United States, Native American, Five Civilized Tribes Enrollment Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes records pertaining to the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole). These records are available due to the Dawes Act of February 8, 1887 in which a federal commission was created to produce citizenship rolls for the tribes. This collection includes records such as applications to join the tribes, lists of freedmen, enrollments of newborns and minors, enrollments due to intermarriage, and more. Please note that there may be several images relating to a single person. It is important to scroll through several images before and after each record to find all of the associated images. This collection is associated with NARA microfilm publication M1301 and NAID number 617283. This index covers the collection titled "Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914" which was created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is housed by the National Archives and Record Administration, Fort Worth, Texas. The NARA publication number for that collection is M1301.

A Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, also called the Dawes Commission after its chairman, Senator Dawes, was established by Congress in 1893. Its purpose was to exchange Indian tribal lands in the southeastern United States for new land allotments to individuals in Oklahoma. More than 250,000 people applied to this commission for enrollment and land. Just over 100,000 were approved. The rolls do not include the applications that were rejected, stricken, or judged to be doubtful. Those found eligible for the final rolls were entitled to an allotment of land, usually as a homestead. These records were created to provide a final list of those individuals who were enrolled as members of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole). They are generally reliable.
 * Department of the Interior. Office of Indian Affairs. Office of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. 1893-1914. Organization Authority Record

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

Collection Content
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FamilySearch Catalog

 * Research in American Indians of Oklahoma Arlington, Virginia : National Genealogical Society, ©2017 FS Library 970.1 H862a 2017
 * Applications for enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914
 * Cherokee Indian rolls dealing with the Dawes Commission
 * Chickasaw Indian rolls dealing with the Dawes Commission
 * Choctaw Indian rolls dealing with the Dawes Commission
 * Creek Indian rolls dealing with the Dawes Commission
 * Enrollment cards for the five civilized tribes, 1898-1914
 * Muskogee Area Office. Enrollment of the Five Civilized Tribes : Dawes Commission, 1896-1909
 * Final rolls of citizens and freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory : as approved by the Secretary of the Interior on or before March 4, 1907, with supplements dated September 25, 1914

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Campbell's abstract of Creek Indian census cards and index.

Citing This Collection
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