Grand Rapids Indian Agency (Wisconsin)

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

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Winnebago, Arpin Band of Potawatomi

History
The grand Rapids Agency was separated from Tomah Agency, 1 January 1916, and established as an independent agency. It was consolidated with the Laona Agency, 10 August 1917, but became a separate jurisdiction again, 17 April 1918. The Grand Rapids Agency was discontinued and those under its jurisdiction were transferred to Tomah Agency, 1 May 1927.

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.

Some records for the Grand Rapids Agency are in the Great Lakes Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Chicago, including:


 * Annuity rolls, 1900-1902
 * Allotment and estate records, n.d.
 * And some general correspondence, 1913-1926

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Grand Rapids Agency, 1916-1926, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, roll 58, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City (their ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1916-1917 and 1919 thru 1926. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 168. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.