Pima Indian Agency (Arizona)

The Pima Indian Agency, located in Sacaton, Arizona is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Its current supervising field office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Phoenix Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Pima

History
The original Pima Agency was established in 1859 with the appointment of a special agent who was an employee of the Overland Mail Company. That company desired to maintain good relationships with the Pima and Maricopa Indians so they could run mail through their lands. The agent resigned in 1860 and was not replaced.

The Pima and Maricopa Indians were with the area for which the Tucson Agency was responsible, so with the resignation of the agent in 1860, the Tucson Agency again was the sole agency over the Pima and Maricopa. From 1861 to 1863, Confederate troops occupied Arizona and the Tucson Agency was abandoned. In 1865, the Pima and Maricopa were assigned to the Pima, Papago, and Maricopa Agency, known later as the Gila River Agency, and after 1875 as the Pima Agency.

In 1902, a separate Papago Agency was established for the Papago who lived on the San Xavier Reservation. That reservation was expanded in 1917 and the Pima lost more of the area for which they had been responsible. The Salt River Reservation of Pima Indians was transferred to Camp McDowell Agency in 1910. In 1934, both the Salt River and Camp McDowell Agencies were transferred back to the Pima Agency. At the same time, the remaining groups of Papago Indians were transferred to the Papago Agency.

Agent and Appointment Date
Silas St. John February 18, 1859

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 Pima Agency, 1859-1861, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, roll 669. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their.

Some of the records of the Pima Agency are in the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Los Angeles. Among the records there are:


 * School attendance registers, 1901-1916
 * Applications for enrollment at non reservation Indian schools, 1905-1926
 * Marriage cards, 1911-1912
 * Individual Indian history files, ca. 1911-1918
 * Health records, 1911-1951
 * Tribal census rolls, 1911-1946
 * School census records, 1915-1938
 * Individual Indian identification and census cards, 1929-1933

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 Pima, Papago and Maricopa Agency, 1883-1900, are on rolls 25-26 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 ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1887, 1889-1891, 1894-1896, 1899, 1902, and 1919-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 347-361. 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.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Gila River Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Pima Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 79, Gila River Reservation in Maricopa County, Arizona and in District 79, Gila River Indian Reservation, in Pinal County, Arizona.

Microfilm copies of...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Pima Agency, 1907-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, rolls 104-105, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and their family history centers (their ). Reports for some years are missing.

Records Available through the Family History Library

 * Census Records, 1909-1940. FHL film: 1,249,788 items 6-9 first film


 * Individual History Cards 1926-1927. FHL film: 1,249,796 items 4, 6


 * School Records 1903-1938. FHL film: 1,249,794 items 3-4 first film


 * Vital Records 1850-1931. FHL film: 1,249,794 first film


 * Birth and Death Records 1924-1932, FHL film 579766 (this film is part of the Annual Indian Census - census supplement)


 * School, Allotment, Vital Records 1915-1934. FHL film 1,249,788 items 1-5