Fond du Lac Indian Agency (Minnesota)

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Chippewa

History
The Fond du Lac Agency was established about 1909 for the Indians of the Fond du Lac Reservation previously assigned to the La Pointe Agency. In 1919, the Indians of the Nett Lake and Grand Portage Reservations were added to the Fond du Lac Agency. The agency was discontinued and the Indians under its jurisdiction were transferred to the Red Lake Agency, 1 July 1920.

Records
The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:


 * Allotment records
 * Annuity rolls
 * Census records
 * Correspondence
 * Health records
 * Reports
 * School census and records
 * Vital 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 historical records of this agency are housed in the Central Plains Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Kansas City. Records in that collection which may be of assistance to the genealogist include land patents and heirship files, 1918-1920.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Fond du Lac Agency, 1910-1921, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 43, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1910 thru 1920. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 117. 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.