Umatilla Indian Agency (Oregon)

The Umatilla Agency is a currently operating agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its supervising office is the Portland Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla

History
The Umatilla Agency was established in northeastern Oregon in 1861 to serve the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla Indians on the Umatilla Reservation, near Pendleton. In 1936, the Paiute Indians of Burns and others along the Columbia River were transferred to the Umatilla Agency from Warms Springs Agency and Yakima 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.

Some of the textual records of the Umatilla Agency have been transferred to the Pacific Alaska Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle. Among their many administrative files are the following records which may be of particular interest to family historians:


 * Census records, 1870-1940
 * Medical records, 1883-1901
 * School attendance records, 1893-1921
 * Land allotment and probate records, 1894-1917
 * Tribal census, 1898-1960
 * Birth, death and marriage records, 1902-1930
 * School census and vital statistics, 1925-1950

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 Umatilla Agency, 1881-1900, are on rolls 54-55 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 ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1886-1894, 1898-1905, and from 1910 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 616-622. 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.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Cayuse Indians living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Umatilla Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 182, Reservation Precinct, in Umatilla County, Oregon.

Records Available through the Family History Library
Vital Records from Indian Census Rolls - above


 * Birth and Death records 1924-1932 FHL film 583080
 * Microfilm copies of...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Umatilla Agency, 1907-1938, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, rolls 159-160, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and their family history centers (their ).
 * Umatilla Agency Records 1889-1932. FHL film: 1024205
 * Census Records 1886-94, 1896, 1898-1900. FHL film: 533075-583081
 * School Records 1889-1947. FHL film: 1024205-1024206
 * Annuity,Census, Guardianship 1870-1934. FHL film: 1024227-1024228
 * Probate Records, 1894 -1939. FHL film: 1024224
 * Land Records 1881-1952. FHL film: 1024207-1024223, 1024225-