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Native American Family History Research

Native American family history research is no different than any other ethnic research. The researcher always works from present into the past while linking one generation to the next generation. In addition, the research process is the same for each ancestor we research: 1) identify what one knows about the family 2) decide what one wants to learn about the family 3) select records to search 4) obtain and search the record 5) use the information. If a Native American ancestor was born in the 1900s, one would begin searching the U.S. record types, such as: cemeteries, census, church records, court records, directories, land and property, military records, newspapers, online records, periodicals, probate records, taxation, and vital records. The census year 2010, 22 percent of the total Native American population in the United States lived on their respective reservations or other trust lands. This means that 78 percent of the Native American population lived away from their homeland or reservation; or in other words, they lived off their respective reservation. It seems logical that the percentage of Native American population in the United States who lived on their reservations would be a little higher, and the percentage of those living away from their homeland would be slightly lower. This pattern most likely continued from census year to census year (e.g., 2000, 1990, 1980, . . . 1900). Therefore, it makes sense to search the common record types throughout the United States. Also, these same U.S. record types also have existed on the reservations, such as the U.S. and state censuses and church records.