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Searching Blackfeet Rolls for Ancestor and Name Question

Todd Pearson

Hey, all!

  For years I was searching for my great-grandmother on my father's side as a member of the Cherokee tribe. My father recently told me that it was actually the. Blackfeet, tribe that she a part of, which doesn't make sense because of the geographical location of the tribe being Canada and the upper plains states and where my great-grandmother ended up, in Lawrence, KS. I have been on Ancestry.com (I found a few close names but the dates aren't right), MyHeritage.com, FamilySearch.com, and I have scoured the Archive.gov websites to find anything useful but I cannot find her name. I can find her last name, Horton, in the rolls of many different tribes but not the Blackfeet around the time when she would have been born, between 1895 and 1900 (I'm guess-timating). Where else can I search?

Also, how did the naming work way back when? When a Native American took their English names from the government, was there any history or persons/people associated with the name? The name I found most closely resembling who I believe to be my great-grandmother, has a line before her, such as a father. mother, grandfather/mother....could someone please explain this to me or tell me where I can go to research this information? I've always wondered.

Thanks in advance!

  • 0

    Dear Mr. Pearson,

     

    Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

     

    We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 (Microfilm Publication M595) in the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75) that may have a listing for the Blackfeet tribe. For more information about these non-digitized records, please email the National Archives in Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RDT1) at archives1reference@nara.gov.

     

    We also located the Applications for Enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 (also known as the Dawes Rolls) in Record Group 75 that may include listings for any Cherokee ancestors you may wish to research. Most of these records have been digitized and are available using the Catalog. For more information about the non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at Fort Worth (RM-FW) at ftworth.archives@nara.gov.

     

    In addition, Lawrence, KS would make sense as a potential location if your ancestor had been sent to the Haskell Institute; however, only a “Potawatomi Horton” shows up in the indexes for the years she might have been there. In general, 1900 is going to be too late for birth registers for the Blackfeet, so the censuses will most likely be your best resource.

     

    We suggest that you review the National Archives (NARA) web page for Dawes Rolls as an overview of how to research that resource. You may also be interested in NARA’s Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 web page, as well as the Navigating Record Group 75 (Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA), which includes listings of available BIA records by state.  In addition, the NARA Native American Heritage webpage, NARA Resources for Genealogists webpage, and the FamilySearch Research wiki for Indigenous Peoples of the United States Genealogy may be useful.

     

    You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT1 and RM-FW. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic.  Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

     

    To our knowledge, there was no uniform way of anglicizing Native people's names, which is why you can find so many variant spellings in the records. In 1890, a circular was issued that was fairly progressive in trying to preserve Native names, but in practice, many agents did whatever they wanted. That said, the Blackfeet were pretty traditional - lots of Bulls, Spottedwolfs, animal action names that are a hallmark of a translated Native name and they were really good about also listing a phonetic version of the Native name. Then they'd often either split the name and say one part was the surname or just make up a first name - for legal reasons, that inheritance in U.S. law followed the family structure and paternal surname, they had to have two names.

     

    It should also be noted that Horton could be a White name - intermarrying and living on reservations did happen, especially when Natives were getting land in the allotment process. That may be a possibility in the case of your ancestors.

     

    If you are interested in the history of a particular English name, we recommend that you contact the Library of Congress's Local History and Genealogy office. That office houses published genealogies, secondary sources on the etymology of different names, etc. that might be useful.

     

    We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

     

    [Some information provided by Rose Buchanan and Cody White, subject matter experts.]

     

  • 0 in reply to Rachael Salyer

    Rachel,

      Thank you for the information. You explained a few things that I was unclear of. I also appreciate the links and suggestions of where to search. You have given me a few options I had not tried yet. It is much appreciated. I hope I find some clue as to who she really was. I especially appreciated the Kansas connection you gave me.

    Thank you!

    Todd Pearson