Choctaw Indian Agency (Mississippi)

The Choctaw Agency in Mississippi is a currently operating agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its supervising office is the Eastern Area Office.

A guide for Choctaw genealogical research has been compiled by the State of Alabama Indian Affairs Commission and is available online.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Choctaw

History
The Choctaw Agency was established in 1792 for the Choctaw living east of the Mississippi River. By 1822, the agency was located in eastern Mississippi near Oaknoxubee Creek on the road from Natchez, Tennessee to Columbus, Mississippi. By 1832, most of the Choctaw had moved to Indian Territory and the Choctaw Agency in the East was discontinued. However, many Choctaw did not remove west, and some agents were assigned from time to time for those remaining in Mississippi

By 1918, an agency was re-established for the Choctaw in Mississippi and it continues to be an operating agency. It is located at Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Agents and Appointment Dates
John McKee 1799, Silas Dinsmoor 1802, John McKee 1814, and William Ward 1821

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.

A small amount of correspondence for this agency, 1817-1821, is housed at the National Archives in Washington,DC.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Choctaw Agency, 1824-1876, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 169-196. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Choctaw Agency, 1920-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 20, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their. Reports for some years are missing.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1926 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 41 and 42. 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 census of the Mississippi Choctaw, taken in 1929 by R.J. Enochs, Superintendent of the Choctaw Agency has been transcribed and is available online.