Navajo Nation: Difference between revisions

To get started in [[American Indian Genealogy|American Indian Research]]<br>  

Guide to '''Navajo Indian family history, and genealogy''' census, school, and agencies and their records. The Navajo Nation is 27,000 square miles and the nation has over 320,000 tribal citizens living in 110 chapters or communities. <br>  

The Navajo Nation<br>P.O. Box 9000, Window Rock, AZ 86515<br>Telephone: (928) 871-6000<br>  

*'''1924:''' Passage of Indian Citizenship Act.

*'''1923-1936:''' Stock Reduction Program, The U.S. government killed more than 250,000 Navajo sheep and goats the horses. Part of soil conservation; "an acre could have no more than 6 sheep".  

Below is a Navajo Nation Public Service Map  

For a different and more detailed map with locations in Navajo, click: [http://www.lapahie.com/Navajo_Map_Lg.cfm Navajo Reservation Map]<br>  

For those that were enrolled into a federally recognized tribe are given a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Degree_of_Indian_Blood Certificate Degree of Indian Blood] or CIB and are assigned an Indian Census Number unique to each individual. Knowing your relatives' Indian Census Number can be quite helpful when searching the Indian Census Rolls and can help eliminate confusion, but not all Indian Census Roll takers included censuses. At times the U.S. decennial census taker would include Census Numbers in their records.  

For those interested in becoming an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, contact:  

(928) 871-6386 or (928) 729-4020  

The [http://www.archives.gov/research/census/native-americans/1885-1940.html National Archives Microfilm Publication M595] has copies of the the Indian Census Rolls, containing about 692 rolls dealing with a large number of tribes in the United States. It is during this time that Indian Census Roll takers were given instructions to include an individual's Indian and English name. By 1902 instruction was given that families should be given the same surname and that they should translate Indian names into English if they were too difficult to pronounce or remember. If names were too "foolish, cumbersome or uncouth translations which would handicap a self-respecting person should not be tolerated," or derogatory nicknames were dropped and changed.<br><br>When searching Indian Census Rolls, be mindful that they are divided into one of four main agencies (Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern, and some smaller ones), others can be found in other surrounding tribal census records (Apache, Hopi, Ute, Paiute, and etc).<br><br>Online verses Microfilm. Online Indian Census Rolls can be found at [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1059 Ancestry.com] (a pay site), this has all the benefits of searching records from the comfort of home. At this point in time they only have a few Indian Census Rolls available for Navajo records. [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/free-us-indian-census-rolls.htm Accessgenealogy.com] does provide free access to Navajo Indian census rolls on-line.&nbsp; Searching microfilm at LDS Family History Libraries (free) can be more time consuming, but can provide more information which is left out by on-line sites. On-line sites only include the names of individuals and leave out a wealth of information at the beginning of the census rolls; which includes special instructions and procedures by the census taker and even census maps. <br><br>Here is a sample of Indian Census Rolls, not including educational censuses:<br>  

*Summer, R.C. Map of Navajo Reservation. National Archives: Denver FRG RG 75 FRC 753242. {{FHL|177265|item|desp=FHL film 1665840 index and 1670769 item 27}}<br>

'''Tribal Newspaper''': [http://navajotimes.com/ ''Navajo Times'']