Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

many of the card#s coded as MCR were rejected because they were mississippi choctaw, a separate tribe. did you get a copy of the application too?

Dawes Card Information

tribe last first middle age sex blood card roll misc type
Choctaw Coons John T 0 M MCR6747 P
Choctaw Coons Nannie May 1 1/16 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Coons Mary E E 8 F 1/16 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Coons Clarence E 12 M 1/16 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Coons Emma D 15 F 1/16 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Coons Annie Pearl 18 F 1/16 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Coons Lucy 37 F 1/8 MCR6747 MT STERLING KY MCR
Choctaw Duff Samuel A 0 M MCR6747 P
Choctaw Duff Sallie Ann 69 F 1/4 MCR6747 SPENCER KY MCR
Choctaw Evans Henry 0 M MCR6747 P
Choctaw Evans Lucinda 0 F MCR6747 P
Choctaw Pieratt William H 0 M MCR6747 P
Choctaw Pieratt Daisy D 2 F 1/16 MCR6747 BETHEL KY MCR
Choctaw Pieratt Mattie 35 F 1/8 MCR6747 BETHEL KY MCR

p=parent

i don’t see sallie ann duff on the census in oklahoma either. it appears to me that they were living in mt. sterling, KY, spencer, KY. maybe they applied from kentucky. natives who wanted to be enrolled had to agree to live in oklahoma, under tribal authority.

they may have been choctaw, but they didn’t submit the required proof to get the application approved. most likely, they were known as mississippi choctaw.

Source: Five Civilized Tribes In Oklahoma, Reports of the Department of the Interior and Evidentiary Papers in support of S. 7625, a Bill for the Relief of Certain Members of the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, Sixty-second Congress, Third Session, Published 1913, by the Department of the Interior, United States.

this book has the testimony.
some of the cases were transcribed here:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/tribes/

you might be able to get a copy of the pages in this book through interlibrary loan. see your local public library for that.

cases that are transcribed appear like this:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/tribes/silas_sharp_mississippi_choctaw.htm

and it appears that sallie was on the 1900 census in spencer, KY.

1900 United States Federal Census
about Sallie A Duff
Name: Sallie A Duff
Home in 1900: Spencer, Montgomery, Kentucky
Age: 67
Birth Date: Sep 1832
Birthplace: Kentucky
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relationship to head-of-house: Wife
Father’s Birthplace: Kentucky
Mother’s Birthplace: Kentucky
Mother: number of living children: 6
Mother: How many children: 11
Spouse’s name: Samuel A Duff
Marriage Year: 1853
Marital Status: Married
Years Married: 47
Occupation: View on Image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Samuel A Duff 71
Sallie A Duff 67
Sam B Duff 17
Lida J Caugill 10
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Spencer, Montgomery, Kentucky; Roll: T623_545; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 69.

1850 United States Federal Census
about Sally Evins
Name: Sally Evins
[Sally Evans]
Age: 15
Estimated birth year: abt 1835
Gender: Female
Home in 1850 (City,County,State): District 1, Breathitt, Kentucky
Family Number: 39
Household Members:
Name Age
Henry Evins 47
Lucinda Evins 37
Sally Evins 15
Margaret Evins 12
Ann Evins 12
Lydia Jane Evins 10
Nancy Evins 5
Henry Evins 4
John Evins 2
Male Evins 0
Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: District 1, Breathitt, Kentucky; Roll: M432_193; Page: 20A; Image: 237.

you might look at local history books, trading logs. they could have received a land grant, although those were mostly given out in mississippi and alabama.

was this a member of their family?
Kentucky Birth Records, 1852-1910
about Robert A Evans
Name: Robert A Evans
Birth Date: 28 Feb 1856
Birth County: Breathitt
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Father’s name: Henry Evans
Mother’s name: Lucreda Hanker
County of Residence: Breathitt

1860 United States Federal Census
about Henry Evans
Name: Henry Evans
Age in 1860: 58
Birth Year: abt 1802
Birthplace: Kentucky
Home in 1860: District 1, Breathitt, Kentucky
Gender: Male
Post Office: Jackson
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Henry Evans 58
Lucinda Evans 47
Nancy Evans 16
Henry Evans 14
John Evans 12
James M Evans 10
Amilla Evans 8
Robert Evans 5
Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: District 1, Breathitt, Kentucky; Roll: M653_357; Page: 276; Image: 276; Family History Library Film: 803357.

1870 United States Federal Census
about Lucinda Evans
Name: Lucinda Evans
Birth Year: abt 1810
Age in 1870: 60
Birthplace: Kentucky
Home in 1870: Campton, Wolfe, Kentucky
Race: White
Gender: Female
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Samuel A Duff 41
Sarah A Duff 37
John C B Duff 13
Samuel H Duff 11
Margaret Duff 9
Laura Duff 6
Lucinda Duff 4
Mary E Duff 2
Lucinda Evans 60
Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Campton, Wolfe, Kentucky; Roll: M593_504; Page: 445A; Image: 313; Family History Library Film: 552003.

the kentucky archives might be helpful to you.
http://www.kdla.ky.gov/
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Kentucky Birth Records, 1852-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.

also, historical newspapers. maybe you can get them through interlibrary loan. see your local public library for that.

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouses to match records. if you have a common surname, you need to give more information rather than less. if you post about women, it is helpful to include the maiden name and the married name and designate which one is the maiden name.

start with what you know, gather documentation, then you can go backward in time. so get your birth certificate, your parents’ birth certificates and marriage license and then you can start on your grandparents. if someone passed away after 1/1/1937, they probably have a social security application on file. if you ask a government for a birth certificate, and they were born before 1929, they might have sumitted a delayed birth certificate. death certificates, cemetery information and obituaries are helpful. you can usually get a copy of an obituary, newspaper mentions such as birth of a child or marriage, through the interlibrary loan program – see your local public library for this. i usually start with the death and work toward the person’s birth. military records and pension records can be helpful. census records can tell you where they were at particular times. the census records up to 1930 are available, although the 1890 census was largely destroyed. the 1940 census will be public information in 2012.

first of all, heritage and tribal enrollment are two different things. many times natives didn’t apply for enrollment because 1) they didn’t qualify, 2) they were philosophically opposed to enrollment, 3) they didn’t have documentation, or 4) they were mississippi choctaw and their ancestor had accepted land or benefits in lieu of tribal enrollment.

the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906, so you should trace your ancestors down to that time period. mostly, they had to be living in oklahoma by that time and agree to live there permanently.

2 ways to search:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php
this will let you enter partial names to get card#. click on the card# in the card column and you can see other names in that family.
other resources on the left and at the bottom of this webpage. native census records and databases are especially useful.

http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/index.php
this will give you card# (family group) and enrollment #. they have some native marriage records too. other oklahoma records listed at left.
if the name is common, you may find too many possible records.

the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/

mississippi choctaw and choctaw tribe explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_Trail_of_Tears

http://www.choctaw.org/

jena choctaw tribe in louisiana:
http://www.jenachoctaw.org/

MOWA tribe
http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1368
http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/2009/july/losttribe
http://www.native-american-online.org/MOWA-Choctaw.htm
MOWA Band Of Choctaws Wilford Taylor 1080 Red Fox Road Mount Vernon, AL 36560 (251) 829-5500. E-Mail: chieftaylor@mowachoctaw.com

other choctaw tribes: http://www.aaanativearts.com/choctaw-indians/index.html

texas tribes
http://www.native-languages.org/texas.htm
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm
http://www.texasindians.com/
http://www.texasindians.com/
http://www.lsjunction.com/places/indians.htm

oklahoma tribes:
http://500nations.com/Oklahoma_Tribes.asp
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/index.htm
http://www.cowboy.net/native/tribes.html

some links for the choctaw.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/choctaw/index.htm
i looked at the land records and those need a lot of work. i have no information about whether or when they will improve some of these categories.

types of records available for native americans:
pages 366-369 in particular although the entire native american chapter is helpful.
The Genealogist’s Companion and Sourcebook:
Guide to the Resources You Need for Unpuzzling Your Past
Emily Anne Croom
you can ask for these particular pages from your local public library. if they don’t have the book, you can get the pages through the interlibrary loan program.
native american records are discussed in pages 352-386.

Tracing ancestors among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians …
By Rachal Mills Lennon
this book could be accessed through the interlibary loan program also.

always find the state archives. some records are online, some records are not. but many times you can find a record not found in other places. you want to see also about newspaper mentions for obituaries, births, marriages in particular.

check courts for probate, civil and criminal cases, marriage records.

if your ancestors lived on a reservation, they might not appear on a federal census because they were not taxed.
http://www.okgenweb.org/~okgarvin/kinard/1860index.htm
1860 census, indian territory.

this book is a good read about the dawes roll and how they implemented it.
The Dawes Commission and the allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914
By Kent Carter

good advice about native research:
http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/research2.html

if your relatives came from a different geographic location or belonged to a different tribe, try searching google for the state and tribes. you might find a contact for a state-recognized tribe or a federal recognized tribe.

i have collected many resources over the years. if you want to write to me, shamlet76@gmail.com and request the choctaw resource list, i will be glad to send it to you.

i am just a volunteer that wants to empower people to learn how to do genealogy.

suzanne hamlet shatto

Suzanne,
Thanks so much for all of this great information. I read in it that sometimes Choctaw were given land for not enrolling. I wonder if that might have been the case with Millie Ann Evans Ledford. Family lore is that she went to Oklahoma and received land but didn’t like it there so she either gave or sold the land to a cousin and returned to Kentucky in 1908 and then died in 1910. I have not been able to find a death certificate on her.

you might look at the KY archives for death information. or check with the county where she passed away. check for a newspaper obituary too, maybe through interlibrary loan – see your local public library about that.

i didn’t find census card for millie ann evans ledford, not under the name nor under the card#. so i don’t know if there was a typo or what.

part of the enrollment deal was the applicant had to want to be under the tribe’s authority and stay in the jurisdiction. some didn’t want to do that.

no spouse, no dates given for millie. no location, other than a state’s name.

i don’t know if this has a bearing on things:
Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953
about Clarence Ledford
Name: Clarence Ledford
Death Date: 29 Sep 1942
Death Location: Caldwell
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 2 Oct 1909
Birth Location: Tennessee
Spouse’s Name: Millie Ledford
Father’s Name: Issac Ledford
Father’s Birth Location: Tennessee
Mother’s Name: Mary Ledbetter
Mother’s Birth Location: Tennessee

Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
Kentucky. Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates – Microfilm (1911-1955). Microfilm rolls #7016130-7041803. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
http://www.kdla.ky.gov/

or maybe this person:
Kentucky Birth Records, 1852-1910
about Clarinda Ledford
Name: Clarinda Ledford
Birth Date: 25 Oct 1875
Birth County: Menifee
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Father’s Name: H C Ledford
Mother’s Name: Millie Ann Evans
County of Residence: Menifee
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Kentucky Birth Records, 1852-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.

you see, millie evans is a common name. so is millie ledford.

no children, no spouse, no dates, no specific location in your post. this is the difficulty with trying to do research when much of the information is unknown.

if you are having trouble finding someone, try getting more documents on the children. childrens’ documents point to the parents and fix the family to a date and location.

and, i usually do try to start with the death and work backward to find documents earlier in their life.

gl.