Indigenous Peoples of Alabama

The name Alabama comes from a Choctaw word meaning "Thicket-clearer" or Vegetation-gatherers"

Tribes of Alabama
Many tribes lived in the area that is now Alabama -- mainly Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks. Below are several histories and published records.

The following list of tribes and bands come from:

Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico.Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, Bulletin # 30 1907.

Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology, Bulletin # 145

Tribes: Abihka, Alabama, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Atasi, Chatot, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Eufaula, Fus-hatchee, Hilibi, Hitchiti, Kan-hatki, Kealedji, Koasati, Kolomi, Mobile, Mukalsa, Muskogee, Napochi, Natchez, Okchai, Okmulgee, Osochi, Pakana, Pawokti, Pilthlako, Sawokli, Sawokli, Shawnee, Taensa, Tohome, Tukabahchee, Tuskegee, Wakokai, Wiwohka, Yamasee, Yuchi

Bands: Echola Cherokee, Machis Lower Ala Creek, Mowa Band Choctaw, Principle Creek, Poarch Creek, Star Clan of Muskogee Creek, United Cherokee

Cherokees
There are many sources with information about the Cherokees. For example, see:

Allen, Maud Bliss. Census Records and Cherokee Muster Rolls. Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1935. (FHL book 970.1 A1 no.54; film 908999 item2.) This source contains the Cherokee census of 1835 of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Two publications listing Cherokees east of the Mississippi in 1835 are:

Tyner, James W. Those Who Cried: The 16,000: A Record of the Individual Cherokees Listed in the United States Official Census of the Cherokee Nation Conducted in 1835. N.p.: Chi-ga-u, 1974. (FHL book 970.3 C424tj.) Non-Cherokee census takers in 1835 made lists of Cherokees in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. There are some errors because they did not understand the native languages. The government defined a person as an Indian if he or she had one-quarter degree of Indian blood. The book is indexed and has excellent maps for that period.

This book provides the name of the head of the household and the number of whites and full-, half-, or quarter-blood Indians in the home. It also shows occupations, number of slaves owned, whether the people read English or Cherokee, and may mention if they owned a home, farm, or mill.

United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Census Roll, 1835, of the Cherokee Indians East of the Mississippi and Index to the Roll, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia. National Archives Microfilm Publications, T0496. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1960. (FHL film 833322.)

A list is available of the Cherokees living in Alabama in 1851:

Siler, David W. The Eastern Cherokees, A Census of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia in 1851. Cottonport, Louisiana: Polyanthus, 1972. (FHL book 970.3 C424sd.) This list contains the names of each person’s father, mother, and children, with their ages and relationship, for De Kalb, Jackson, and Marshall Counties. An index is included.

For a history of the Cherokees to about 1835, and a map showing the Cherokee towns in the Alabama area, see:

Malone, Henry Thompson. Cherokees of the Old South: A People in Transition. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1956. (FHL book 970.3 C424ma.) See the maps before the preface. At the end of the book there is a bibliography.

Additional Cherokee Records
United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Cherokee Agency. Records of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, 1801–1835. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0208. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1952. (FHL films 1024418–31.) These records deal with the entire Cherokee Nation. They contain information about passes given to people during 1801 to 1804 allowing them to go through the Cherokee lands. These records also mention claims filed 1816 to 1833 and include the names of Army officers at posts; unauthorized settlements on Indian lands; land office records; and names of traders, settlers, missionaries, chiefs, and members of the tribe. See the introduction at the beginning of the first film to learn about the contents of these records. Many individuals are listed, however, there is no index.

United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Letters Received, 1824–1881; Registers of Letters Received, 1824–1880. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0018, M0234. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1942, 1956. (On 1088 FHL films beginning with 1638620.) There are letters in this collection pertaining to each of the major tribes, but they are not indexed.

Chickasaw
For a history of the Chickasaw nation, see:

Malone, James H. The Chickasaw Nation: A Short Sketch of A Noble People. Louisville, Kentucky: John P. Morton, 1922. (FHL book 970.3 C432m.) A map at the end of the book shows the Mississippi and Alabama lands ceded by the Chickasaws in 1835.

Choctaw
An 1831 list of Choctaws in Alabama and Mississippi is in:

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive of the Congress of the United States cited under the subheading France (1710–1763) in the "Land and Property" section of this outline. Volume Seven, on FHL film 944499 item 2, pages 1–140, has the 1831 Armstrong roll of Choctaws owning farms who were entitled to receive land under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830. The volume is indexed. These records are like a census, listing head of family, the number of males over 16, number of males and females under 10, number of acres, and location.

Creek
Some published sources with information about the Creeks are:

Snider, Billie Ford. Full Name Indexes, Eastern Creek Indians East of the Mississippi. Pensacola, Florida: Antique Compiling, 1993. (FHL book 970.3 C861sb; fiche 6126087). This source lists ancestors of the Eastern Creeks living in 1814 and descendants to about 1972. The final chapter contains a detailed history of the Creeks from the 1600s to 1973 and offers suggestions for Eastern Creek Indian ancestral research.

Stiggins, George. Creek Indian History: A Historical Narrative of the Genealogy, Traditions and Downfall of the Ispocoga or Creek Indian Tribe of Indians. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Public Library Press, 1989. (FHL book 970.3 C861s.) A bibliography is found on pages 166–70.

Rolls were prepared in 1832 of the Lower Creeks and the Upper Creeks. They contain the names of principal chiefs and heads of households, where they resided, number of people in the household and whether they owned slaves:

Abbott, Thomas J. Creek Census of 1832 (Lower Creeks). Laguna Hills, California: Histree, 1987. (FHL book 970.3 C861a.) This is indexed by name.

Parsons, Benjamin S. Creek Census of 1832 (Upper Creeks). Laguna Hills, California: Histree, 1987. (FHL book 970.3 C861pa.) This is indexed by name.

Indian Reservations
Reservations were established as westward expansion and settlement occured. Tribes ceded land and were removed to restricted and reserved land.

Creek Reservation

Poarch Band of Creek

Indian Agencies
Agencies were created by the federal government to manage Indian affairs with the tribes and to assist in maintaing peace and to enforce policies.

Choctaw Agency

Some Important Historical Events
Most American Indians in Alabama were forced to go to the Indian Territory (now a part of Oklahoma) in the 1830s. A few remained in Alabama.

General histories with information about the events involving the American Indians in Alabama are:

Pickett, Albert James. History of Alabama and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, From the Earliest Period. Sheffield, Alabama: R.C. Randolph, 1896. (FHL book 976.1 H2p; film 924406.) This book gives a chronological history of the events affecting the American Indians to about 1820.

Young, Mary Elizabeth. Redskins, Ruffleshirts and Rednecks: Indian Allotments in Alabama and Mississippi 1830–1860. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. (FHL book 970.1 Y86r.) This book describes the opening up and sale of Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek Indian lands until about the 1840s. An excellent bibliography is found at the end of the book.

Bibliography of Published Books and Articles
The book Alabama History: An Annotated Bibliography by Lynda W. Brown mentioned in Alabama History contains sections on the American Indian tribes of Alabama.

American Indian records are listed in the Subject Search of the Family History Library Catalog under the name of the tribe, such as:

CHEROKEE INDIANS

CHICKASAW INDIANS

CHOCTAW INDIANS

CREEK INDIANS

Records of American Indians can also be found in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

ALABAMA - NATIVE RACES