Indigenous Genealogy

This guide is designed for students and faculty who want to research individuals or family members or trace family histories. If you wish to officially document a person's membership in a particular Indigenous group, please contact that tribe for advice and information.

Genealogy research is tricky. Native American genealogy can be complicated because, as anthropologist Circe Sturm said, 

 “Native Americans in the United States are defined not only by federal and tribal policy but also by public and scholarly discourse, competing definitions of indigenous identity spark conflicts between federally recognized, state-recognized, and self-identified Indians. All of these groups are forced to wrestle with controversial questions concerning who is really Indian and who should have the power to decide” (Sturm, Blood Politics, 9).

The resources listed here include a range of Indian censuses and rolls and the U.S. decennial censuses. They are a good place to start when searching for particular family members. View a detailed chart of each census or roll, which outlines what you can expect from each census and which database to use for each census. To view a specific census or roll, use the "Search Card Catalog" feature in Ancestry Library Edition or the "Browse" feature in Native American Archives (Fold3).

Keep in mind: The U.S. decennial census "did not enumerate American Indians until 1860 and paid virtually no attention to American Indian population characteristics until 1890" (Anderson, et al. 2012, 44). Indian censuses and various rolls will be helpful, especially when researching the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. You can also search by county (see map in the newspapers section below) in the U.S. decennial censuses; this will be particularly helpful when searching for state-recognized tribes.

Map of NC Tribal Communities

Source: https://www.doa.nc.gov/divisions/american-indian-affairs/map-nc-tribal-communities

Oral History Collections

Other Helpful Resources