Bureau of Indian Affairs, Register of Families

In the early 1890s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized the need of having a record on each reservation which listed the residents of that reservation by family group. To meet this need, the “Register of Families” (also sometimes mistakenly called an Allotment Register, which is a separate record) was instituted.

This record was kept in a standard format in bound volumes and included the following information: 1. English Name 2. Indian Name 3. Marital Status 4. Age 5. Father’s Name, if living 6. Mother’s Name, if living 7. Uncles’ Names, if living 8. Aunts’ Names, if living 9. Brothers’ Names, if living 10. Sisters’ Names, if living 11. Wife’s Name, if living 12. Wife’s Age 13. Wife’s Father’s Name, if living 14. Wife’s Mother’s Name, if living 15. Wife’s Uncles’ Names, if living 16. Wife’s Aunts’ Names, if living 17. Wife’s Brothers’ Names, if living 18. Wife’s Sisters’ Names, if living 19. Number of Children 20. Allotment Number 21. Description of Allotment 22. Wife’s Allotment Number 23. Description of Wife’s Allotment 24. Names of Children 25. Age of Children 26. Children’s Allotment Numbers 27. Description of Children’s Allotments

Apparently the accuracy of these records was relied upon quite heavily by the BIA agents, for they seem to be used for determining degrees of relationship upon which fractional interests of land titles were issued in heirship cases under the General Allotment Act of 1887.

Most of the “Registers of Families” are still housed in the individual Agency Offices. A few have been transferred to the National Archives or one of NARA’s regional archives. Some of those thus transferred to the NARA System may be duplicates of the original volumes in the Agency Offices.

See also:

Indians of the United States and Their Records

American Indian Allotment Records