Nez Perce Tribe

The Nez Perce Indians, also known as the Nimi'ipuu, have been known by other names, as well. Lewis and Clark called them the Chopuunish, and later writers called them the Sahaptin. At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, they ranged from northeastern Oregon and western Washington, across north-central Idaho and as far east as the headwaters of the Missouri River in Montana.

By a Treaty of 1855, the tribe was confined to a reservation in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon and a large area of central Idaho. When the federal government wanted to further confine the tribe to the Idaho portion of the reservation, Chief Joseph and his followers resisted in what became known as the Nez Perce War. As a result of their defeat in this resistance, Chief Joseph led his followers on a march to try to reach Canada, but was stopped short of his goal, surrounded by U.S. soldiers and sent to Indian Territory and later to the Colville Reservation in Washington.

The Nez Perce now reside mostly on the reservation near Lapwai, Idaho, with a few descendants of the tribe still residing on the Colville Reservation and with the Coeur d'Alene Indians in northern Idaho.

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Nez Perce tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Nez Perce Reservation Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Charles H. Hayes, Chairperson P.O. Box 305 Lapwai, ID 83540 Tel# (208) 843-2253, Fax# 843-7354

History
1805 -- Contact between the Nez Perce and the Lewis and Clark expedition

1836 -- Henry Harmon and Eliza Spalding establish a Presbyterian mission among the Nez Perce

1855 -- Nez Perce Reservation established by treaty.

1861 -- Nez Perce Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was established.

1868 -- Father Joseph Cataldo's first Catholic missionary efforts among the Nez Perce

1874 -- St. Joseph's Catholic mission established

1877 -- The "Nez Perce War," led by Chief Joseph, occurred.

Records
Most of the original records created by agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs remain in the Agency Office in Lapwai, Idaho. However, some have been transferred to the National Archives in Washington, DC or to the Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle, Washington. These include census records, land records, school records, etc.

Two churches were particularly active among the Nez Perce. The earliest missionary effort among the tribe was established in 1836 by the Presbyterian Church by Henry Harmon Spalding and his wife, Eliza. Records of this effort are included in the holdings of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. A later effort was made by the Catholic Church by Father Joseph Cataldo and was known at the St. Joseph's or Slickpoo Mission. The St. Joseph's Mission records are a part of the holdings of Washington State University in Pullman and of the Pacific Northwest Tribes Mission Collection of the Oregon Province Archives of The Society of Jesus, 1853-1960, housed at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Some of the registers are also on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Many of the converts to Catholicism are buried in the Slickpoo Cemetery near St. Joseph's.

Important Web Sites
Darlene Gadley's Nez Perce Genealogy Page

Idaho County, Idaho -- Indian Misc. records

Nez Perce Tribal Web Site

Treaties between the government and other tribes gave the land claimed by the Ponca to the Sioux. As a result, in 1877, the Ponca were forced to remove to Indian Territory, specifically to the Quapaw Reservation. Two groups were removed that year, for a total of just under 700 tribal members. The following year, the Ponca established their own settlement from land on both sides of the Salt Fork River, from the west bank of the Arkansas River. An agency was established on the Salt Fork River, two miles from where it joined with the Arkansas.

In the 1880s, the Ponca split into two -- the Northern Ponca Tribe on the Niobrara River in Nebraska and the Southern Ponca in what is now Oklahoma.

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Ponca tribe, 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 America and in David Bushnell's Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi.

For additional history of the tribe, read more....

Ponca Nation

20 White Eagle Drive

Ponca City, OK 74601

Tribe phone -- 580-762-9567

Tribe fax -- 580-762-2743

History
1789 -- First contact with Europeans

1817 -- First Treaty with the U.S. government

1825 -- Second Treaty with the U.S. government

1858 -- Third Treaty with the U.S. government

1877 -- Forced Removal to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) of 681 Ponca.

1878 -- Reservation established on Salt Fork River west of the Arkansas River in Indian Territory

1878 -- Chief Standing Bear left the reservation in Indian Territory to take his son's body back to the tribe's traditional grounds for burial. His arrest resulted in a famous trial that recognized Indians as "persons."

Records
Many of the earlier records kept by the Ponca Agency (later the Winnebago Agency) in Nebraska have been transferred to the Kansas City Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Adminstration. Included among the records housed in this facility are copies of the Indian census rolls 1880-1928, family record books 1886-1891, vital statistics records 1885-1906 and 1937-1947, marriage registers, 1900, copies of birth and death certificates 1938-1945, annuity payrolls 1884-1907, and allotment rolls 1869.

Some records for the Ponca are included in the collections of the Pawnee Agency in Oklahoma which are now housed in the Fort Worth Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Important Web Sites
Ponca Tribe Archives