Native American Tribes Locations and Cession Treaties Through 1896-1897

One our most challenging and frequent research questions is how do I find my Native American Ancestors.  When they identify the Tribe and the areas where their ancestors lived the information many times does not pass the smell test(make sense).  Example, my ancestors were Blackfoot Indians in south Mississippi.  Only problem NO Blackfoot were in south Mississippi, I can find no history of them ever being in Mississippi.  They were in the far Northwest U.S. and none of my ancestors were in the Northwest prior to 1880. I still don't know why the Blackfoot.


As we are all aware our primary responsibility is to identify the resources that will assist in researching their possible Native American roots.  However, it's also important we advise customers to research the history, location and movement of their specified Tribe(s).  Identifying a time and location nexus between their Ancestors and the Tribe(s) will confirm or disprove whether their Ancestors and the Tribes paths actually crossed.  It may also point to other Tribes that were present or previously inhabited the area where their Ancestors lived. 


It's difficult to challenge family oral history and tradition or as I like to call it the Gospel according to Grandma written in stone and passed down to her by her Grandma that her Grandma was full blood Cherokee and sometimes a Princess.  A kinder and gentler way to put them on the path to truth and enlightenment and not question the veracity of the their beloved Grandma is to direct them to the following resources and allow them to find their own truth.  The following two resources must be used in conjunction in the steps indicated below.


First Step:
The first link below is to a historic Map that documents Native American land cessions in the United States before 1896.  The Map is divided into individual States and the States into areas claimed by various tribes.  The names of the tribes are not given only a number that has been assigned to each treaty for that area.  There are many Treaties and most States with significant Native American populations are covered.  If you cannot find a number there may have been no treaty possibly due to no major tribe in the area or smaller tribes may have been removed by force.
Take the number and move to step two. 
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701em.gct00002/?st=gallery


Second Step:
The link below is to an article published in a report by the Smithsonian in 1899 entitled, "Bureau of American Ethnology".  The article entitled "Indian Land Cessions In the United States" by Charles Royce is a good primer on Foreign(Spanish, English, French) and American policy toward Native Americans.   The link to the treaties is listed on the contents section as Schedule of land cessions on page 648.  The treaties number in the hundreds and finding yours may take a little patience, time and effort.  The treaties run over two pages, the second page contains the treaty number, the Tribe(s) and a historical background. The first page contains the date of signing, legislative citation and some information from the treaty.

http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-27628

FS