Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

this is very general. the surnames you have mentioned are very common.

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouse to match records.

you should start with what you know, gather documents, then you can go backward in time. so get your birth certificate, your parents’ birth certificates and marriage license and then you have more information to try to find your grandparents.

obituaries are helpful. look for those through your local public library interlibrary loan program. death certificates can often help. birth certificates and marriage license are primary documents of those events. if you get stuck on anyone who passed away after 1/1/1937, their social security application can help. people often got a delayed birth certificate to show proof of age, so you have to ask for both the delayed birth certificate and the birth certificate.

when you get back to the 1930 period, the census can be helpful to show family members, the location of your family. there is no 1890 census, as it burned and only a few pages remain.

if your family was enrolled or just applied, the dawes application, census card and testimony can help. the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906.

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.
http://okhistory.cuadra.com/star/public.html

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

NARA http://www.archives.gov/ federal records repository. the fort worth, TX office has archives for oklahoma and texas tribes. atlanta/morrow office has archives for the southwest tribes. many offices have microfilmed records for several tribes. note that this web address has changed recently from nara.gov.

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

chickasaw historical society 22
Historic Preservation and
Repatriation Office
Phone: (580) 272-5325
Fax: (580) 272-5327
2020 E. Arlington, Suite 4, Ada, OK 74820
send mail to: P.O. Box 1548, Ada, OK 74821

chickasaw tribe
Chickasaw Nation Headquarters
520 East Arlington, Ada, OK 74820
Phone (580) 436-2603
Mailing address: P.O. Box 1548, Ada, OK 74821
http://www.chickasaw.net/index.htm

chickasaw genealogy archive center 23
Tribal Library
Phone: (580) 310-6477
Fax: (580) 559-0773
1003 Chamber Loop, Ada, OK 74820
send mail to: P.O. Box 1548, Ada, OK 74821

http://www.okhistory.org/
oklahoma historical society

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

Thanks For your help, I can be more specific
Here are few that I’m searching for.
1896 Applications for Enrollment
Smith Albert H Choctaw 780
Smith Mary E Choctaw 780

Surname First Name Type Sex Age Blood %
Massey F A P (Parent) M
Massey Margaret P (Parent) F
Smith Albert H P (Parent) M
Smith Mary E BB (By Blood) F 33 1/8
Smith Nancy C BB (By Blood) F 15 1/16
Smith Minnie B BB (By Blood) F 13 1/16
Smith Mariah E BB (By Blood) F 10 1/16
Smith Viola BB (By Blood) F 7 1/16
Smith George A BB (By Blood) M 5 1/16
Smith Sylvia L BB (By Blood) M 3 1/16
Smith Ethel L BB (By Blood) F 2 1/16
Smith Joicephine BB (By Blood) F 2 1/16
Smith Ida BB (By Blood) F 1 1/16

Massey’s on the Dawes
188 Jobitha Massey Adkins, 22, ¼, Wilson and Martha Massey
2482 Areama Massey Fortner, 56, 1/8, Harry Massey and Louisa Griffith
2774 Fannie E. Massey Grady, 55, 1/8, Henry Massey and Louisa Griffith
2855 Callie Massey Kinsey, 24, IW, James and Mattie Massey
3234 Mary E. Massey Smith, 33, 1/8, F.A. and Margaret Massey
4452 William W. Massey, Sr., 48, 1/8, Henry and Louisa Massey
4457 Josephine Massey Dunn, 26, ¼, Wilson and Mary T. Massey
5773 Arizona Crouch Massey, 21, IW, James and Lucy Crouch

My issue is that my wife grandmother Cornelia (Nelli) Smith was born in 1906 and does not show up on the dawes rolls. We have her birth cert. and are waiting for Husbands Harold D. Sampsons from California to show family line. Her parents Albert Henderson Smith and wife Mary Elizabeth Massey had 11 chlldren

it is ok if someone was born in 1906 but not on the dawes roll. the dawes roll is a list of applicants who applied for tribal enrollment 1896-1906. the rolls were closed in 1906.
you have to be directly related to an original tribal member, and if you are related to cornelia, then you would be directly related to her parents.

you can look at accessgenealogy and see if they have the documents on the family that you need. the cost of each dawes packet is greater from oklahoma historical society or NARA/fort worth office than a month’s membership for footnote.com. and footnote.com is online.

it sounds as if you are on the right track.
call the tribe and ask them what documents you have to have. if a cousin, for instance, submitted documents already, you may not have to submit all documents.
gl.