Indigenous Peoples of Montana

About four percent of the present population of Montana is American Indian. The major groups include the Blackfoot, Cree, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Chippewa, Little Shell Band of Chippewa, Flathead, Kutenai, and Assiniboin.

Tribes and Bands of Montana
The following list of American Indians who have lived in Washington has been compiled from Hodge's Handbook of American Indians... and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America. Some may simply be variant spellings for the same tribe.

Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboin, Atsina, Bannock, Brule, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Northern Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cree, Crow, (Mountain River Crow), Dakota, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Hunkpapa, Kalispel, Kainah, Kiowa, Kootenai, Kutena, Mandan, Nez Perce, Okinagan, Pend d' Oreille, Piegan, Salish, Santee, Sematuse, Shoshoni, Siksika, Sioux, Spokan, Teton, Tunache, Yanktonai

Assiniboin-Sioux, Absarokee-Crow, Chippewa-Cree

Reference


 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethonology, Bulletin #30 1907.


 * Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America ( http://www.accessgenealogy.com ) Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin #145.

Reservations
As identified in the National Atlas of the United States of America, the following reservation names in bold are current federally-recognized reservations:


 * Blackfeet Reservation is in northern Montana just east of Glacier National Park.
 * Crow Reservation is in south-central Montana near Billings.
 * Flathead Reservation is located north of Interstate 90, between Missoula and Kalispell.
 * Fort Belknap Reservation is in north-central Montana, between Havre and Glasgow.
 * Fort Peck Reservation is in northeastern Montana.
 * Jocko Reservation -- an earlier name for the Flathead Reservation, which was located on the Jocko River.
 * Northern Cheyenne Reservation is in southeastern Montana, just east of the Crow Indian Reservation
 * Rocky Boy's Reservation is in north-central Montana, just south of Havre.

Reference


 * Isaacs, Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices. Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E. Indian Reservations, Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.
 * National Atlas of the United States of America

Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Agencies were created as an administrative division of the federal government 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 were created by these offices.


 * Blackfeet Agency, Browning, MT 59417
 * Crow Agency, Crow Agency, MT 59022
 * Eastern District Agency
 * Flathead Agency. Box A, Pablo, MT 59855
 * Fort Belknap Agency, P.O. Box 98, Harlem, MT 59255
 * Fort Peck (Milk River) Agency
 * Northern Cheyenne Agency or Tongue River Agency, Lame Deer, MT
 * Rocky Boy's Agency, Box Elder, MT 59521
 * Tongue River Agency

Reference


 * Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc., 1974.

Indian Schools
The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on Indian children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools which served Indian children from a number of tribes and reservations.

In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on American Indian children. (read more...)


 * Fort Shaw Industrial Indian Boarding School
 * St. Labre Indian School

Family History Library
The Family History Library has microfilm copies of Indian records at the Rocky Mountain Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration in Denver. These include excellent collections for the Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead, Northern Cheyenne, and several other tribes. The available records include heirship, school, census, annuity, and other documents.

The records are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under MONTANA - MINORITIES or MONTANA - NATIVE RACES. Records are also listed in the Subject Search of the Family History Library Catalog under the names of the tribes.

Some other collections in the Family History Library which contain references to the Indians of Montana are:


 * Major James McLaughlin Papers Family History Library film 0541380
 * Jesuits Mission Records Family History Library film 1671639
 * Montana Superintendency 1867-1873, M833, 3 films,Family History Library 1st film 1618090
 * Central Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1813-1878 108 films M856 Family History Library 1st film 1602893
 * Dakota and Wyoming Superintendency 1861-1870 &amp; 1877-1878 13 films M1016 Family History Library 1st film 1549632

Online Resources
http://www.native-languages.org/montana.htm

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/montana/index.htm

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/mt/montmap.html

See Also:
Montana-Church for list of missions

Montana-History for a calendar of historical events

Montana-Military for list of forts