Tomah Indian Agency (Wisconsin)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Winnebago, Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Chippewa

History
A non reservation boarding school was established at Tomah, Wisconsin in 1893. In 1911, the school was given agency status for the Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin. They had previously been assigned to the Wittenberg School.

In 1916, the Tomah agent's duties were transferred to the new Grand Rapids Agency. In 1927, the Grand Rapids Agency was consolidated with the Tomah School and Tomah regained its agency status. Between 1932 and 1935, the Tomah Agency added the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Munsee Indians from the Keshena Agency and the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and the Saginaw, Swan Creek, and Black River Chippewa from the Mount Pleasant School.

The Tomah School was closed in 1935, but the agency continued to function as an agency until 1949, when it was consolidated into the Great Lakes Consolidated Agency.

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.

Many of the records of the Tomah Agency have been transferred to the Great Lakes Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Chicago, including:.


 * Estate record -- Winnebago -- 1903-1927
 * Census rolls -- Stockbridge -- 1906-1938
 * Annuity roll -- Winnebago -- 1913
 * Birth and death rolls -- Oneida, Stockbridge, and Winnebago -- 1934-1940
 * Student personal record files, 1934-1946
 * Annuity payroll -- Oneida -- 1935-1939
 * Health records, 1935-1947
 * Census rolls -- Saginaw Chippewas -- 1940
 * Heirship cards -- Winnebago -- n.d.
 * And many other administrative and financial records, 1911-1949

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Tomah Agency, 1908-1936, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 149, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City (their.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1911-1915, and 1927-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 570 thru 573. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

Vital Records with Census FS Library Film: 583029 and 583030