Ponca Tribes

United States

Indigenous Peoples of the United States

Indigenous Peoples of Nebraska

Ponca Tribes

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Ponca -White-Eagle--Standing-Bear.jpg

Introduction

Various Spellings: Ponca Tribe, Ponca, Poncar, Poncarar, Ponka, Puncahs

The Ponca Tribe was located in villages along Ponca Creek near the Niobrara River in what is now northeastern Nebraska when they first encountered the European settlers.

The Ponca Tribe today is primarily associated with the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Tribal Headquarters

Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
2523 Woodbine Street / PO Box 288
Niobrara, NE 68760
Phone: 402-857-3391
Website

Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma
20 White Eagle Drive
Ponca City, OK 74601
Phone: 580-762-8104
Website

Population: 1984: Total enrollment 2,028.

History

The Ponca Tribe signed four treaties with the United States government -- the first in 1817, the second in 1825, the third in 1858, the fourth in 1865. Each was an attempt to affirm their peaceful intent and to regulate trade in the area in which they lived.

Treaties between the government and the Sioux/Lakota in 1868 gave the land claimed by the Ponca to the Sioux. As a result, in 1877, the Ponca were forced by the U.S. to remove to Indian Territory, specifically to the Quapaw Reservation. Two groups were removed that year, for a total of just under 700 tribal members. The following year, the Ponca established their own settlement from land on both sides of the Salt Fork River, from the west bank of the Arkansas River. An agency was established on the Salt Fork River, two miles from where it joined with the Arkansas River.

In the 1880s, the Ponca split into two -- the Northern Ponca Tribe on the Niobrara River in Nebraska and the Southern Ponca Nation in what is now Oklahoma.

Brief Timeline

1789 -- First contact with Europeans

1817 -- First treaty with the U.S. government

1825 -- Second treaty with the U.S. government

1858 -- Third treaty with the U.S. government
1865 -- Fourth treaty with the U.S. government
1868 -- U.S. treaty with the Sioux/Lakota that included all Ponca lands
1877 -- Forced Removal to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) of 681 Ponca

1878 -- Reservation established on Salt Fork River west of the Arkansas River in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma

1878 -- Chief Standing Bear left the reservation in Indian Territory to take his son's body back to the tribe's traditional grounds for burial. His arrest resulted in a famous trial that recognized Indians as legal persons
1881 -- lands returned to Ponca in Nebraska; half of tribe returned

1966 -- Ponca Tribe of Nebraska ("Northern Ponca") terminated in U.S. policy to terminate tribes (tribal membership 442, 838 acres tribal land)
1990 -- U.S. Congress approved Ponca Restoration Bill, created Ponca Tribe of Nebraska

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 Ponca 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 and in David Bushnell's Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi.

For additional history of the tribe, read more....

Reservations

The Poncas are historically associated with two reservations -- the Ponca Reservation in Nebraska and the Ponca Reservation in Oklahoma.

Records

The records of the tribe and tribal members are maintained at tribal headquarters and the Agencies:Ponca Indian Agency (Nebraska) and Ponca Indian Agency (Oklahoma)

Annual Census Rolls, 1885-1939

Census records for the Ponca Tribe in Nebraska are included in the rolls for the Santee Agency, 1888-1927,(FS Library Films 580765-580779)the Yankton Agency, 1918-1931, (FS Library films 583130-583138)and the Winnebago Agency, 1934-1939 (583128-583129).

Census records for the Ponca Tribe in Oklahoma are included in the rolls for the Ponca Agency, 1886-1927, (FS Library films: 580765-580770)and the Pawnee Agency, 1920-1939, (FS Library Films: 579747-579753).

Land and Property

Tribally owned land: 933.71acres. Allotted land: 13,240.06 acres.

Treaties

• 1817 June 17,
• 1825 June 9, Ponca Village,
• 1858 March 12, Washington D.C., reservation, annuities
• 1865March 10, Washington D.C.

Ponca Agency

Many of the earlier records kept by the Ponca Agency (later the Winnebago Agency) in Nebraska have been transferred to the Kansas City Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration. Included among the records housed in this facility are copies of the Indian census rolls 1880-1928, family record books 1886-1891, vital statistics records 1885-1906 and 1937-1947, marriage registers, 1900, copies of birth and death certificates 1938-1945, annuity payrolls 1884-1907, and allotment rolls 1869.

Some records for the Ponca are included in the collections of the Pawnee Agency in Oklahoma which are now housed in the Fort Worth Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration. A brief inventory of records available at this facility is available online.

Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Ponca Agency, 1859-1880

Copies of Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Ponca Agency for the years 1859-1880 are included in Microcopy 234 of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Rolls 670-677. Copies of those rolls are also available at the FamilySearch Library (their microfilm numbers 1661400 - 1661407).

Reports of Field Offices

Copies of the Reports of Inspection of the Ponca Agency, 1874-1880 and of the Ponca, Pawnee, and Otoe Agency, 1881-1900, are included in Microcopy M1070 of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Rolls 37-39. A copy of that roll is also available at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City (their microfilm number 1617710 thru 1671712)

Important Websites

• The Official Web Site of the Ponca Nation
• Indian Nations, Indian Territory, Archives -- Ponca Tribe
• Constitution and By-Laws of the Ponca Tribe of Indians Oklahoma
• Constitution and By-Laws of the Ponca Tribe of Indians Nebraska
• Ponca Tribe Wikipedia