Apache Indians

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



See also Indians of Arizona, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Arizona (Tribe), White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona (Tribe), and Tonto Apache Tribe, Arizona (Tribe) and Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

The Apache Tribe is primarily associated with Spanish Southwest and the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. See the Bands and Groups below for at least a partial listing of federally-recognized the subdivisions of the tribe, with their locations and reservations. It is important to search for information in all of the possible jurisdictions.

Linguistic Group: Athabascan

Cultural Group: Plains

Ancestral Homeland: Texas, Arizona and Mexico

Leaders:
Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, Juh, Geronimo, Victorio

Apache Eastern: Lipan, Jicarilla, Mescalero, Chiricahua,and Kiowa Apache.

Apache Western: Chiricahua, Tonto, Pinal, Coyotero, Arivaipa, San Carlos,and White Mountain Apache

Population: 1990: 30,000

Tribal Headquarters
There is no single tribal headquarters for all parts of the Apache Indian Tribe in the United States. Each part of the tribe has their own tribal offices and headquarters. For information on those offices, see the individual pages for each part of the tribe.

Yavapai-Apache Nation, Arizona (Tribe) White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona (Tribe) San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona (Tribe)

The individual Apache Tribes have the following websites

Nnee-San Carlos Apache Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Mescalero Nation White Mountain Apache Tribe Chiricahua Apache Nde NationJicarilla Apache Nation Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas Yavapai Prescott Indian TribeYavapai-Apache Nation Tonto Apache Tribe

History

 * Native American Nations, Your Source for Indian Research
 * Access Genealogy: Origin and Distribution of Apache Indians
 * Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology: [Bulletin]. Washington: G.P.O., 1887.
 * Pilling, James Constantine. Bibliography of the Athapascan Languages. Washington: [s.n.], 1892.

The Apache could not be suppressed by the Spanish or the Mexicans.

Brief Timeline

 * 1540: Francisdo Vasquez de Coronado's expedition
 * 1786: Presidio Ration Program, the Spanish distributed food and alcohol free to all Apache
 * 1835: Sonora post reward for Apache scalps
 * 1841: Jicarilla ApacheJicarilla Apache Nation deprived of land by a Mexican land grant
 * 1846: homeland became New Mexico Territory
 * 1847: Treaty at Fort Gibson
 * 1848: Apache land ceded by Mexico to the United States
 * 1852 July 1, Treaty at Santa Fe
 * 1853 July 27, Treaty at Fort Atkinson, with the Comanche and Kiowa
 * 1861: The Chiricahuz under leadership of Cochise went to war with the United States
 * The Coyotero and Lipan were nearly exterminated
 * 1861: Cochise mistakenly arrested, beginning the Apache Wars
 * 1863: The Mescalero surrendered
 * 1863: Treaty
 * 1864: The Territorial Legislature of Arizona passed a resolution legalizing the killing of all Apache people.
 * 1865 October 14, with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
 * 1865 October 17, with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
 * 1867] October 21, at Council Camp with the Kiowa and Comanche
 * 1868: Jicarilla surrendered
 * 1870: Reservations established
 * 1870: Jicarilla live at Taos, Cimmaroon and on the Maxwell Grant where their Agency had been moved in 1861. The Maxwell grant was sold in 1870 and they were moved to Fort Stanton on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.
 * 1871: White Mountain Reservation
 * 1871: Tularosa Reservation- Mimbreno Apache
 * 1871: 125 Aravaipa killed at Camp Grant
 * 1872: Cochise and the Chiricahua made peace with the United States. A number of Chiricahua led by Geronimo rejected peace and left the reservations to raid.
 * 1872: San Carlos Reservation created. The following bands became occupants: Coyotero, Chiricahua, San Carlos, Tonto, Yuma and Yavapai or Mohave Apaches.
 * 1873: Mescalero Reservation is established
 * 1874: Cochise dies
 * 1875: Tonto Apache moved to San Carlos Apache Reservation
 * 1875: Yavapai Apache(1,000) settle on the San Carlos Reservation
 * 1876-1877: Chiricahua Apache Indians removed to San Carlos Agency
 * 1877: Removal of Geronimo's band of Chiricahua Apache Indians from Ojo Caliente, New Mexico Territory, to the San Carlos Indian Agency, Arizona Territory.
 * 1877: Mimbreno Apache forced to move to San Carlos Reservation
 * 1880: New reservation on the Navajo River was established and the Jicarilla Apache moved there.
 * 1886: Geronimo surrendered
 * 1887: a group of children sent to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania
 * 1887: Jicarilla Reservation established
 * 1890's: Government mission schools established
 * 1897: White Mountain Reservationis divided into Fort Apache and San Carlos Reservations
 * 1903: Fort McDowell Reservation- Yavapai Apache
 * 1907: Jicarilla Reservation enlarged
 * 1913: Chiricahua Apache resettle on Mescalero Reservation
 * 1914: land near Camp Verde, Arizona is reserved for the Yavapai and Tonto Apache
 * 1834: San Carlos Apache Tribe was organized under the Indian Reorganization Act.
 * 1937: Jicarilla Apache - constitution
 * 1938: White Mountain Apache - constitution

Additional References to the History of the Tribe and/or Bands
Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Apache tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Reservations

 * Mescalero Reservation
 * White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona (Reservation)
 * Tularosa Reservation
 * San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona (Reservation)
 * Tonto Apache Tribe, Arizona (Reservation)
 * New Mexico: Fort Sill
 * Oklahoma: Anadarko
 * Apache/Kiowa - Federal Trust land
 * Apache/Mojave/Yavapai - Fort McDowell
 * Apache/Yavapai - Camp Verde
 * Arapaho/ Shoshone - Wind River

Bands and Groups of the Tribe and Their Reservations

 * Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
 * Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico (formerly Jicarilla Apache Tribe) -- Jicarilla Apache Reservation
 * Mescalero Apache Tribe -- Mescalero Reservation (New Mexico)
 * San Carlos Apache Tribe -- San Carlos Reservation (Arizona)
 * Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona
 * White Mountain Apache Tribe -- Fort Apache Reservation (Arizona)
 * Yavapai-Apache Nation, Arizona (Tribe)

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

Agency
San Carlos Agency

Santa Fe Agency

Texas Agency

Superintendencies

 * New Mexico Superintendency
 * Arizona Superintendency

Allotment
1913 Kiowa-Comanche Reservation land allotments. Oklahoma Tract Books, Oklahoma Historical Society.

Correspondence and Census

 * Agency records, 1892-1947 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Kiowa Agency
 * Census, birth and death records, 1932-1937 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Phoenix Agency
 * Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache obituaries Deveney, Sam
 * Index to Sam Devenney's Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache obituaries, with death dates Follett, Paul, 1958-
 * The Fort Sill Apaches : their vital statistics, tribal origins, antecedents Griswold, Gillett
 * Indian census rolls, Camp McDowell, 1905-1909 and 1911-1912 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs
 * Indian census rolls, Camp Verde, 1915-1927 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs
 * Indian census rolls, Fort Apache, 1898-1939 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs
 * Kiowa Indian census, 1904-1915 United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Kiowa Agency
 * Kiowa, Comanche, Apache Ft. Sill Apache Indian census at Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma Territory, 1926-1936 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Kiowa Agency
 * Kiowa, Comanche, Apache Ft. Sill Apache Indian vital records at Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma Territory, 1924-1937 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs
 * Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Fort Sill Apache, Wichita, Caddo and Delaware Indians: birth and death rolls, 1924-1932 Bowen, Jeff, 1950-
 * Miscellaneous census records, 1904-1942 United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Fort Apache Agency
 * Rolls of Indian tribes in Oklahoma 1889-1891: Absentee Shawnee (Big Jim's Band), Cheyenne and Arapahoe [sic], Iowa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Comanche and Apache, Otoe [sic] and Missouria [sic], Pawnee, Ponca, Pottawatomie [sic], Citizen Pottawatomie [sic] (Big Jim's Band), Sac [sic] and Fox Johnson, Emily
 * So lingers memory: inventories of Fort Sill, OK, cemeteries--Main Post, Apache Indian, Old Fort Reno, Comanche Indian and Comanche Mission Cemeteries, 1869-1985 Murphy, Polly Lewis, 1915-1993
 * Apache mothers and daughters: four generations of a family Boyer, Ruth McDonald
 * Apache genealogical research: a beginners guide Stout, Terri Lynn
 * The Tumacacori census of 1796 Whiting, Alfred F
 * Apache, Caddo, Kiowa Wichita Indian: census rolls Indian Territory 1900-1904 Millican, Valorie
 * 1905 Apache Tribe, Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma published in Key Finder, by Northwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society, Woodward, OK, Vol. 12 No. 3 (Summer 1991) and Vol. 12 No. 4 (Fall 1991) FHL call 976.6 D25k

Treaties

 * 1852 July 1, at Santa Fe
 * 1853 July 27, at Fort Atkinson, with the Comanche and Kiowa
 * 1865 October 14, with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
 * 1865 October 17, with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
 * 1867 October 21, at Council Camp with the Kiowa and Comanche

Vital Records

 * Kiowa Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1924-1932,, 1930-1936
 * Truxton Canon Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1924-1939,
 * Jicarilla Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1924-1929,
 * Fort Sill Apache item 8

Important Websites

 * Constitution and By-laws of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
 * Constitution and By-laws of the Yavapai-Apache Nation
 * White Mountain Apache Tribe Official Website

Apache

 * Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
 * Bidal, Lillian H. Pisacah: a Place of Plenty. FHL 978.9 H2bl
 * Bourke, John Gregory. An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre; An Account of the Expedition in Pursuit of the Hostile Chiricahua Apaches in the Spring of 1883. New York: Scribner, 1958.
 * Capes-Altom, Mila, Beneath His Wings: Indian cemeteries in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
 * Carlson, Paul H. The Plains Indians. College Station, Texas: Texas A&amp;M University Press, c1998. FHL book
 * Colvin, Verna Rae. The Garden and How It Grew: Eden, 1881-1981. Eden, Ariz: V.R. Colvin, 1981.
 * Doherty, Craig A., and Katherine M. Doherty. The Apaches and Navajos. New York: F. Watts, 1989.
 * Edmunds, R. David. American Indian Leaders: Studies in Diversity. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. \
 * Forbes, Jack D. Apache, Navaho, and Spaniard. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960.
 * Goodin, Barbara. Indian Research and History: With Biographies, Book Reviews &amp; Cemeteries. Lawton, Okla: B. Goodin, 2009.
 * Goodin, Kenneth, Alphabetical inventories of Indian cemeteries in Comanche County, Oklahoma '
 * Goodwin, Grenville. Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994.
 * Griffin-Pierce, Trudy. Native Peoples of the Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.
 * Griswold, Gillett. The Fort Sill Apaches: Their Vital Statistics, Tribal Origins, Antecedents. 1976. FHL Film 9282518
 * Haley, James. Apaches: A History and Culture Portrait. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
 * Stringfield, Thomas. Captured by the Apaches; Forty Years with This Savage Band of Indians. Hamilton, Texas: Herald print, 1911.
 * Thomas, Alfred Barnaby. Forgotten Frontiers; A Study of the Spanish Indian Policy of Don Juan Bautista De Anza, Governor of New Mexico, 1777-1787; from the Original Documents in the Archives of Spain, Mexico and New Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.
 * Worcester, Donald E. The Apaches: Eagles of the Southtwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.

General
See For Further Reading.