- Appendix IV -
The Red Lake genealogies

            The genealogy which is cited in this book is presently a computerized database of approximately 56,000 persons.  When finalized (a genealogy is never "completed"), it will be deposited with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints' Personal Ancestral File, which is distributed by the L.D.S. to the Family History Centers they operate nationally.  For theological reasons, the L.D.S. maintains superb genealogical libraries, which are open to the public.

            We began working on a comprehensive genealogy of Red Lake somewhat unintentionally.  I was compiling a family history for my children, and in the process of doing this, I asked the B.I.A. Red Lake Agency Office for the birthdates of my great-grandfather and grandfather.  I knew who my ancestors were, and approximately when they were born, but did not have the exact date.  The Bureau told me, "Oh, we don't have those records.  They burned up in a fire."  Shortly thereafter, my wife had to go to the East Coast, and I asked her if she would visit the National Archives, and look for these records.  She returned with several thousand pages of copies of archival documents, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Computerization

            For other Aboriginal Indigenous People who are interested in compiling a genealogy, a computer is strongly recommend.  We began with paper and three-ring binders--and because the B.I.A.'s records are organized in such a way as to obscure fraud and genocide, quickly became engulfed in a mass of indexes.  After four years, the B.I.A.'s redline on Rural Electric Co-operative rights of way to run electric lines were circumvented, and we began computerization of the records using the word-processing program WordPerfect.  Genealogical informa­tion is non-linear, and it would have been easier to begin with a program designed for genealogies.  The L.D.S. sells a program called Personal Ancestral File.[i]  This program has a subroutine called "GEDCOM," which with moderate computer-programming knowledge[ii] allows import of information from other program formats.  The only limitation to Personal Ancestral File (version 2.2) which we have found is the amount of information which it will handle; some functions do not work with more than about 30,000 entries.

B.I.A. records

            The B.I.A. has accumulated extensive information on those persons allotted under the General Allotment Act and otherwise.  Some of this information is in the National Archives, categorized both under "Allotment" and piecemeal throughout the Washington Office and Area Office files.[iii]  Allotment also generated probate records,[iv] some of which are held only by the B.I.A. and/or National Archives, and some of which are in the Federal Court records of the jurisdiction where the probate hearings were held.[v]  The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe has a computer database of heirship records, which they have not released.[vi]  Some of the probate records are inaccurate--in my own family, I have found that certain Métis testified in such a way as to make themselves eligible for estates to which they were not heirs.  With regard to B.I.A. records in general, it is strongly recommended that a person doing genealogy verify B.I.A. information, cross-checking it with that from other sources.

            Because Red Lake Reservation was not allotted, the Bureau did not compile detailed information relating to land title.  We initially structured the Red Lake genealogies based on the Minnesota Chippewa Commission Census of 1889.  The compilation of this "First Enrollment" was a part of the oral history at Red Lake, and after several days of insisting to the Archivists at the National Archives that it had to exist, these records were found at the Archives.  They have been subsequently microfilmed: as Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Irregularly Shaped Papers, Item 105, Chippewa Census Rolls, 1889-94.  The Minnesota Chippewa Commission packed extraneous people onto the Red Lake rolls, which is useful to document, but it would have been simpler to have initially organized the Red Lake genealogy based on the B.I.A. enrollments of 1885 and 1886.

            Pursuant to Federal regulation, the B.I.A. began keeping annual enrollment records of all Indian Reservations in 1885; for some Reservations there still exists a detailed roll for 1884, on which the subsequent records were based.  These enrollment records are published by the National Archives for the years 1885-1938, as Microfilm Series M-595, and along with most other microfilm publications of the National Archives, are listed in the Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications, American Indians, published in 1984.[vii]  These enrollments are not indexed by location, but are categorized according to B.I.A. administrative jurisdiction, which for Red Lake includes White Earth, Leech Lake, Minnesota, Minneapolis and Red Lake Agencies.

            In order to do effective research into Bureau of Indian Affairs records, it is very helpful to index the B.I.A.'s administrative jurisdictions under which the records were filed.  Such an index can be compiled from The Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States relating to American Indians.[viii]  Another reference book which is useful in focusing research in the National Archives is Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Volumes I and II, (Record Group 75).[ix]

            The B.I.A. records were kept by a series of bureaucrats, none of whom spoke Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway, and almost none of whom spoke Chippewa.  The spelling of Aboriginal Indigenous and Indian names is extremely variable.  The L.D.S.' genealogy program will search for records using SOUNDEX, which effectively matches variable spellings in English-language names, but does not work as well for other languages.  It was helpful to develop a phonetic alphabet for non-English names, and include the phonetic rendition of each variant of an individual's name as a part of the record.[x]  Knowledge of the Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway language was invaluable, as was a working acquaintance with the phonetics and spelling of the French language.  In the older records, the B.I.A. often wrote a semi-phonetic, pidgin rendition of an English or French name as an "Indian name."[xi]

            After compiling the foundation from older B.I.A. records and other records detailed below, more current B.I.A. enrollment records were added, including the 1958 Base Rolls[xii] compiled under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act, the 1983 Red Lake enrollments on the basis of which an 1983 "Payment" was made,[xiii] and enrollment resolu­tions enacted over the years by the 1934 I.R.A. Red Lake Tribal Council.[xiv]

            The earliest B.I.A. records which are specifically catalogued as a Chippewa Census were compiled in 1845 by Indian Agent Schoolcraft, and are in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.  Aboriginal Indigenous People who are interested in using the National Archives' B.I.A. records for genealogical research may find it helpful to know that one individual, who has an "Indian" sounding name and who lives in close proximity to a Reservation, used the order form in the Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications[xv] to send for microfilm copies of those rolls of M-595 pertaining to the Reservation where his father is enrolled.  He said that he wrote to the National Archives, and received by return mail a letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, telling him that these published records were confidential and unavailable.[xvi]

Canadian Government Indian records

            There is some information from Canadian Annuity records incorpo­rated into the Red Lake Genealogy.  The documents of which I have copies, are entitled "Extract from Paylist" for individuals of an identified "Bands," and were obtained from other genealogists who requested information on specific individuals, from the Office of Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OH4.[xvii]

Census records

            Once the Minnesota Chippewa Commission and B.I.A. enrollment records[xviii] had been compiled, they were correlated with other records.  Among the most useful, because they list not only resident "enrollees," but also non-enrolled family members, are the United States Census Records, enumerated every tenth year under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution.  These records are public information through the year 1920.  All of the still-extant Census records are on microfilm, and indexed, at the National Archives.[xix]  The U.S. Census records for the State of Minnesota and their indexes, as well as the Minnesota Census records[xx] are at the Minnesota Historical Society; state Historical Societies in other states doubtless maintain similar records.  Microfilms of United States Census records can also be borrowed from the American Genealogical Lending Library,[xxi] through public libraries and through the L.D.S. Family History Centers.

            Prior to 1880, the U.S. Census listed most mixed-blood people.  The 1900-1920 Censuses list nearly everybody who resided in each enumeration district, and the 1900 and 1910 Reservation U.S. Censes included information not collected on the general population, on Schedule No. 1. Indian Population - Special Inquires Relating to Indians.  The U.S. Census for Indian Reservations have sometimes been catalogued separately from the counties which claimed Reservation land, and the boundaries of Counties have changed over time.[xxii]

            For Minnesota, the Minnesota Territorial Census of 1850[xxiii] includes a fairly comprehensive list of the Métis families[xxiv] who were here at that time.  Some earlier information is included in the 1830 Michigan Federal Census[xxv], and the 1840 Wisconsin Census.  Finding aids for census records are in the genealogy sections of most public libraries.

            We have not yet had the opportunity to scrutinize the Canadian census records except as secondary information in other documents.  These records, held by Canadian Archives, are public information through the 1881 Census, and a large number of the Chippewa Métis who originated in Montreal almost certainly appear in them.[xxvi]

Annuity records

            Annuity Records were created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These records listed the name of a head of household, along with the number of "men, women, and children" for whom annuities were alleged to have been paid, prior to 1878, after which each individual was listed by name.  Annuity records for all of the so-called Indian Treaties are at the National Archives; the Minnesota Historical Society has microfilmed those relating to the State of Minnesota.[xxvii]  In the Red Lake genealogical database, the Red Lake and Pembina Annuity Rolls were first compiled separately from the main database, and then merged into it--the spelling of names on these Annuity Rolls is extremely variable, and it was easier to match records to individuals within this smaller field.

            It is worth noting that there were a number of professional Indian Treaty signers who signed more than one Indian Treaty, and these people and their families appear in more than one set of Annuity rolls.  Some of these people signed Indian Treaties in both Canada and the United States; compilations of these Indian Treaties have been published and are in University libraries.

Missionary and church records

            Catholic and Protestant Missionaries were, along with the fur trade companies, among the earliest White record-keepers who came into the Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway Nation.  The Minnesota Historical Society has a transcript of the Baptismal Records kept by Father Pierz during the 1850's, which includes some people who ended up at Red Lake.  Other Church records which were used in the Red Lake genealogies include the Parish Register from St. Anne's Parish, Michillimackinac;[xxviii] the St. Columba Parish Register, White Earth, Minnesota;[xxix] and the baptismal records from St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake.[xxx]  The Roman Catholic Church maintains its own archives;[xxxi] many of the Protestant records for the State of Minnesota have been microfilmed by the Minnesota Historical Society.[xxxii]

            In the Red Lake genealogy, information from Church records was added into the base compiled from B.I.A. and Census records.  In the 1880's, the United States Government and Christian Mission Societies began collaborating in an organized way toward what they called "Civilization of the Indians;" prior to this time the Church records pertain almost exclusively to Métis and White people.  At Red Lake, the Churches were working in close co-operation with the Bureau, and the records kept by them reflect this.  For example, the baptismal records of many Métis list parents only by an Indian name; in some cases it has been documented from other sources that the parents in question were Whites whose Christian names and European surnames must have been known to the Priests who wrote the records.  These records seem to be most useful in the context of other sources.

Death records

            As is cited elsewhere in this book, the death records for both Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway and Chippewa Indians were incomplete into the 1920's.  There are several sources of information about deaths; when correlated into one database they still do not provide a complete picture before 1915.  The earliest death records appear incidental to other information: newspaper accounts and an occasional obituary, the morbidity index of the Censuses, oral and written histories; as well as some deaths and burials which are recorded in Church records.  After 1885, the approximate year of death can often, but not invariably, be determined from the year in which a person disappears from the B.I.A. enrollments, and in some cases the date of death has been penciled next to the person's name.  Since the B.I.A. sometimes replaced the deceased with another person of approximately the same age, using the same name; and in some instances the person in question was stricken from the Indian rolls or "transferred" to another jurisdiction, such inference may not always be accurate.

            By 1915, the B.I.A. was keeping detailed but not comprehensive death records, some of which have been microfilmed.[xxxiii]  There are also incomplete records for Red Lake prior to 1925, in the Beltrami County and Clearwater County Courthouses, Vital Statistics, Clerk of Courts.  All of the pertinent County records at these two counties, through 1940, were read into a tape-recorder.  The Clerk of Courts would not permit photocopying them, and tape recording them required less time standing in the Courthouse than copying them in longhand would have.  The B.I.A.'s death registers for the 1930's are reproduced as a part of the National Archives' Indian Enrollments microfilms.

County courthouse records

            In addition to the death records, County Courthouse Vital Statistics records include birth and marriage records.  If one has detailed information on the person about whom they are seeking information, the Clerk of Courts can make a copy of an individual birth certificate--in Minnesota each birth certificate costs $11.00.  However the public is not permitted to read through the birth and marriage record books.  Prior to about 1920, the records kept on people categorized as "Indians" are ambiguous, incomplete, and often very interesting.  For example, we have found marriage licenses issued to people who had been deceased for years, and death records listing the same individual as having died twice.

            County Courthouses also contain some land records,[xxxiv] and incom­plete probate records.

Halfbreed Scrip

            The Halfbreed Scrip issued on the basis of the 1864 Amendment to the Red Lake and Pembina Indian Treaty is described in detail elsewhere in this book.  Some Halfbreed Scrip records have been published, as a part of Congressional Investigations into fraud,[xxxv] however the Red Lake/Pembina Scrip was neither published nor microfilmed.  The Scrip records held by the National Archives are catalogued in Archival finding aids.[xxxvi]  I was interested in this Scrip as genealogical information, because it was issued to people defined as "halfbreeds" associated with those Pembina and Chippewa who were involved in the 1863 Treaty.  At the National Archives, those Red Lake Scrip records which were not "oversize" nor in bound volumes were photostatically copied.  The National Archives permits photographing documents, but only with a hand-held camera, no flash attachment.  I once again thank Dr. Joy Craddick for the use of her Canon EOS with an autofocus lens, which was used with Ilford XP2 film[xxxvii] to make microfilm of bound and oversize documents.  Most of the people to whom the Red Lake/Pembina Scrip was issued have been found on the 1850, 1860, and/or 1870 Censuses, in some cases listed as Whites.  Some of them have not been found in any other records, and may have been non-existent.

The U.S. National Archives

            In addition to the records discussed above, the National Archives has thousands of linear feet of other fascinating information.  Among those which have contained useful additions to the Red Lake genealogy are the documents relating to Indian Scouts;[xxxviii] the Chippewa Agency Letters for 1850-59,[xxxix] which include lists of people relocated from East of the Mississippi into Minnesota; the unratified Treaties;[xl] Red Lake Agency affidavits of relationship;[xli] and the records of the Indian Claims Commission.  The National Archives publishes a general-interest booklet surveying genealogical records at the Archives.[xlii]

Allotments

            Although there were only three allotments openly issued by the B.I.A. to Indians at Red Lake, people who had been allotted at White Earth, Leech Lake, Turtle Mountain, and on the Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway land called Chippewa Reservations in Eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin were moved to Red Lake and became categorized as Red Lake Chippewa Indians after their allotments had been alienated; they shared ancestors with persons categorized as Red Lakers; or their collateral relatives and descendants intermarried with people at Red Lake.  The Red Lake genealogies include allotment information from the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and Cass Lake B.I.A. Area Office, from the National Archives, the Minnesota Historical Society and from published sources.[xliii]

            The Red Lake genealogies also include much of the information compiled by Ransom Judd Powell, who was a lawyer working for timber companies logging on allotted land at White Earth Reservation.  The history of the White Earth Allotment fraud has been partially documented elsewhere,[xliv] and there are any number of writers at White Earth capable of writing their own history.  R.J. Powell collected a huge quantity of information regarding the genealogy, oral family history, physical anthropology, and allotment of those he identified as Chippewa Indians in Minnesota.  The majority of the families for whom he compiled genealogies were Métis or Whites; however some of his compiled genealogies also inaccurately transform Ahnishinahbæó^tjibway into Chippewa Indians.

The fur trade

            The fur trade brought a number of French and French Métis people into Red Lake.  The Red Lake Genealogies include information from fur traders' diaries,[xlv] and a non-exhaustive sampling of archival docu­ments at the Minnesota Historical Society and the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg.  The Northwest Company's Archives are in New York.  Bruce White of the Minnesota Historical Society has published an excellent guide to fur trade records, The Fur Trade in Minnesota.[xlvi]  Other resources include genealogical newsletters such as Cousins et cousines.[xlvii]

General histories

            Local history books sometimes contain a surprising amount of genealogical information.  Among the ones which we have found helpful in this geographic area are the oral histories compiled by the Beltrami County Historical Society, Mainly Logging;[xlviii] Kitchi-Gami, Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway [sic];[xlix] William Folwell's History of Minneso­ta,[l] Henry Schoolcraft's The Indian in his Wigwam,[li] and (with the Reservations discussed elsewhere in this book), William Warren's History of the Ojibway [sic] People.[lii]  Kinship is a sub-discipline of anthropology, and anthropologists frequently compile genealogical information.  Ruth Landes' Ojibwa [sic] Sociology[liii] has a wealth of information, the utility of which is enhanced by integration into an extant database.  The Aborigines of Minnesota lists several hundred names, with cross-referenced citations.[liv]

            Books such as Marion E. Gridley's Indians of Today[lv] also provided biographical information on acculturated Métis.

Newspapers and periodicals

            Newspapers contain a surprising amount of genealogical informa­tion, including feature articles and obituaries.  Among those from which substantial information has been included in the Red Lake Genealogies are: The Red Lake NEWS,[lvi] the Catholic Redlake Bene­dictine,[lvii] the Bemidji Pioneer, and the Red Lake Neighborhood Centers Newsletter.[lviii]  Additional information was found in The Red Man,[lix] The American Indian Magazine,[lx] The Chippeway Herald,[lxi] and The Spirit of Missions.[lxii]  Local and metropolitan White newspapers also contain obituaries and other useful information--we are indebted to Historian Emeritus Alan Woolworth of the Minnesota Historical Society for letting us copy his personal clippings files.  We also thank Dr. Woolworth for his invaluable advice concerning citations: "photocopy the title page of every document and book, and staple it to your material, so you have a permanent bibliographic record; and when you are using oral history, record the date and the name of the person from whom you got the history."

Specifically genealogy

            The material in the Red Lake Genealogies includes some already-compiled genealogy, re-checked when possible using other sources of information: Virginia Rogers' Broken Tooth Genealogy, Flat Mouth Genealogy and Ah-Dick Songab Genealogy;[lxiii] genealogical information from the Theodore Beaulieu papers in the Minnesota Historical Society; family histories from Cypriot Tanguay's Dictionaire Genealogique;[lxiv] White Earth Land Settlement Act genealogies distributed to heirs of allottees who have shared their information with us; and tentative family histories from the L.D.S.' Ancestral File and International Genealogical Index.[lxv]

            Other genealogical references which were also quite helpful included: Genealogical Collections on Interlibrary Loan, Minnesota Historical Society; E. Kay Kirkham's Our [sic] Native Americans and Their Records of Genealogical Value;[lxvi] and Jeane Eddy Westin's The Official Handbook for Heritage Hunters, Finding Your Roots.[lxvii]