1879

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 these offices.

A few administrative records of the Yankton Agency are in the Central Plains Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Kansas City. Among those records is an allotment register.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Yankton Agency, 1859-1876, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 959-962. 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 Yankton Agency, 1874-1900, are on rolls 59-60 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 Yankton Agency, 1907-1931, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 172-173, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885-1887, 1890, 1892-1907, 1909-1911 and 1913-1931. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 680 thru 688. 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.