Other Tribal Enumerations
Muster or Emigration Rolls:
The result of many treaties was to extinguish Indian titles to
land. Typically, the Indians agreed to reduce their landholdings or to move to an area less
desired for white settlement. Sometimes there was also the choice of remaining on common ground
on a diminished reserve. Muster or emigration rolls were often taken of the Indians to be removed
and sometimes rolls were taken of the Indians who elected to stay on the reserve.
Tribal Enrollments:
Some treaties provided for the dissolution of the tribes and the allotment of land to individual
Indians. The tribal censuses (enrollments or rolls) determined who was eligible for the
allotments. An enrollment card, sometimes referred to by the commission as a "census card,"
records the information provided by individual applications submitted by members of the same
family group or household and includes notation of the actions taken. The information given for
each applicant includes name, roll number (individual's number if enrolled), age, sex, degree
of Indian blood, relationship to the head of the family group, parents' names, and references
to enrollment on earlier rolls used by the commission for verification of eligibility. The
card often includes references to kin-related enrollment cards and notations about births,
deaths, changes in marital status, and actions taken by the commission.
Annuity and Equalization Payment Rolls:
Annuity payment rolls, 1841-1949, consist chiefly of receipt rolls for periodic annuity payments
to individual Indians. Also included are rolls for equalization payments (money instead of land
allotments). The rolls sometimes give personal information about an Indian, such as age, sex,
degree of Indian blood, and relationship to the head of family. Annuity payment rolls are often the best means of determining the
members of a tribe or band for the period before 1884, when the annual census rolls began to
be made. |
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