Tonkawa Tribe

Various spellings: Tonkawa, Tonkaway

Ancestral homeland: central Texas

Brief Timeline
1530's: contact with Spanish explorers: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

1540's: FranciscoVasquez de Coronado

1682: Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle's Expedition

1855: assigned to a reservation-

Tonkawa served as scouts with the Texas Rangers against the Comanche.

1861-65: served as scouts for the Confederate Army

1859: relocated to Washita River in Indian Territory

1865: some fled to Texas until 1884

1884: Those who had fled to Texas removed to Indian Territory.

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

Tribal Headquarters
Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma 1 Rush Buffalo Road Tonkawa, OK 74653-4449 Phone: 580.628.2561 Fax: 580.628.3375

Records
Agency Records

Corrrespondence and Census

Treaty


 * 1846: with the Comanche, Aionai, Anadarko, Caddo, Etc., http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/com0554.htm

Vital Records


 * Pawnee Agency, M595, births and deaths 1924-1932, FHL Film: 579750

Important Web Sites

 * Constitution and By-Laws of the Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma.
 * The Tonkawa Indian Tribe Official Website
 * Tonkawa Tribe Wikipedia