Ottawa Indian Agency (Kansas)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Ottawa Indians of Kansas (the Blanchards Fork and Roche de Boeuf bands), Chippewa of Swan Creek and Black River and the Munsee or "Christian" who had affiliated with the Chippewa in 1859.

Agents and Appointment Dates
Clinton C. Hutchinson 1863

History
The Ottawa Agency was established in 1863 for the Ottawa Indians of Kansas, the Chippewa of Swan Creek and Black River, and the Munsee (or "Christian") Indians who had affiliated with the Chippewa in 1859. The Ottawa lived on a reserve on the Mariais des Cygnes River in Franklin County, Kansas. They had received that reserve by treaty in 1831. The Chippewa and Munsee lived west of the Ottawa. The Ottawa and Chippewa had previously been assigned to the Sac and Fox Agency.

In 1864, the Chippewa and Munsee Indians were transferred back to the Sac and Fox Agency. By treaty of 1862, the Ottawa agreed to make allotments of land to members of their tribe and to sell the remainder of the land to non-Indian settlers. The treaty stipulated that the Ottawa were to become citizens of Kansas and dissolve their tribal government within five years. Some tribal members who did not want to become citizens made arrangements with the Shawnee Indians of the Neosho Agency to purchase land in Indian Territory. They came under the Neosho Agency until 1871 and thereafter the Quapaw Agency.

Although the Ottawa Agency was effectively abolished by 1867, some letters relating to the Ottawa in Kansas were still filed under that heading by the Office of Indian Affairs until as late as 1873.

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.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Ottawa Agency, 1863-1873, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 656-658. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their.