Seeking information on Rosalie Thompson's maiden name

Dear Ms. Faye,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

When embarking on Native American genealogy, please note that the records in the custody of NARA often only detail those living on the reservations or being administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If an ancestor was Native American and left the reservation or did not have interaction with the United States Government as such, they will not be recorded in NARA’s records and tracing their genealogy may be difficult.

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 (M595) in the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75) that may have a listing for Rosalie Thompson and her family. Further, we located the Population Schedules for the 1870 Census, the Population Schedules for the 1880 Census, the Population Schedules for the 1890 Census; the Population Schedules for the 1900 Census, and the Population Schedules for the 1910 Census in the Records of the Bureau of the Census (Record Group 29) that may contain information about Rosalie and Caroline Castillo in California. For information about the U.S. Census, see the Decennial Census of Population and Housing Technical Documentation as well as NARA’s page on Census Records.  For more information about these census records in Record Groups 29 and 75, please email the National Archives in Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RR1R) at archives1reference@nara.gov.

The web page Search Census Records Online and Other Resources provides information about accessing these records online. There may be a fee for using Ancestry or Fold3. Please check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons. FamilySearch can be accessed with a free account.

In addition, we located the Applications for Enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898 - 1914 (also known as the Dawes Rolls) in the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75) that may include a listing for Rosalie Thompson. 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 (RRFF) at ftworth.archives@nara.gov.

We suggest that you review the NARA web page for Dawes Rolls as an overview of how to research that resource. The Oklahoma Historical Society has an online search tool related to the Dawes Rolls that might be useful for your research as well.

We also located a series titled Individual Case Files of Klamath Indians, ca. 1957–ca. 1965 in the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75) that includes a file unit titled Thompson, Rosalie that may be of interest to your research. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at Seattle (RRFE) at seattle.archives@nara.gov.

Lastly, we recommend that, if you have not already done so, you contact the California State Archives, the Monterey County Recorder’s Office, and the California Department of Public Health to request searches for birth, marriage, and death certificates. You may wish to note any name variants or broaden your search for the surrounding years. In addition, the FamilySearch Research wiki for California Vital Records may be helpful.

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