Bannock Tribe

United States American Indian Research Indians of Idaho Indians of Montana Bannock Indians

Guide to Bannock Tribe ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

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Bannock

Population
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Regions with significant populations
Ancestral Homelands: southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming Descendants: Fort Hall Reservation in eastern Idaho
Status
Federally recognized
Linguistic Group
not yet researched
Cultural Group
not yet researched
Other Related Ethnic Groups
other tribes

Tribal Headquarters

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation
P.O. Box 306
Fort Hall, ID 83203-0306
Phone: 1.208.238.3700
Fax: 1.208.237.0797

Official tribal web site for the Shoshone-Bannock Indians.

History

The Bannnock tribe lived in what is now the Colorado, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the early 1800's. Jim Bridger an Rocky Mountain trapper and trader established trade relations with the Bannock tribe. He received furs in exchange for supplies.

In 1868 a treaty was signed at Fort Bridger with the Eastern Band of Shoshoni.

The Fort Hall Reservation was established in 1869.

The Bannock and Sheepeater Wars were fought during the year 1878. At the conclusion of the wars the Bannock, Shoshoni and Sheepeater were all sent to the Fort Hall Reservation.

Brief Timeline

1700s: The tribe acquired horses -- spread to Colorado, Utah, Montana and Oregon
1829: Jim Bridger established trade relations with the Bannock
1869: Fort Hall Reservation established
1878: Bannock War
1878: Sheepeater War; Sheepeaters are of Bannock and Shoshone tribes who migrated north to the Salmon River Mountains in Idaho and hunted mountain sheep as their main food.
1878: Sheepeaters sent to Fort Hall Reservation with their Bannock and Shoshone kin.

Additional References 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 Bannock 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.
• For additional history of the tribe, read more....

Records

Teter, Thomas Benton. 1894 Census of the Bannock and Shoshone Indians of Fort Hall, Idaho. FHL Collection

Agency Records

The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:

• Allotment records
• Annuity rolls
• Census records
• Correspondence
• Health records
• Reports
• School census and records
• Vital records

The following agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had jurisdiction over the Bannock for the time periods indicated. BIA agencies were responsible to keep such records as census rolls, allotment (land) records, annuity rolls, school records, correspondence, and other records of individual Indians under their jurisdiction. For details, see the page for the respective agency.

• Fort Hall Agency
• Wind River Agency

Census Records

The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census Rolls on many of the reservations from 1885 to 1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details about each person enumerated. For more information about these records, click here.

• 1894 Census of the Bannock and Shoshone Indians of Fort Hall, Idaho. by Thomas Benton Teter. FHL Book: Q970.1/A1 no.1 or FHL Film: 928110 item 5.

The following table lists the census rolls for the Bannock Indians:

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Post-1885 Census M595 RG 75 -- 692 Rolls Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Bannock	Wind River Agency, 1873-1952	Washington D.C. and Denver	Roll 11	FHL Film: 583122
Bannock	Fort Hall Agency, 1889-1963	Washington D.C. and Seattle	Rolls 138-44	Films: 576493-576499
Bannock	Lemhi (Fort Hall) Agency, 1889-1963	Seattle	Roll 248	Film: 576937

Treaties

During the latter part of the 18th Century and most of the 19th Century, treaties were negotiated between the federal government and individual Indian tribes. The treaties provide helpful information about the history of the tribe, but usually only include the names of those persons who signed the treaty. For more information about treaties, click here.

Treaties to which the Bannock Indians were a part were:

• 1868July 3, at Fort Bridger with the Eastern Band Shoshoni

Tribal Office Records

The Tribal Office is responsible for enrollment records, vital records, tribal police records, tribal court records, employment records and many others. They are an entirely different set of records from those kept by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of them remain in the Tribal Office. For details, contact that office at the address for the Tribal Headquarters listed above.

Vital Records

Prior to the Indian Reorganization Act, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through their agencies, may have recorded some vital events. Some were recorded on health forms, such as the "Sanitary Record of Sick, Injured, Births, Deaths, etc." Others were recorded as supplements to the "Indian Census Rolls." Some were included in the unindexed reports and other correspondence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Some vital records for the Bannock Indians include:

Fort Hall Agency, M595,

• Births and deaths 1927-1932,FHL|Film: 576497
• Births and deaths 1924-1934,FHL|Film: 576498
• Births deaths and marriages 1935-39 FHL|Film: 576499

Reservations

The primary reservation for the Bannock Indians is the Fort Hall Reservation in eastern Idaho.

The Bannock Indians were also under the jurisdiction for the following Superintendencies

Oregon Superintendency

Utah Superintendency

Idaho Superintendency

Montana Superintendency

Wyoming Superintendency

Important Web Sites

Hodge's history of the Bannock Indians.

Official tribal web site for the Shoshone-Bannock Indians.

Wikipedia article about the Bannock Tribe.

Bibliography

• 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)