Enrollment Cards of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914
Series: M1186 Rolls: 1 - 93

This microfilm publication reproduces the enrollment cards prepared by the staff of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) between 1898 and 1914. These records are part of the Records of the Office of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, and are housed in the National Archives-Southwest Region in Fort Worth, TX.

An act of Congress approved March 3, 1893 authorized the establishment of the Commission to negotiate agreements with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes providing for the dissolution of the tribal governments and the allotment of land to each tribal member.

Senator HENRY L. DAWES of Massachusetts was appointed Chairman of this Commission on November 1, 1893, after which it has commonly been referred to as the DAWES COMMISSION.

The DAWES COMMISSION was authorized by an act of Congress approved June 28, 1898 to prepare citizenship (tribal membership) rolls for each tribe. These final rolls were the basis for allotment. Under this act, subsequent acts, and resulting agreements negotiated with each tribe, the DAWES COMMISSION received applications for membership covering more than 250,000 people and enrolled more than 101,000.

The tribal membership rolls were closed on March 5, 1907, by act of Congress approved on April 26, 1906, although an additional 312 persons were enrolled under an act approved August 1, 1914.

The DAWES COMMISSION enrolled individuals as Citizens of a tribe under the following categories:

• Citizen by Blood
• Citizen by Marriage
• New Born Citizen by Blood
• Minor Citizens by Blood
• Freedmen (former black slaves of Indians)
• New Born Freedmen
• Minor Freedmen

Delaware Indians adopted by the Cherokee tribe were enrolled as a seperate group within the Cherokee.

Within each enrollment category the generally DAWES COMMISSION maintained three types of cards:

• Straight cards for persons whose applications were approved.
• D cards for persons whose applications were considered doubtful.
• R cards for persons whose applications were rejected.

Persons listed on D cards were subsequently transferred to either Straight or R cards depending on the DAWES COMMISSION decisions. All decisions of the DAWES COMMISSION were sent to the Secretary of the Interior for final approval.

An enrollment card, sometimes referred to by the DAWES COMMISSION as a census card, records the information provided by the individual applications submitted by members of the same family group or household and includes notation of the action taken.

The information given for each applicant includes name; roll number (individual's number if enrolled); age; sex; degree of Indian blood; relationship to the head of family group; parents names; and references to enrollment on earlier rolls used by the DAWES COMMISSION for verification of eligibility.