This is in answer to a question posed to me about proving Native American affiliation, in this case Apache. The person asking the question tells me that she was raised in an Apache home but finds no evidence genealogically, including on the census that her family is Apache.
My answer:
You are right. Not all Native American families were listed as Native American on U.S. Census. Depending on the census they may be listed as White or Black. In one family that was at least 50% Native American I found all children but one listed as White and the one listed as Black. At first we thought there had been an adoption. Simply this child was darker skinned than the rest.
Your family may not have reported themselves as Native American and even then, the tribe is rarely listed, unless it is a census that covers a reservation and considering what life on a reservation has been, why wouldn't a family want to live off it? More and more card carrying means registered with the tribe as in living on a reservation.
I think a DNA test or two would be a good start. Many people have been surprised to find out that they have the ethnic DNA of another group despite their appearances or upbringing. For instance, one family that I researched had one member out of dozens who in the 1800's married a Native American Cherokee and went to live on what became a reservation with him, their children thus showed up on Cherokee roles, and today that family is dismissive of their Scottish and Welsh and French Huguenot ancestors because they were not raised in that culture. Someone else I know, a blond blue eyed woman who had been told that her family did not discuss Grandpa's Native American origins, tested as Native American, but was not at all raised in that culture. She took pride in this though, and got involved in Native American interest groups and events but is not trying to claim affiliation.
That said, scanning for Apache genealogy research information on the web, I came up with several sites, some of which had inactive links. Among the questions one must try to answer is WHY APACHE? (It seems several groups are under this tribal name.) I'm linking to a good one that has a very interesting clue: this one is called CHIRICAHUAAPACHE and this is what it says:
The NATIONAL ARCHIVES BRANCH IN FORT WORTH TEXAS has one of the largest collections of American Indian genealogy materials, much of which is on microfilm. For a complete list of holdings write: Chief, Archives Branch, Federal Archives and Records Center, P. O. Box 6216, Fort Worth, TX 76115. Most of these records are full of family history details such as both Indian and "English" names, sex, degree of Indian blood, names of family, guardian, tribal and "band" affiliations, residence and occupation."
You should approach your research as anyone with any American heritage would. That means don't depend on the U.S. Census. You should try for church records because sometimes there are notations on them, including addresses between census. Military records may hold an answer because there were sometimes special troops comprised of all African-American or All Native American persons, and sometimes there will be notations on them. Approaching the tribe itself, asking them if they have records (or memories) of ancestors, is sometimes helpful, but don't be surprised if answers are slow or not coming. Tribal groups often rely on volunteers, tend not to be interested in getting DNA tests, and sometimes do not want to spread casino wealth around.
What about school records? Did anyone attend an "Indian school" or "mission" school or church?
Check back in with me once you've done more research!
