Otoe Indian Agency (Oklahoma)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Oto and Missouri

History
The Otoe Agency was established in 1856 for the Oto and Missouri Indians. When the bulk of the Oto and Missouri Indians moved to Oklahoma Territory in 1881, they were merged into a single agency called the Ponca, Pawnee, and Otoe Agency. Between 1901 and 1904 a separate Otoe Agency was reestablished in what became Oklahoma. It was merged with the Pawnee Agency in 1919. In 1921, the Ponca Agency was reestablished for the Ponca, Tonkawa, and Oto and Missouri Indians. The Otoe Agency continued to operate as a subagency under the Pawnee 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 records for the Otoe Agency and Subagency are in the National Archives Southwest Region (Ft. Worth) and in the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City, including;


 * Register of births and deaths, 1895-1910
 * Census rolls, 1904-1918.
 * Allotment records, 1919-1927
 * And other administrative and fiscal records, 1880-1943

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Otoe Agency, 1907-1919, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 97, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1906-1910, 1912, and 1915 thru 1919. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 329. 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.