Dawes Commission Enrollment Records: Difference between revisions

:*Alive during the enrollment period between 1896 and 1905.  

:*If your ancestor died prior to 1893, you could search for surviving children or grandchildren in the Dawes Commission records.

[[Image:Freedmen.jpg|right|Freedmen.jpg]]'''Origin of the Records'''. In 1893 Congress established a commission to exchange Indian <u>tribal</u> lands in the southeastern United States for new land allotments to Indian <u>individuals</u>, and open the remainder of land in Oklahoma for settlement by non-Indians. The Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes was also called the Dawes Commission after its chairman, Senator Dawes. More than 250,000 people applied to this commission for enrollment and land. Just over 101,000 were eventually approved from 883,772 application packets.<br><br>  

'''Retrieve the film''', search for the census card in numerical order, and '''photocopy the card.'''<br>  

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'''Retrieve the film''', find, and '''photocopy the application packet'''.  

==== Step 5. Look for Your Ancestor’s Name in the Letter Logs  ====

:The Dawes Commission letter logs are in order chronologically by 17 sets of years, and then alphabetically by the first two letters of the surname. Look for spill-over names at the end of each letter of the alphabet. An ancestor’s name probably appears in only a few of them, but take a few minutes to search '''each log''' anyway.<br><br>

'''For&nbsp;Further&nbsp;Information'''