Indian Claims Commission

Indian Claims Commission
An Indian Claims Commission was created to hear, investigate, and determine the validity of claims against the United States filed prior to August 13, 1846 by a tribe or any other group of Native Americans. In 1978 it stopped taking cases, and all remaining cases were transferred back to the U.S. Court of Claims.

The records of the Indian Claims Commission are grouped into several collections. One set presents the cases heard by the Commission dating from a treaty signed in 1785 to the closing of the Commission’s office in 1978. A second set of records covers the decisions reached by the Indian Claims Commission from 1948 to 1981, and another set of records covers the expert testimony before the Indian Claims Commission.

United States. Indian Claims Commission records are available on 5304 microfiches at the FamilySearch Library. Index fiche 6076350

Indian Depredation Claims, 1796-1920
The depredation claims system, was designed to prevent retaliation and preserve peace, the system was to provide compensation to Indians and whites suffering depredation at the hands of each other.Many of these records are in the National Archives, and the claims were litigated in the United States Court of Claims.

Skogen, Larry C. Indian Depredation Claims, 1796-1920. WorldCat

Reference
Byers,Paula K. Native American Genealogical Sourcebook. "Indian Claims Records," pp. 77-79. (Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1995). FS Library 970.1 B991n. ;.

To learn more See:


 * United States Native Races Part 1
 * United States Native Races Part 3
 * United Sates Native Races Part4
 * Indians of United States and their Records