Fort Belknap Indian Agency (Montana)

The Fort Belknap Indian Agency is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Fort Belknap Reservation in north-central Montana. Its supervising office is the Billings Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Grosventre, Assiniboin

History
The Fort Belknap Agency was established in 1873. The Grosventre and Assiniboin Indians living on the Milk River in Montana were assigned to the agency. For two years, 1876-1878, the Fort Belknap and the Fort Peck Agency were joined. In 1878, Fort Belknap was reestablished as a separate agency.

Records
Many of the historical records of this agency are housed in the Rocky Mountain Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Denver, Colorado. Records in that collection which may be of assistance to the genealogist include:


 * Birth and death certificates and reports, 1915-1919
 * Family history cards, 1909
 * U.S. Army discharges of Indian scouts, 1883-1894
 * Student case files, 1935-1950

Many more records of lesser genealogical value are also in this collection.

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 Fort Belknap Agency, 1883-1900, are on roll 12 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 microfilm roll number 1617685).

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Fort Belknap Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Fort Belknap Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 211, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, in Chouteau County, Montana.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Fort Belknap Agency, 1907-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 45-46, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their microfilm numbers 1724263-1724264. Reports for some years are missing.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885-1911 and from 1913 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 126 thru 131. 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 microfilm numbers 576481-576486). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.