Tracing your Native American Ancestry can be a rewarding and meaningful experience. This web page provides information about finding your ancestral roots and helpful resources, including lessons on doing genealogy research, genealogical societies, books, and articles.
It also highlights a variety of genealogical research tools and explains essential tribal enrollment criteria and services.
Researching Your Ancestors
Many families know or have traditions of a Native American presence in their lineage. While these are not considered proof of heritage, they are valuable starting points in genealogy research. Genealogy is the process of tracing family relationships to discover your Ancestry, and various tools and resources are available for researching any ancestor.
Begin your search by gathering information about yourself, your parents, and your grandparents. This will help you develop a pedigree chart that can be used to identify the proper path to follow as you research your ancestors. Use this chart to guide you through different records, such as census population schedules. Please start with the latest census in which your ancestor appeared and work backward to locate their previous counties of residence.
Also, genealogy websites provide a comprehensive guide to locating and using federal records relating to Native American genealogy. It includes tips on researching ancestors, specific information about Indian tribes and communities, and links to other genealogy resources. They provide instructions on how to begin your search, specific information about records available at the federal level and how to access them, helpful family documents, and tribal enrollment services.
Oral Histories
Native American traditions place great emphasis on oral stories passed down through generations. Many tribal communities also hold annual gatherings where old and young people tell their family stories.
It’s helpful to begin research based on an old family story. Still, as you work backward, you should zero in on specific records, such as those specific to your ancestor’s tribe or the period you are investigating. Like researching any other ethnic group, start with your family tree and then move on to specialized sources such as census records, birth certificates, and death records.
This site links to genealogy websites that focus on various tribes. It also has a lesson guide for those new to Native American genealogical research. It includes tips on locating Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies and reservations, census records, church records, annuity rolls, allotment records, and treaty rolls. It also discusses heirship cases, a vital record set that can reveal much about your family.
Documenting Your Research
Once you’ve established that a lineal (biological) parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent was an American Indian or Alaska Native, it’s essential to document this. This will allow you to prove that your ancestor was an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe and to find resources about that person. This can be daunting as many of the records about tribal members are closed and private. Fortunately, many online resources assist in this process.
Tracing Your Lineage
Tracing your family’s lineage is one of the most important parts of genealogy. It is how we come to know what our ancestors were like as individuals, and it helps us understand their lives in the larger context of American history. This research often starts with small family details such as a name or birthplace and then blossoms into full-fledged ancestor trees with all the known facts about each individual. For those who wish to connect with their Native American heritage, this is a vital step in the process. There are many online guides, records collections, and specialized resources that can help you on this journey. One helpful resource is a website that focuses on Native American genealogy and provides a wealth of information about how to conduct this type of research.
Connecting With Your Cultural Heritage
The quest to discover one’s Ancestry is a powerful and enduring human need. While there is no simple or easy way to unearth a family’s history, the reward of knowing more about one’s heritage is enormous.
If your research has revealed that you have Native American Ancestry, connecting with your cultural heritage is essential. Contact your tribe to see what resources are available. However, waiting until you have strong evidence of a recent family connection is best before asking for help. Many tribes also have genealogies and will only share this information with proven descendants.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a page that provides an overview of questions related to genealogy and tribal enrollment. It includes links to groups that conduct genealogy research for a fee, information on records the BIA has and does not have helpful family and government documents, and links to tribal websites with genealogical information.
This web page contains a search feature by tribe that allows researchers to locate websites that focus on a particular tribe’s history and genealogy projects. The site also includes a list of publications for sale and communication tools. The site outlines the steps to find information on an individual’s ancestors and highlights the different types of records available. It also discusses the history of the Five Civilized Tribes and their forced removal from their traditional homes to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.
