Lower Brule Indian Agency (South Dakota)

The Lower Brulé Agency is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Lower Brulé Indian Reservation in central South Dakota. Its supervising office is the Aberdeen Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Brule Sioux, Lower Brulé Sioux, Sioux (of Missouri and Platte Rivers),

History
The Lower Brulé Agency was established in 1875 as the White River Agency and was renamed Lower Brulé in Jan. 1876. It was first located on the western side of the Missouri River, 10 miles below Crow Creek in South Dakota. In the summer of 1876, it was moved to the mouth of American Crow Creek, 12 miles below the old site. In 1882, the Crow Creek Agency and the Lower Brulé Agency were consolidated. In 1896, they were again divided.

Lower Brulé Agency was transferred to Crow Creek, 1 August 1924, with the Lower Brulé becoming a subagency. It was consolidated with the Pierre School in 1954 to form the Pierre Agency.

Agents and Appointment Dates
Thomas A. Reily July 2, 1875, Henry E. Gregory July 18, 1876, Capt. William E. Dougherty March 21, 1878, and William H. Parkhurst May 27, 1880

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.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Lower Brulé Agency, 1875-1876, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Roll 401. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Lower Brulé Agency, 1897-1900 are on roll 24 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Annuity Payrolls of the Lower Brule Sioux, 1892-1933.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1897 thru 1924. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 252. 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.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Lower Brulé Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Lower Brulé Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 47, Lower Brulé Agency, in Lyman County, South Dakota.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Lower Brulé Agency, 1916-1927, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, rolls 80-81, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their ).