Nez Perce Tribe

The Nez Perce Indians, also known as the Nimi'ipuu, have been known by other names, as well. Lewis and Clark called them the Chopuunish, and later writers called them the Sahaptin. At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, they ranged from northeastern Oregon and  western Washington, across north-central Idaho and as far east as the headwaters of the Missouri River in Montana.

By a Treaty of 1855, the tribe was confined to a reservation in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon and a large area of central Idaho. When the federal government wanted to further confine the tribe to the Idaho portion of the reservation, Chief Joseph and his followers resisted in what became known as the Nez Perce War. As a result of their defeat in this resistance, Chief Joseph led his followers on a march to try to reach Canada, but was stopped short of his goal, surrounded by U.S. soldiers and sent to Indian Territory and later to the Colville Reservation in Washington.

The Nez Perce now reside mostly on the reservation near Lapwai, Idaho, with a few descendants of the tribe still residing on the Colville Reservation and with the Coeur d'Alene Indians in northern Idaho.

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Nez Perce tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Nez Perce Reservation
Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee
Charles H. Hayes, Chairperson
P.O. Box 305
Lapwai, ID 83540
Tel# (208) 843-2253, Fax# 843-7354

Important Historical Events

1805 -- Contact between the Nez Perce and the Lewis and Clark expedition

1836 -- Henry Harmon and Eliza Spalding establish a Presbyterian mission among the Nez Perce

1855 -- Nez Perce Reservation established by treaty.

1861 -- Nez Perce Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was established.

1868 -- Father Joseph Cataldo's first Catholic missionary efforts among the Nez Perce

1874 -- St. Joseph's Catholic mission established

1877 -- The "Nez Perce War," led by Chief Joseph, occurred.

Records

Most of the original records created by agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs remain in the Agency Office in Lapwai, Idaho. However, some have been transferred to the National Archives in Washington, DC or to the Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle, Washington. These include census records, land records, school records, etc.

Two churches were particularly active among the Nez Perce. The earliest missionary effort among the tribe was established in 1836 by the Presbyterian Church by Henry Harmon Spalding and his wife, Eliza. Records of this effort are included in the holdings of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. A later effort was made by the Catholic Church by Father Joseph Cataldo and was known at the St. Joseph's or Slickpoo Mission. The St. Joseph's Mission records are a part of the holdings of Washington State University in Pullman and of the Pacific Northwest Tribes Mission Collection of the Oregon Province Archives of The Society of Jesus, 1853-1960, housed at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Some of the registers are also on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Many of the converts to Catholicism are buried in the Slickpoo Cemetery near St. Joseph's.

Important Web Sites

Darlene Gadley's Nez Perce Genealogy Page

Idaho County, Idaho -- Indian Misc. records

Nez Perce Tribal Web Site

National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.