Resources for Local Native American Research

November is American Indian Heritage Month, so I thought I would share a list of resources for local Native American research. This list was compiled by Larry Fine for the Colville [Washington] Stake Family History Conference held April 26, 2008. I had been invited to speak on military records for the conference, and after my presentation, manned a table on military resources in the main room. Next to me was a table on Native American research, at which was sitting a familiar-looking gentleman. Larry Fine was my high school teacher for Algebra I and Computer Programming (we learned Basic on those old Macintoshes)! Larry told me he had begun to trace his roots about 10 years ago, discovering he had Metis ancestry (a mix of local Native American and French heritage...Northeast Washington was explored by early French furtraders) going back at least 150 years in the Colville Valley. He had developed the following list through his extensive research, and has a large personal collection of printed materials on local Native history. I thought about the irony of it all: the man who had taught me how to use a computer--a tool I use to do research and teach others genealogy--had himself become interested in his roots.

Microfilmed Native American Records on Permanent Loan at the Colville Family History Center
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Colville Tribe Indian Records (numbers are Family History Library microfilm numbers):

• 1020972: BIA - Indian History Cards, Late 1800 - Early 1900
• 1020973: Births, Marriages, Deaths
• 1020974: Births and Deaths, 1909 - 1942
• 1020975: Births and Deaths, 1914 - 1943
• 1020976: Births, Deaths, Marriages: 1914 - 1943
• 1020976: BIA - Annuity Roll Records, 1892 - 1948
• 05742208: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1885 - 1891: Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel, Lake, Spokane, Nez Perce, Okanogan, Moses, Yellow Bulls
• 05742209: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1892 - 1897: Okanogan, Nez Perce, Colville, Lake, Spokane, Moses, Nespelem, San Poil, Coeur d'Alene
• 05742210: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1898 - 1903: Spokane, Moses, Okanogan, Nez Perce, Coeur d'Alene, Lake, Colville
• 05742211: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1904 - 1908: Spokane, Colville, Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Moses, Okanogan, Lake, Sanpoil, Nespelem
• 05742212: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1909 - 1913: Spokane, Sanpoil, Moses, Nez Perce, Nespelem, Okanogan, Lake, Colville, Calispel, Wenatchi, Chewelah, Kootnai
• 05742215: BIA - Indian Census Rolls, 1938 - 1938: Supplemental rolls of Colville and Spokane JOPA (also available at Foley Center Library, Gonzaga University)
• 16711660: Washington - St. Paul - Jesuit Mission - with baptism registers, various entries from 1839 - 1870
• 16711661: Washington - St. Regis - Jesuit Mission - with various baptism, death, and marriage records, 1848 - 1917
• 16711662: Washington - St. Regis - Jesuit Mission - burial records, 1953 - 1887; baptism and marriage records, 1852 - 1866; St. Francis Regis Quarterly Indian School reports, 1893; Colville Reservation census,1902 - 1918, 1923, and 1937; Spokane Indian census, 1919 and 1927
• 16711663: Washington - St. Regis: papers and correspondence
• 16711664: Washington - St. Mary's: mission parish census, 1948 - 1949
  

Libraries

• Colville Public Library
• Foley Center Library, Gonzaga University, Spokane - Archives Section
• John F. Kennedy Library, Eastern Washington University, Cheney - Archives Section
• Kettle Falls Public Library
• Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room
• Holland and Terrell Libraries, Washington State University, Pullman - Archives Section

Sources to Consider

• Family History Center, LDS Church
• Stevens County Historical Society (research staff available): family files, census records, Watson papers, library, data base
• Northeast Washington Genealogical Society (research staff available)
• Stevens County courthouse records (and other county courthouse records, too)
• Individual tribal headquarters: enrollment records, probate records, history, archives
• Bureau of Indian Affairs: probate records
• Funeral home records
• Local newspapers
• Museums
• National Archives, Pacific Alaska Region, Seattle
• Eastern Washington Regional Archives, Cheney

Items to Check

• Annuity records of various tribes
• Birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records or registers
• Books: history, biographies
• Census: Federal and tribal
• Family history files
• Land patents
• Military discharges
• Obituaries
• Oral history reports
• Probate records with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Office of Special Trustee
• Tribal allotments
• Tribal enrollment records
• Tribal school enrollments
• Wills