Northern Cheyenne Indian Agency (Montana)
The Northern Cheyenne Indian Agency is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in south-central Montana. Its supervising office is the Billings Area Office.
Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
The original agency for the Northern Cheyenne Reservation was established in 1886 as the Tongue River Agency. Sometime after 1939, the name was changed to the Northern Cheyenne Agency. The Northern Cheyenne Reservation includes land in Big Horn and Rosebud Counties, Montana.
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the 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 (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.
Many of the historical records of this agency, and its predecessor, the Tongue River Agency, are housed in the National Archives Rocky Mountain Region (Denver), Colorado. Records in that collection which may be of assistance to the genealogist include:
- Allotment rolls, 1926-1931
- Annuity payrolls, 1892-1905
- Birth and death cards, 1926-1937
- Census rolls, 1909-1929
- School census cards, 1966-1975
Many more records of lesser genealogical value are also in this collection.
The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Tongue River Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Tongue River Agency (now Northern Cheyenne Agency), as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 208, Tongue River Agency, in Custer County, Montana.
Records Available at the Family History Library
- Census Records, 1886-1939. FHL film: 583033-583038
- Census Records 1909-1929 FHL film 181366-181367
- Heirship Records 1907-1950 (FHL Films 181364 and 181365)
- Land Allotment Records 1895-1947(FHL Films 181368 and 181369)
- School Records 1891-1945 (FHL Films 1026998-1027000)
- Vital Records 1914-1939 FHLFilm 181363
- Records Agency Records, 1906-1951. FHL film: 181375-181379
- Record of Funds 1904-1950. FHL film: 181370-181374
- School Records, 1891-1945. FHL film: 1026998-1027000
- 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, p. 171.
- Guide to Federal Records, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75. Available online.
- American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 1998.
- 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.
- Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. Available online