Enrollment Cards of the Five Civilized Tribes. (2024)

CIR

This microfilm publication reproduces the enrollment cardsprepared by the staff of the [Dawes] Commission to the Five CivilizedTribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)between 1898 and 1914. These records are part of the Records ofthe Office of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, and are housed inthe National Archives-Southwest Region in Fort Worth, TX. [A database of the Dawes rolls can be searched online at Access Genealogy.]

The commission enrolled individuals as "citizens" of a tribeunder the following categories: Citizens by Blood, Citizens byMarriage, New Born Citizens by Blood (enrolled under an act ofCongress approved March 3, 1905, 33 Stat. 1071), Minor Citizensby Blood (enrolled under an act of Congress approved April 28,1906, 34 Stat. 137), Freedmen (former black slaves of Indians,later freed and admitted to tribal citizenship), New BornFreedmen, and Minor Freedmen. Delaware Indians adopted by theCherokee tribe were enrolled as a separate group within theCherokee. Within each enrollment category, the commissiongenerally maintained three types of cards: "Straight" cards forpersons whose applications were approved, "D" cards for personswhose applications were considered doubtful and subject toquestion, and "R" cards for persons whose applications wererejected. Persons listed on "D" cards were subsequentlytransferred to either "Straight" or "R" cards depending on thecommission's decisions. All decisions of the commission were sentto the Secretary of the Interior for final approval. [For more information on the Dawes enrollment process see "The Dawes Commission and the Allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914" by Kent Carter.]

An enrollment card, sometimes referred to by the commissionas a "census card," records the information provided byindividual applications submitted by members of the same familygroup or household and includes notation of the actions taken.The information given for each applicant includes name, rollnumber (individual's number if enrolled), age, sex, degree ofIndian blood, relationship to the head of the family group,parents' names, and references to enrollment on earlier rollsused by the commission for verification of eligibility. The cardoften includes references to kin-related enrollment cards andnotations about births, deaths, changes in marital status, andactions taken by the commission and the Secretary of theInterior. Within each enrollment category, the cards are arrangednumerically by a "field" or "census card" number which isseparate from the roll number. The index to the final rolls,which is reproduced on roll 1 of this publication, provides theroll number for each person, while the final rolls themselvesprovide the census card numbers for each enrollee. No indexeshave been located for the majority of the "D" and "R" cards.There are a few Mississippi Choctaw "Identified" and "FieldCards" as well as some Chickasaw "Cancelled" that refer topersons never finally enrolled. [A Dawes enrollment card example.]

This microfilm publication reproduces the application formsfilled out by persons seeking to claim official enrollment in theFive Civilized Tribes under the Dawes Commission. Theapplications contain additional information not abstracted to thecensus cards, filmed in M1186, Enrollment Cards of the FiveCivilized Tribes, 1898-1914, and are numbered according to adifferent set of numbers. The application number may be obtainedfrom the census card in M1186. The applications are grouped firstaccording to tribe, and relationships such as "by blood" or"minor," and finally numerical order. The originals of theseapplications are in the National Archives-Southwest Region inFort Worth, TX. If the application is not found filmed here,write to the regional archives for further information.

This microfilm publication comprises the applications forenrollment of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, aswell as those of former slaves (freedmen) of the Chickasaw andChoctaw tribes. The National Archives has not located anySeminole applications. Applicants included Indians by blood;spouses of Indians, although the spouses themselves were notIndians by blood; and freedmen who had formerly belonged tomembers of the Five Civilized Tribes.

On the last roll of microfilm are miscellaneous files andapplications that were received too late for consideration. Theserecords are not included in the index on roll 1. The originalrecords are housed in the National Archives-Southwest Region,Fort Worth, TX.

The rolls were prepared by the Commission and theCommissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes and submitted to theSecretary of the Interior for approval as provided by severalacts of Congress. Both approved and disapproved names areincluded. Most rolls give name, age, sex, degree of Indian blood,and roll and census card number of each individual. This seriesis arranged by name of tribe and thereunder divided into rollsfor citizens by blood, citizens by marriage, and freedmen. Thereare also rolls for the Mississippi Choctaw and the DelawareCherokee. In many of the groups there are separate rolls forminor children and newborn babies. The names on the rolls arearranged numerically by roll numbers.

Microfilm Roll, Contents
1Choctaw and Chickasaw rolls
2Cherokee rolls
3Creek and Seminole rolls