Indigenous Peoples of Wisconsin

United States Wisconsin  American Indian Research  Indians of Wisconsin

Learn about the tribes and bands, agencies, records, and reservations for the Indians of Wisconsin.

To learn how to get started with American Indian research, find research facilities, and American Indian websites click here.

Tribes and Bands of Wisconsin
The following list of American Indians who have lived in Wisconsin has been compiled from Hodge's Handbook of American Indians... and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America. Some are simply variant spellings for the same tribe.

Tribes:


 * Chippewa
 * Dakota
 * Fox
 * Ho-Chunk
 * Housatonic
 * Illinois
 * Iowa
 * Iroquois
 * Kickapoo
 * Mahican
 * Mascouten
 * Menominee
 * Miami
 * Missouri
 * Munsee
 * New York Indians
 * Noquet
 * Ojibwe
 * Oneida
 * Oto
 * Ottawa
 * Potawatomi
 * Sauk
 * Stockbridge
 * Tionontati
 * Winnebago (Ho-Chunk and Hochungra)
 * Wyandot

Bands:


 * Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * St Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
 * Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans

Council of the Three Fires: Potawatomi or Bodewadmi, Odawa and Ojibwe tribes.

Menominee Clans (or Phratry): Clans organized the community. Each clan was responsible for one aspect of the Society (Keepers of the law, Hunting and gathering, architecture, construction and art, individual security and freedom and justice)


 * Bear Clan, Big Thunder Clan, Wolf Clan, Crane Clan, Moose Clan.

1963 The Wisconsin Winnebago Nation was federally recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. In 1994 the Bureau of Indian Affairs accepted the Tribe's name legally changed to the Ho-Chunk Nation - the People of the Big Voice - which they had always called themselves.

The Oneida Nation is part of the Iroquois Confederacy, known as The Six Nations. The other nations are the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscarroras.

Source

Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurace and Renewal by Patty Loew. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison. WI. C. 2001. WorldCat

Wisconsin Indians. By Nancy Oestreich Lurie. WorldCat

Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
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 were created by these offices.

Agencies of the Federal Government were established in Wisconsin, as in other areas of the United States. Some of these agencies over-lapped state or territorial lines, some existed for only a short time, and some were actually sub-agencies of larger jurisdictions. The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in Wisconsin has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs..., Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians , and others.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has also identified the major agencies in Wisconsin, with the names of the agents who served there.


 * Bad River Agency
 * Bayfield -- 1836-1878
 * Carter Agency
 * Fort Winnebago Subagency -- 1828-1837
 * Grand Rapids Agency
 * Great Lakes Agency, Ashland, WI. 54806- 1948 to present
 * Green Bay Agency -- 1815-1886
 * Hayward Agency and School
 * Keshena Agency -- 1874-1906
 * La Pointe Agency -- 1836-1906
 * Lac Du Flambeau Agency
 * Laona Agency
 * Menominee Agency/ Field Office, Minneapolis Area Office, 15 South 5th St. 10 Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402
 * New Lisbon (Special) Agency -- 1870
 * Oneida Agency
 * Prairie du Chien Agency -- 1807-1839
 * Red Cliff Agency
 * Rock River Subagency
 * Tomah Agency
 * Winnebago Agency -- 1864-1870

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

Indian Schools
Several religious denominations established educational efforts among the Native American population. The earliest were the Jesuits, from 1661 to 1728. Various Protestant groups began to establish Indian schools in Wisconsin as early as the 1830s. During the Assimilation Era of Indian policy in the United States, 1887-1934, efforts were made to "mainstream" Native Americans. For Indian children, this often meant being removed from their homes and reservations, to be sent to Government Boarding Schools or Day Schools, such as those listed below.

The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on Indian children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools which served Indian children from a number of tribes and reservations.

In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on American Indian children. (read more...)

The following list of Indian Schools in Wisconsin has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs..., Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians , and others.


 * Hayward Indian School
 * Keshena School or Menominee Boarding School
 * Lac du Flambeau Boarding School
 * Oneida Indian School
 * Red Cliff School
 * Stockbridge Day School
 * Tomah Indian School
 * Winnebago Indian School
 * Wittenberg Indian School

Indian Health Facilities

 * Tomah Hospital

Family History Library

 * Northern Superintendency, 1851-1876, 35 films M1160 Family History Library 1st film
 * Wisconsin Superintendency 1836-1848 M951 Family History Library book
 * School Records for Hayward and Wittenberg

Search FamilySearch Catalog Wisconsin Native Races

Other Repositories
National Archives and Centers

Reservations
From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the American Indian was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative, usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government.

Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies.

The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether.

For a current reservation map - Wisconsin - Indian Reservations- The National Atlas of the United States of America. Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. by the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Geological Survey.

The following list of reservations has been compiled from the National Atlas of the United States of America, the Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America , and other sources. Those reservations named in bold are current federally-recognized reservations, with their associated agency and tribe(s). Others have historically been associated with the state or are not currently recognized by the federal government.


 * Bad River Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Chippewa; located in Ashland and Iron Counties, in the extreme northern part of the state.
 * Forest County Potawatomi Community: see Potawatomi Reservation
 * Ho-Chunk Reservation (formerly Winnebago)
 * La Pointe Reservation: former name of Bad River Reservation
 * Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation: (1854) Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Chippewa; located in northern Wisconsin, in Sawyer County.
 * Lac du Flambeau Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa; Located in northern Wisconsin in Iron, Oneida, and Vilas Counties.
 * Menominee Reservation: State, under the jurisdiction of the Menominee Field Office, Tribe Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa; located in northeastern Wisconsin in Menominee County.
 * Mole Lake Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Sokagoan Chippewa Community; located in northeastern Wisconsin, in Forest County.
 * Oneida Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Oneida; Located in eastern Wisconsin, near Green Bay, in Brown and Outagamie Counties.
 * Potawatomi Reservation: State, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Potawatomi; Located in northeastern Wisconsin in Forest County.
 * Red Cliff Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Red Cliff Band of Chippewa; located on the northernmost tip of Wisconsin, in Bayfield County.
 * Saint Croix Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: St. Croix Band of Chippewa; located in northern Wisconsin in Burnett and Polk Counties.
 * Sokaogon Chippewa Reservation: See Mole Lake Reservation.
 * Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Stockbridge and Munsee; located in northeastern Wisconsin in Shawano County.
 * Winnebago Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency, Tribe: Winnebago

For Further Reading
See also American Indian For Further Reading.
 * Wisconsin-History Wiki page for a calendar of events
 * Wisconsin-Military Wiki page for a list of forts