Native American Research: Update on Indian School Records Collaboration

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American    Leave a comment

Minnesota Public Radio posted today “The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Minnesota-based Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition have signed an agreement to collaborate in the search for records of Indian boarding schools.” The article next states an online archive of the records will be started late in 2022. Apparently the Coalition had requested records in 2016 via a FOIA request and Native American Boarding without success. I am sure the number of recent articles on the atrocities related to the schools has spurred the DOI to cooperate. 

I will give the DOI a partial break, because Bureau of Indian Affairs records related to the schools (mostly government run, but with some religious connections) are not all in one place, not all are indexed, and records, correspondence, photos, and other material are scattered throughout various record groups at just the locations of the U.S. National Archives. This will not be an easy task. Other records are in state repositories religious archives, and college and university libraries. I repeat, this will not be easy, quick, or fully successful work. I am hopeful that cooperation is truly meant and all the children who attended, who died, and who are “lost” to their families can be documented. 

The full article is here

MyHeritage SuperSearch Notification: Arsene Daoust

Paula Stuart-Warren  MyHeritage  , ,  2 Comments

My Great Great Grandfather was known to me as Samuel Dow. I never met him, but I need his answers to so many questions. One of his daughters, Violet Dow, married John Thomas Cook and they resided in a few places in Minnesota and North Dakota, ending up in Saint Paul. Research was daunting as there were few records for Samuel Dow. I knew they had been in Superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin. Censuses, city directories, a brief obituary, that daughter’s marriage record, and other records clearly listed him as Sam or Samuel Dow. Some readers may have read or heard this story before. About 30 years ago, courtesy of a Dow cousin, I located a 1c3r (First cousin, three times removed) who was living in Southern California. She was a daughter of Sam Dow’s youngest sister. They had resided in Chicago. We had a lovely conversation, but the elderly woman did not provide many details. At the end of the conversation, she asked if I knew that wasn’t their real name. That was a stunner and it turned out the actual surname was French-Canadian and Sam, Violet, and others in the family were born in Canada! Censuses, city directories, church, and other records in the Province of Quebec in the area of Montreal provided a weaving timeline showing Sam was born as Anselme Daoust, was sometimes known as Arsene Daoust or Dow, and also as Sam or Samuel Dow. I generally search for all the name variations and am never surprised by others. On November 25th, I received an email from MyHeritage SuperSearch Alerts for Arsene Daoust.

Of course, the OCRd newspaper item was a bit garbled as many are, and I checked the actual image on MyHeritage. I knew it mentioned my own ancestor because from city directories I recognized the address on Centre Street and the company it mentioned for the other man was the same company that employed Sam/Arsene. GTR is the Grand Trunk Railway. Violet was not born until 1875 so this predates my own Nana Violet Dow Cook. 

The Montreal Daily Witness, Monday, 4 August 1873, page [?] column 5

Native American Research Part 3: Indian Boarding Schools: Children Forcibly Removed from their Homes

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized    3 Comments

Native American genealogical research, consulting, and presentations on the topic are a major interest and part of my business. For some of my Native American individual, tribal, and law firm clients, I have spent time investigating records related to Indian boarding schools. This involved the reading of letters from parents to the school begging for their children to return home. I saw letters from the school personnel telling of the actions of children as young as 5 and 6 and how they were punished. I saw notifications of the death of a young child in the school infirmary. Alone, no mother or father present, and a sudden burial at the school. Many of the school burials are in unmarked graves. I would estimate that 95% of what I read was painful. The schools were designed to change these children to become mainstream Americans, aka whites. Hair was cut, traditional clothing was tossed away, English was the only language allowed, and other cultural changes were forced on them. Some of the relatively older children were sent out to become farm workers or housekeepers, generally without parental knowledge.

Here’s an overview for my home state of Minnesota. https://www.mnopedia.org/native-american-boarding-schools

Students may not have attended a school in their own state but were sent several states away. Many tribes are represented in the records of an individual school no matter where it was located.

 Records do not still exist for every government or religious school boarding school that was attended by Native American children. Some children attended a day school or the area’s public school and some records do exist in connection with those. The items detailed below show a bit about some of those boarding schools that did exist, some records, and a few ways to find more.

  • https://augustana.on.worldcat.org/v2/oclc/28416652 Oahe at Augustana University, Center for Western Studies, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Oahe Industrial school, Hughes County, South Dakota. 1878, 6 folders. Account book, school register, financial records, student records, student work, and printed material.

  • https://orbis.library.yale.edu/vwebv/search?searchArg=Holy+Child+Indian+School+records%2C+1887-1894&searchCode=GKEY%5E*&setLimit=1&recCount=50&searchType=1&page.search.search.button=Search. Holy Child Indian School, Harbor Springs, Michigan. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Records at Yale University. Includes 2 manuscript notebooks with enrollment records of the Holy Child Indian School in Harbor Springs, Michigan, 1887-1893. There is also a manuscript notebook with examination records of students, 1887-1894. Matters recorded include student names, communicant names, ages, home villages, dates of entrance, attendance, and grades.

  • The U.S. National Archives (NARA) website is a gold mine of finding aids, record descriptions, and articles related to government run (Bureau of Indian Affairs) boarding schools. I did a search on the main page search box for “Indian boarding school” with the quotes and received 69 hits. The next search was for Indian “boarding school” with the word Indian outside of the quotes and received 28,041 hits. That’s the tip of the proverbial iceberg because within other records found in Record Group 75 (Bureau of Indian Affairs) school records, correspondence, lists, and more can be found. NARA has a list of the BIA schools https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/bia-guide/schools?

  • Many of the records of the schools held at the regional locations of NARA have been filmed and now digitized by FamilySearch. Not all those once filmed are available online. A couple examples from FamilySearch.org:
  • The Library of Congress has some records, but mainly photographs related to schools and students. Check state historical, archives, and libraries for records and photographs. Many diaries, journals, personal papers, and notebooks of the schoolteachers, superintendents, physicians, and missionaries can be found in libraries, archives, and historical societies often contain names and other details.

  • Check WorldCat and ArchiveGrid for more on such material, published books, and other items. Searches on these often provide links to the institutions that hold the material. This includes many state-level historical societies and archives.

Now is the time for your first Family Tree Webinars membership

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  ,  1 Comment

This week. Today through Friday. 1,652 webinars that cover records, methodology, many countries, technology and so much more. 6,149 syllabus pages. PLUS a full year of access to these archived webinars, syllabus pages, and those of upcoming webinars. You can’t miss with this much education. 

It’s a 50% savings on new memberships through Friday, December 3d. If you are so inclined, please help support this blog by using my affiliate link to sign up for this amazing offer: http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=6749

New Details of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh for 2022

Paula Stuart-Warren  Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, GRIP  , ,  Leave a comment

The Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) will conduct eighteen courses next year live via Zoom. The live courses via Zoom have worked well in 2020 and 2021. The two weeks in June and July have some new courses as well as returning favorites. For details of each course, please visit the GRIP registration page which also includes any pre-requisites for each course. Registration will be 16 February 2022 with more details to come. The announcement flyer can be DOWNLOADED HERE.

Check the various scholarships that GRIP accepts and how to apply for them on the GRIP website’s Scholarship page.  Pay attention to the application deadlines! 

I will be teaching in June in the Following Ancestors in Place and Time course that is coordinated by Cari Taplin. Then I am the Coordinator and an instructor in Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills course in July. The June dates are Sunday, June 19 to Friday, June 24. The July dates are Sunday, July 10 to Friday, July 15. Each week begins at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday and ends at 12:45 p.m. EDT on Friday. Monday – Thursday are full days of classes, discussion, hands-on work, breaks, and even some light moments. Friday is a half-day. 

 

Native American Heritage Month: Research Part 2: Military Records

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American, Uncategorized  , ,  Leave a comment

Discussing Native Americans and U.S. military service was not my original plan for Part 2. November 11 was Veterans Day and that changed my focus and thinking. I have spent many hours at the U.S. National Archives delving into military service, pension, and Indian Scout files for Native Americans. The family details in these records are phenomenal. If your ancestor didn’t serve, perhaps their sibling or uncle did. State archives and state historical societies are also treasure troves of military information for the many Native Americans who served.

It’s important to delve into the general military history of the U.S., the records created, and where they may be found. Learn what years and wars resulted in pension records. Learn where the indexes exist. Do some general Google searches, use the FamilySearch Wiki, Legacy Family Tree Webinars, and Ancestry Academy as some beginning steps for knowledge on military records. They are filled with general and war specific background information.

The U.S. National Archives website has articles and descriptions of other material about the federal level records, the content, and where to find them. State archives and historical societies often have such informative information for state level records. Vary your searches on the institutional websites by war, tribal name, and state or colony. Many military indexes, records, and general information details are found on the major genealogy free and subscription websites. (Ancestry, FamilySearch, Fold3, etc.) Yet, many more valuable records remain in original paper format in state and federal institutions.

A variety of links:

U.S. National Archives website:

My Veterans Day 2021 Family History Tribute

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  ,  2 Comments

During the Vietnam War era, I lived near and then on the base at Moffett Naval Air Station in Mountain View, California. My now ex-husband was stationed there and at the Naval Air Facility on Adak, one of the Aleutian Islands. Our oldest son was born in Mountain View during that time, and we later moved back to Minnesota . My father served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, and I have a scrapbook with many pictures. 

For Veterans’ Day 2021, I decided to start a listing of family members who have proudly served in the United States Military. I’m going to include those of my children, too. It’s the start of a list and I will add more to it for 2022 after additional research. I’m sure relatives will remind me of those I have missed.

  • Paternal Great Great Grandfather William Rudolph Slaker served in the Army in the Civil War from Wisconsin
  • Maternal Granduncle William G. Cook served in the Army during WWI from Minnesota
  • Maternal Granduncle Roy W. Hanley served in the Army during WWI from Minnesota
  • Maternal Granduncle Leon J. Hanley served in WWI from Minnesota
  • Paternal Granduncle Lamer F. Stuart served in the Army in WWI from Minnesota
  • Father William E. Stuart served in the Army Air Corps/Army Air Forces during WWII from Minnesota
  • Father-in-law James H. Warren served in the Army during World War II
  • Maternal 1st cousin, once removed Robert L. Hanley served in WWII from Minnesota and was a POW
  • Maternal Uncle by marriage Gerald J. Mueller served in the Korean War from Minnesota and was a POW who was murdered in the POW camp
  • Ex-husband James W. Warren served in the Navy from Minnesota during the Vietnam War era and was in the Naval Reserves both before and after the War.

Native American Heritage Month: Research Part I: Getting Started

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American, Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

Any month is important when learning more about personal Native American heritage. November is Native American Heritage Month. The National Congress of American Indians states it’s more commonly “referred to as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.” The White House issued a proclamation about it, as have some states, like my own state of Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation, and it has been shared on social media by him and by our Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe.

During this month, I will be posting some information on how to research Native American heritage. Neither my own paper trail or DNA ethnic estimates show a connection to this rich heritage. However, for the past 30+ years, I have been deeply involved in Native American research for individuals, Tribes, and law firms. The records I have uncovered have given me history, understanding, joy, and sadness. Various records and research steps will be discussed in upcoming posts.

Whether your favorite grandaunt shares that you have Native American ancestry because her grandmother was a full-blood Indian or that your own research or DNA results show this specific ancestry, it’s up to you to determine the specific connection. You may have knowledge of a possible tribal connection and the where and when, but it still needs to be researched. 

For some people, records are easily found and for others, it’s wide-reaching research to put together what will stand as your proof for the connection.

If you are new to family history (genealogy) research, obtaining some knowledge about the steps to take and the records that exist should be first on your task list. Books, webinars, websites, and other items are easily accessible for this education. Many are free. We all need to research in federal and state censuses, newspapers, and vital records (birth, marriage, death).

Genealogy Guidebooks: I’ve blogged a few times about some basic books. Click here for one of those posts. These tell about the basic starting steps and many records and where they might be located.

The Society of Descendants of Presidents of the U.S.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

A new society based on genealogy: The Society of Descendants of Presidents. The members are descendants of Presidents of the United States, and some members are descendants of Presidential siblings. Roxanne Roberts produced an interesting newspaper article about the inaugural dinner of the new society and stories told by descendants. The article is in the 28 October 2021 issue and online at the Washington Post website