Oklahoma, Applications for Enrollment to the Five Civilized Tribes - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Oklahoma 

What is in the Collection?
These records cover the years 1898 to 1914. They list the individuals who were accepted as eligible for tribal membership in the "Five Civilized Tribes": Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. This record set is also known as the "Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes" and make up NARA publication M1301: Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914. The records include 101,000 names from 1898-1914 (primarily from 1899-1906) and provide the enrollee's name, sex, blood degree, and census card number. Index provided by Fold3.com.

This index covers the collection titled "Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914" which was created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is housed by the National Archives and Record Administration, Fort Worth, Texas. The NARA publication number for that collection is M1301.

A Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, also called the Dawes Commission after its chairman, Senator Dawes, was established by Congress in 1893. Its purpose was to exchange Indian tribal lands in the southeastern United States for new land allotments to individuals in Oklahoma. More than 250,000 people applied to this commission for enrollment and land. Just over 100,000 were approved. The rolls do not include the applications that were rejected, stricken, or judged to be doubtful. Those found eligible for the final rolls were entitled to an allotment of land, usually as a homestead. These records were created to provide a final list of those individuals who were enrolled as members of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole). They are generally reliable.

Collection Content
The information usually included in the index includes the following:


 * Name of individual applying for enrollment
 * Tribe or Nation
 * Sex
 * Blood degree
 * Census card number
 * Case number
 * Film number
 * Image number

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of your ancestor
 * Other identifying information such as the tribe or census number

Search the Collection
To search collection by name: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s enrollment, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date.
 * Use the Indian census card number to help you locate your ancestor in the Indian census.
 * Any relationships listed may help you to establish family groups.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination.
 * You may also need to search for both their Indian name and their English name.
 * Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.
 * Remember that these enrollment records do not include applications that were not approved.

What If I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):