Delaware Tribe of Indians

The Delaware Indians were originally known as the Lenape or Lenni Lenape Indians, the name they called themselves. The American colonists named them the Delaware Indians.

Clans: Tukwsi-t, the wolf; Pukuwanku, the turtle; and Pele, the turkey

Original homelands: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

Tribal Headquarters

The Delaware Nation is currently found primarily in western Oklahoma.

Delaware Nation
Address
P.O. Box 825
Anadarko, OK 73005
Location
31064 State Highway #281
Building 100
Anadarko, OK 73005
Phone: 405.247.2448
Fax: 405.247.9393

• The Delaware Nation Official Website

History

The Delaware or Lenape were forced to cede lands and migrate many times.   

Brief Timeline

• 1600's: First contact was with the Dutch
• 1638: Swedish lived moved into the Delaware Bay area
• 1682: Treaty with William Penn.
• 1700's: Tribal members began to settle along the Ohio River 
• 1789: some removed to Missouri and later to Arkansas
• 1800: Many migrate to Indiana
• 1820: Some moved to Texas
• 1835: Many members resettled in Kansas
• 1859: Delaware tribal members living in Texas removed to western Oklahoma 
• 1867: Tribe began to settle west of the Mississippi River some removed to Canada
• 1867: Delaware tribal members living in Kansas move to eastern Oklahoma and purchase rights in the Cherokee Nation. In 1890 become Cherokee citizens 

Additional Reference to the History of the Tribe

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Delaware tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America.

Ohio History Central article on the Delaware Indians

Records

Correspondence and Census

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-1880 Correspondence M234 RG 75 Rolls 962  Roll Number	FHL Film Number	Post-1885 Census  M595  RG 75 Rolls 693 Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Delaware	Anadarko Area Office, 1881-1962	Fort Worth	-	-	Rolls 218-23	-
Delaware, Kansas	Fort Leavenworth Agency, 1824-1962	Washington D.C.	Rolls 300-03	-	-	-
Delaware, Kansas	Kansas Agency, 1851-55	Washington D.C.	Rolls 364-70	-	-	-
Delaware, Kansas	Delaware Agency, 1855-73	Washington D.C.	Rolls 274-80	-	-	-
Delaware,Indian Terr.	Cherokee Agency, 1867-74	Washington D.C.	Rolls 101-12	-	-	-
Delaware, Indian Terr.	Union Agency, 1875-80	Washington D.C.	Rolls 865-77	-	-	-

Indian Pioneer Papers

In 1936, the Oklahoma Historical Society and University of Oklahoma requested a writer's project grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in which interviews would be conducted with early settlers in Oklahoma who had lived on Indian land. More than 100 writers conducted over 11,000 interviews and were asked to "call upon early settlers and (record) the story of the migration to Oklahoma and their early life here."  The University of Oklahoma Western History Collection has digitized the Indian Pioneer Papers which consists of approximately 80,000 indexed entries arranged alphabetically by personal name, place name, or subject. An index to the Indian Pioneer Papers may also be found at OkGenWeb Oklahoma Genealogy. A separate index of Indians interviewed, including the Delaware, may be viewed at: “Indians in the Indian Pioneer Papers” Two surnames from the Delaware tribe found in the collection are: Ketchum and Zeigler (Ketchum).

Treaties

1682: Treaty with William Penn

• 1778
• 1785
• 1789
• 1795
• 1803
• 1804
• 1805
• 1805
• 1809
• 1809
• 1814
• 1815
• 1817
• 1818
• 1829
• 1829
• 1832
• 1843
• 1854
• 1860
• 1861
• 1866

Important Web Sites

• Constitution of the Delaware Nation of Oklahoma
• Brief history of the Delaware Indians in Ohio
• The Delaware Nation Official Website
• Official Website of the Delaware Tribe of Indians
• Delaware Tribe Web Site
• Delaware Tribe Wikipedia
• Lenape Wikipedia

Bibliography

Tribe

Weslager, C.A., The Delaware Indians: A History, Rutgers University Press (1972), hardcover, 546 pages, WorldCat 282073

General

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)