Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory. Prepared by the [Dawes] Commission and Commissioner to the Five

In 1893, when the Dawes Commission was established to negotiate with the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws. Creeks, and Seminoles (the Five Civilized Tribes) to abolish tribal governments and to provide for the allotment of land to tribal members, few could have foreseen that this would lead to the creation of one of the most important record sources in all of Native American genealogy, for the Dawes Commission was empowered to prepare citizenship rolls (membership rolls) for each tribe to determine the proper distribution of land and to hear and "determine the applications of all persons who may apply to them for citizenship and . . . determine the right of such applicant to be admitted and enrolled." These rolls, known as the "Final Rolls," were to be the only rolls used for allotment purposes, and because of the rigorous application procedures involving proof of blood and tribal affiliation, they are the basis for the official identification of degrees of Indian blood among the Five Civilized Tribes. From the original Final Rolls, which are now housed in National Archives II at College Park, Maryland, the Commission in 1907 published The Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory along with the Index to the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory, now reprinted here for the first time in nearly a century. The Index volume, divided by tribe and broken down under the various categories noted above, provides the Indian's name and the roll number; while the roll number is the key to the Final Rolls volume, which lists enrollees by tribe and category and thereunder by name, age, sex, degree of blood, and the number of the census card. Unparalleled in Native American genealogy, the work reprinted here is one of the finest printed sources relating to the genealogy of the Five Civilized Tribes and is the reference of choice for any researcher claiming even a fraction of tribal blood.