View source for Indians of Texas

''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Texas]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[American Indian Genealogy|American Indian Research]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Indians_of_Texas]]'' 

{{Adoption Hidden Ancestors}} 

'''Texas comes from an Indian word meaning 'friend".''' 

== '''Tribes and Bands of Texas'''  ==

Ethnologists have identified hundreds of groups of Texas "Indians," as the first European explorers to arrive called the peoples they found. Some of these were true tribes, accumulations of families or clans with social customs, traditions, and rules for order; these were occasionally quite large. At the opposite extreme, some were merely small family groups whose names or ethnic designations were taken for "tribal" names by the Spanish and French and in subsequent secondary literature. The extant names of [[Texas Indian Tribes|Texas Indian groups]] present a dazzling array of variants, partly because the Spanish, French, and English heard the newly "discovered" peoples differently and recorded their names differently. Some names in the historical records are mistakes for groups that never existed. 

'''Spanish period.''' The variety of the peoples and cultures whom Europeans first found in Texas and the different histories of each group make generalizations about Indians hazardous. Texas was not simply a Spanish-Indian or Anglo-Indian frontier, but rather a multisided frontier, a Spanish-Anglo-Comanche-Wichita-Apache-etc. frontier, where multiple groups acted for their own reasons. A few generalizations, however, apply to all Texas Indian groups. First, diseases introduced by the Europeans decimated them, especially after mission and military institutions brought people in contact so that they could be infected. More broadly, anthropologist John C. Ewers has identified no fewer than thirty major epidemics-mainly of smallpox and cholera-between 1528 and 1890 that wiped out perhaps 95 percent of Texas Indians. 

The following list of American Indians who have lived in Texas has been compiled from Hodge's ''Handbook of American Indians...''<ref>Hodge, Frederick Webb. ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30 1907. [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/handbook_american_indians.htm Available online].</ref> and from Swanton's ''The Indian Tribes of North America''<ref>Swanton John R. ''The Indian Tribes of North America''. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm Available online].</ref>. Some may simply be variant spellings for the same tribe. 

Akokisa, Alabama, Anadarko, [[Apache Indians|Apache]], Aranama, Atakapa, Bidai, Biloxi, [[Caddo Indians|Caddo]], [[Cherokee Indians|Cherokee]], [[Choctaw Indians|Choctaw]], Coahuiltecan, [[Comanche Indians|Comanche]], [[Creek Indians|Creek]], Deadose, Eyeish or Haish, Guasco, Hainai, Hasinai, Isleta del Sur, [[Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico|Jicarilla]], Kadohadacho. Karankawan, Kichai, [[Kiowa Indians|Kiowa]], Koasati, Lipan (Upper and Lower), [[Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma|Muskogee]], Nebedache, Nacachau, Nacanish, Nacogdoche, Nadaco, Namidish, Nechaui, Neches, Nasoni, Nanatsoho, Nasoni - Upper,&nbsp;Pakana, Pascagoula, Patiri, [[Pueblo Indians|Pueblo]], [[Quapaw Indians|Quapaw]], Senecu del Sur, [[Shawnee Indians|Shawnee]], Shuman, Soacatino or Xacatin, [[Tawakonie Indian Tribe, Oklahoma|Tawakoni]],&nbsp;Waco, [[Wichita Indians|Wichita]] 

Trans-Pecos, Kiowa-Apache, Lower-Lipan, Lipan-Apache, Upper Lipan 

Tribes Recognized by the State of Texas 

Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas (also known as Lipan Apache Band of Texas , 

== Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs  ==

[[Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs|Agencies]] and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|Bureau of Indian Affairs]] and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value were created by these offices. 

The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in Texas has been compiled from Hill's ''Office of Indian Affairs...''<ref>Hill, Edward E. ''The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches'', Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc. 1974. (Family History Library {{FHL|247426|title-id|disp=book 970.1 H551o}}.)</ref>, Hill's ''Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians''<ref>Hill, Edward E. (comp.). ''Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians''. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. (FHL {{FHL|207428|title-id|disp=book 970.1 H551g}}.)</ref>, and others. 

*[[Brazos Indian Agency (Texas)|Brazos Agency]] 
*[[Comanche Indian Agency (Texas)|Comanche Agency]] 
*[[Red River Indian Agency (Louisiana)|Red River Agency]] 
*Southern Pueblos, P.O. Box 1667, Albuqueque, NM 87103 
*[[Shawnee Indian Agency (Oklahoma)|Shawnee Agency]] 
*[[Texas Indian Agency (Texas)|Texas Agency]] 1847-1859

== Family History Library  ==

*United States. Office of Indian Affairs. M540''Southern Superintendency 1832-1870.'' {{FHL|589948|item|disp=FHL film 1602871 (first of 22 films}}.

== Reservations  ==

From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the American Indian was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative, usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government. 

Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies. 

The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether. 

The following list of reservations has been compiled from the ''National Atlas of the United States of America''<ref>National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations [http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedlands/tx.pdf Available online.]</ref>, the ''Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America''<ref>Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. ''Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America''. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.(Family History Library book {{FHL|433280|title-id|disp=973 E5}})</ref>, and other sources. Those reservations named in '''bold''' are current federally-recognized reservations, with their associated agency and tribe(s). Others have historically been associated with the state or are not currently recognized by the federal government. 

*[[Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation (Texas)|Alabama and Coushatta Reservation]]: State, Tribes: Alabama and Coushatta 
*Kickapoo Reservation 
*Tigua Reservation: State,Tribes: Tigua, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 
*Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Reservation: State, under jurisdiction of the Southern Pueblos Agency

== See Also:  ==

[[Texas History|Texas_History]] for a calendar of events 

[[Texas Military Records|Texas_ Military]] for a list of forts 

== Web Sites  ==

[http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm <u>'''http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm'''</u>] 

'''[http://www.native-languages.org/texas.htm <u>http://www.native-languages.org/texas.htm</u>]''' 

'''[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/II/bzi4.html]''' 

== References  ==

<references />

==== Bibliography  ====

*"Accompanying Pamphlet for Microcopy 1011", National Archives Microfilm Publications, Appendix. 
*''American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications''. Washington DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 1998. 
*Gilbert, William Harlen, Jr. Surviving Indian Groups in the Eastern United States. Pp. 407-438 of the Smithsonian Report for 1948. [http://picasaweb.google.com/craingen/Surviving_Indian_Groups# Available online]. 
*Hill, Edward E. (comp.). ''Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians''. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. 
*Hill, Edward E. ''The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches''. New York, New York: Clearwater Publishing Company, Inc., 1974. 
*''Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880''. National Archives Microcopy T1105. 
*Hodge, Frederick Webb. ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30 1907. [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/handbook_american_indians.htm Available online]. 
*Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. ''Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America''. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991. 
*National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations [http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedlands/TX.pdf Available online]. 
*''Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs''. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~texlance/records/bia(dc)intro.htm Available online] 
*Swanton John R. ''The Indian Tribes of North America''. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm Available online]. 
*Winfrey, Dorman H., and&nbsp;James M. Day&nbsp;&nbsp;''The Indina Papers of Texas and the Southwest, 1825-1916''. The Pemberton Press, 1966. 5 volumes. FHL Book: 970.1W726w

{{American Indian}} {{Texas|Texas}} 

[[Category:Texas]] [[Category:Indians_of_the_United_States]]