Union Indian Agency (Oklahoma)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole

History
The Creek, Choctaw (including the Chickasaw), and Seminole Agencies were consolidated with the Cherokee Agency on 30 June 1874. On the 22nd of December of that year, the name of the agency was changed to Union Agency, with headquarters in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It was temporarily abolished on 30 June 1878, but re-established in August of 1879. It was consolidated with the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (also known as the Dawes Commission) on 1 September 1914 to form the Five Civilized Tribes Agency, which was absorbed by the Muskogee Area Office in 1948.

Agents and Appointment Dates
John B. Jones 1874, George W. Ingalls 1874, Maj. J. J. Upham 1876, Sylvester W. Marston 1876, John Q. Tufts 1879

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 Union Agency, 1875-1880, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 865-877. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their.

Some of the historical records of the Union Agency, 1876-1911, have been transferred to the Southwestern Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Fort Worth. Most of these records contain little personal information about the Indians under this jurisdiction.

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 Union Agency, 1876-1896, are on roll 55 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 ).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Winnebago, 1910-1914, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 161, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 623. 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.