Find Your Choctaw & Chickasaw Family Story

Researching ancestors from Indian Territory is a rewarding and unique experience. Unlike researching ancestors from the states, the Federal census will not reflect your ancestors till the 1900 census. So there is no 1890, 1880 or 1870 census to use. However, there are wonderful records that still are essential records to use.

Freedmen were classified as those who were once enslaved, or the children of the former slaves of people held in bondage in these nations. Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen combined represent over 10,000 people. 

Data collected in 1906 when the rolls first close there were over 20,000 people classified as “Freedmen”. Note that this number also included people who had been born free and never enslaved, but were still classified as “Freedmen” being people who were of African descent. 

The official numbers of Freedmen from all tribes in 1906  were:

Cherokee Freedmen 3982
Choctaw Freedmen 5254
Chickasaw Freedmen 4995
Creek Freedmen 5585
Seminole Freedmen 857 (+63 added later)
Total: 20766

Total Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen: 10,249 

For official data see the following article from 1906:  

(Article from: Muskogee Cimeter, Muskogee, I. T.,     January 6, 1902 P 2)

Genealogy Records 

Dawes Records

Enrollment Cards (Including New Born/Minor Cards & Doubtful/Rejected Cards)
These records are found on Ancestry, and also on Fold3. Documents on Ancestry are in color and documents on Fold3, are black and white, copied from microfilm. 

These should be the first records that are used to document the family. It should also be noted that the number next to the name of each person is also the official Roll number.

For all adults listed on enrollment cards who are older than 35  years of age, the former Indian slave holder’s name is reflected on the front of the card.

The lower right hand corner reflects the actual date that the family appeared in front of the Dawes Commission to enroll. Also, small notations often appear on the cards underneath the names of the family pointing to additional files on other relatives such as children, or unlisted spouses whose name  might be on another card. Additional information about parents appear on  the back side. 

The card contains references to the community where the family lived at the time of enrollment. Both the tribe’s county and post office are listed. The district points to the actual residential community of the family.

Application Jackets (Including New Born/Minors Cards & Doubtul/Rejected Cards)
Interviews, birth and death records, marriage certificates, letters and memoranda are among the records contained in these  These files contain useful information that can expand the family’s history. The number of the application jacket usually mirrors the number on the enrollment card. (Note that many Chickasaw Freedmen applications were abbreviated and not complete interviews.)

Sample page from Chickasaw Freedman Application Jacket #329.Image accessed from Ancestry.com in the collection: “U.S. Native American Applications for Enrollment in Five Civilized Tribes 1898-1914”.  

Land Allotment Jacket
The purpose of the Dawes enrollment was to determine the eligibility of people to receive land allotments. Freedmen of both Choctaw and Chickasaw nations received 40 acre land allotments. (It should be noted that those classified as citizens “by blood” and also inter-married whites received 8 times more land—each person receiving 320 acres.) The allotment jackets contain land application, plat maps, legal land descriptions, interviews an in some cases of Chickasaw Freedmen, allotment certificates. With the legal land description, one can go to sites such as the Bureau of Land Management, and locate the exact site of the land allotted to the ancestral family.

Document from Allotment Jacket, Chickasaw Freedman Jacket for William Lamey
Image accessed from Ancestry.com, in the collection: Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S. Land Allotment Jackets for Five Civilized Tribes 1898-1914