Catawba Indian Nation

To get started in American Indian Research



Tribal Headquarters
Catawba Indian Nation 996 Avenue of the Nations Rock Hill, SC 29730 Phone: 1-803-366-4792 Fax: 1.803.366.0629


 * Offical website of the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina.

History
Culture Area: Southern Piedmont

Linguistic Family: Eastern Siouan

Traditional Economy: agriculture, hunting, gathering

The Catawba Indian Nation/Catawba Tribe of South Carolina is the only Federaly recognized tribe in South Carolina.

The Catawba Nation is primarily associated with the state of South Carolina.

The Historical Marker database has pictures and inscriptions of the Cataba Indian Memorialin Fort Mill, York County, South Carolina.

In 1884 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- Mormons, came into the Nation. By late 1884, 2/3 of them were baptized. The mobs and persecution became very bad and two Elders were shot and wounded and beaten around the homes of many Catawba Saints. In 1887, 26 of those converted, went west with Elder John Morgan and his other southern Saints. The 26 were from five families, Patterson,Canty,Head,Harris and Tims and took nearly half the tribe. This left any houses and other possessions to those left behind. The 5 families went to Colorado, Manassa and then Sanford, Colorado. One other family left at the same time, Lillie Susan Harris Ballard and her family went to Oklahoma, they were not involved with the Church. Another family went to Cedar City Utah, the Evans and Lucy Marsh Watts family. It is not known yet, whether they came with Morgan or not.

Additional References to the History of the Tribe
Black, James M. The Catawba Indians of South Carolina : Live of Chief Samuel Blue.

Blumer, Thomas J. Bibliography of the Catawba. Native American Bibliography Series, No. 10. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Netuchen, N.J. London 1987 ISBN 0-8108-1986-4

Blumer, Thomas J. Catawba Nation: Treasues in History. Charleston, SC : The History Press, C 2007.

Brown, Douglas Summers. Catawba Indians, The People of the River. Columbia, SC., University of South Carolina.

Hudson, Charles M. The Catawba Nation. Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1970.

Martin, Judy Canty. My Father's People : A Complete Genealogy of the Catawba Nation.

Merrell, James H. The Indians' New World : Catawabas and Their Neighbors from European Contact Through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill NC : university of North Carolina Press, c1989.

Watson, Ian. Catawba Indian Ggenealogy. Geneseo, NY : Geneseo Foundation.

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Catawba Nation, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North Americaand in the Biography and history of the Indians of North America from its first discovery by Samuel G. Drake.

Records
A Census of Catawba Indians residing in South Carolina and Haywood County, North Carolina was taken in 1849:


 * Catawba Indian Records: The Second Census of the Catawba Indians and Other Miscellaneous Records. MSS.

Important Web Sites

 * Constitution and By-Laws of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina, approved 1944.
 * Offical website of the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina.
 * Catawba Tribe Wikipedia