Winnebago Indian Agency (Nebraska)

The Winnebago Agency existed for a time in several locations -- Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, for example. The more permanent site for this agency was in Nebraska, however, especially after 1865.

The Winnebago Agency is a currently operating agency. Its supervising office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Aberdeen Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Winnebago, Sioux, Omaha, Ponca, Chippewa

History
This Winnebago Agency was established on the Winnebago Reservation in northeastern Nebraska in 1865 when that reservation was estabished. Many of the Winnebago Indians had been under the jurisdiction of the Crow Creek Agency in Dakota Territory which had evolved from the Prairie du Chien Agency. Some of the Winnebago and Potawatomi Indians who did not like Crow Creek had gone to Wisconsin to avoid being moved there. Most of them were under the jurisidiction of the Winnebago Agency of Wisconsin.

In 1879, the Omaha Agency and the Winnebago Agency were consolidated into the Omaha and Winnebago Agency. They were separated in 1903, but the Omaha Agency was again put under the Winnebago Agency from 1910 to 1914. In 1925, the Omaha Agency was discontinued and its responsibilities were assigned to the Winnebago Agency.

In 1933, the Santee Sioux and Ponca Indians living in Nebraska were transferred to the Winnebago Agency.

Records
Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Winnebago Agency, 1826-1875, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their microfilm roll numbers 1661661 thru 1661677. This correspondence includes that of the predecessors of the Winnebago Agency in Nebraska. The file heading for this collection often refers to the tribe rather than the correspondence of a particular agency. Other correspondence regarding the Winnebago Indians will also be found under the Pairie du Chien Agency.

Many of the historical records of the Winnebago Agency have been transferred to the Central Plains Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Kansas City. Records from earlier agencies associated with the Winnebago Agency -- notably the Omaha, Ponca and Santee Sioux Agencies -- are also in this collection of records, sometimes identified under the former name. Some of the records in this collection of significant value to family historians are:


 * Annuity payrolls, 1861-1926 FHL Film: 1015928-1015934
 * Family registers and vital statistics, 1863-1926
 * Land records, 1867-1940
 * Census rolls, 1869-1928 FHL Film: 1015904-1015910
 * Allotment records, 1885-1896
 * School census, 1896-1916 FHL Film: 1015911 items 2-3
 * Heirship records, 1899-1915 FHL Film: 1015912-1015923
 * Birth and death registers, 1900-1926

Many of these records have been microfilmed and are also available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and its family history centers.

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Winnebago Agency, 1873-1874, are on roll 58 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm roll number 1617731).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Winnebago, 1907-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 169-170, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their microfilm numbers 1724387-1724388. Reports for some years are missing.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1904-1907, and 1909-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 663 thru 670. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm numbers 583122-583129). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.