RELEASE DATE: MAY 28, 2017
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
The difficulty in tracing Native American ancestry is compounded by the lack of easy accessibility to many records useful to genealogists. A major source of information on the so-called “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) is the well-known Dawes rolls. To make such valuable data readily available to the general public, Jeff Bowen continues adding new volumes to his series, CHOCTAW BY BLOOD ENROLLMENT CARDS, 1898 - 1914. His most recent ones are VOLUME XIII and VOLUME XIV.
Bowen bases this multi-volume set on the more than 6,100 Choctaw enrollment cards (sometimes referred to as "census cards") that were prepared by the Dawes Commission between the years 1898 and 1914. Information was gathered by the commission to help in the decision to accept or reject the thousands of applications for citizenship submitted by tribal members. Data in these latest volumes were taken in 1899.
The author’s introduction provides a brief general history of the enrollment cards, including the political struggles between the tribes and the U. S. government. Also explained in the essay is the actual process of Choctaw enrollment.
He reproduces the cards in the numerical order of the Dawes Commission card/field number on the Choctaw roll. For each individual listed in the household on an application, the enrollment card furnishes such facts as the county of residence, post office, relationship to the head of the family group, age, gender, degree of Indian blood, and tribal enrollment (year, place, and roll number). When applicable, the material indicates if a spouse was an “I. W.” (meaning “intermarried white”). Additional notes about some or all of the individuals in a family may give details such as an alternate name, references to different cards; dates of birth, death, marriage, and divorce; name of a spouse from another tribe; and whether the application was accepted, refused, or cancelled later.
Together, these two new works furnish information about several thousand individuals. A sampling of surnames includes ALEXANDER, ANDERSON, BATTIEST/BATTIESTE, BEAMS/BEAMES, BELVIN, BILLY, BOYDSTUN, BRACKETT, BUCKHOLTZ, BYINGTON, CARNES, COLBERT, COBB, COLE, DILLARD, DWIGHT, DURANT, FOLSOM, FRAZIER, FREENEY/FREENY, FRY, GARDNER, GOINGS/GOINS, HAMPTON, HARKINS, HARMBY, HENDRICKS/HDNDRIX, IMPSON, IZARD, JAMES, KING, LEFLORE, LOWERY, MCLELLAN, MITTS, MORAN, NICHOLAS, NOAH, PERKINS, PETER/PETERS, RIDDLE, RISENER, SELSOR, SEXTON, TURNBULL, UNDERWOOD, WADE, WALLACE, WARD, WASHINGTON, and WRIGHT.
Researchers, especially genealogists, will thank Bowen for making the material from the Dawes rolls readily accessible. CHOCTAW BY BLOOD ENROLLMENT CARDS, 1898 - 1914, VOLUMES XIII and XIV are welcomed additions to library collections pertaining to Native American forebears.
Both volumes have soft covers, an introduction, illustrations, and a full name index. VOLUME XIII (item order 8613) has 328 pages, while VOLUME XIV (item order 8614) has 330 pages. Each volume costs $35.00. To the books’ price, buyers should add the cost for postage and handling charges. For U. S. postal mail, the cost is $5.50 for one book and $2.50 for each additional book; for FedEx ground service, the cost is $7.50 for one book and $2.50 for each additional book. The volumes may be purchased by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa from Clearfield Company, 3600 Clipper Mill Rd., Suite 260, Baltimore, Maryland 21211 (For phone orders, call toll free 1-800-296-6687; fax 1-410-752-8492; website www.genealogical.com ).