USING OKLAHOMA AS AN EXAMPLE : THE OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY TIPS US OFF! AND PROVIDES SEARCHABLE DATABASES

Oklahoma state census - 1890***, 1907.


No wonder there was a hit stage musical called Oklahoma! The state has played an important part in American history. There were pioneers of course but often researchers into Native American heritage find themselves looking into what's available in that state as well. So the bad news is that this state is one of those who suffered the loss from the legendary fire that wiped out most of the 1890 Federal Census... But there is the 1890 OKLAHOMA TERRITORIAL CENSUS! ***

As well, there is this offering: Smith's First Directory of Oklahoma Territory

Smith's First Directory of Oklahoma Territory For the Year Commencing August 1, 1890 provides information about the population of early Oklahoma. The index includes over 17,000 names arranged alphabetically by surname.

OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Very interesting offerings! 

Such as :1933 Unemployed Relief Census - An index of more than 100,000 names listed in the Unemployed Relief Census records. There are twenty-seven Oklahoma counties included. A searchable database on line!

Now, you might think that Oklahoma Historical Society might only interested in those Native American tribes whose people were relocated to Oklahoma but WOW!  Excerpt: 

The American Indian Archives

Since 1934 the Oklahoma Historical Society American Indian Archives have housed records for numerous tribal nations. The records came to the Oklahoma Historical Society after Congress passed legislation giving the OHS custody of the materials. These records include a variety of official documents and information relating to nations in Indian and Oklahoma Territory. The archives include a significant number of records pertaining to the Five Tribes as well as other tribal nations.

The Research Division is an affiliate of the National Archives and Records Administration.

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The TAG for this series is  "STATE CENSUS ADVENTURE"

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES : DAWES ROLLS : 1896 APPLICATIONS AND THE CURTIS ACT : APPLICATIONS TAKEN 1898 - 1907

ARCHIVES GOV RESEARCH DAWES ROLLS 

Excerpt: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has custody of the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, known as the Final Dawes Rolls, as well as related census cards, enrollment applications, land allotment jackets, and maps. These records are found in Record Group 48, Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, and in Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Final Dawes Rolls and related records are some of the most heavily used records at NARA for researching membership in the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

Note that these tribes were originally exempted but did end up being counted, and it's controversial.

Excerpt: Then, in 1895, Congress authorized a survey of Indian Territory, and in 1896 Congress authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls as a preliminary step to allotment. The Commission received more than 7,500 applications for enrollment and traveled throughout Indian Territory conducting hearings.

These applications, known as the 1896 Applications, were declared null and void two years later, when Congress passed an act on June 28, 1898, authorizing the Commission to proceed with enrollment and allotment for the Five Civilized Tribes without tribal consent. The 1898 act, known as the Curtis Act, also provided for the termination of the Five Civilized Tribes’ tribal governments. By 1902, each of the Five Tribes had negotiated and ratified an agreement that modified the terms of the Curtis Act and became the basis for enrollment and allotment.

With new guidelines in place, the Dawes Commission accepted enrollment applications from 1898 through 1907, with a handful accepted in 1914.

FREEDMEN'S MARRIAGE BUREAU RECORDS 1846-1867 : USING THE ANCESTRY TM GENEALOGY DATABASE : LET THIS FUEL YOUR HISTORICAL RESEARCH!

I've posted about the Freedman * Bank Records before, but did you know that the Freedman Bureau also kept a record of former slaves (and some "free colored") who married soon after they were free from enslavement? 

In the past I've also posted on some methodology for African-American research, stating first of all it is American research and one ought to proceed with going back as neatly as possible, using census records, both federal and state, if possible. If a researcher can find their people on the census after liberation, they have some names. Other than that, there may be some oral history in the family but one must be careful to accept stories without some proofing. Our African-American cautionary tale is that upon liberation, a person could choose to change their surname and some did more than once, wanting to feel comfortable with that surname, and sometimes various family members chose various names. That said, I wonder how often that happened.

I explored this database for a few hours recently and want to give you some information that may be helpful.

So for the purposes of this post I'm using the Ancestry TM genealogy database. To find the database called Freedman Bureau Marriage Records you want to go into NEW COLLECTIONS (WHICH ACTUALLY ALLOWS YOU TO SEARCH THE ENTIRE CATALOG, not just recently added collections. You will see to the top left the words CARD CATALOG.) Put the word Freedman in the keyword search. You will see that you can search the  U.S.,Freedman's Bureau Records, 1865-1878

Then to the right bottom it says U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records 1845-1867 

Remember that the NATIONAL ARCHIVES of THE UNITED STATES is usually the original or primary source for databases.

While the other records held in the overall records can be interesting, because if you may be able to find out who a plantation owner was, I like to focus on marriages because you have twice the chance of recognizing someone as an ancestor - a bride or a groom.  This may give you the name of a female ancestor by her married and maiden name.

My first impression was that I was able to easily pull up records without knowing any particular name simply by putting in the state. I also tried common names such as Smith, Watson, or Jefferson.

The database includes many states including, according to the database:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. NOTE THAT WEST VIRGINIA DID NOT YET EXIST so Virginia included what is now West Virginia and South Western Pennsylvania below the Monongahela River. However, I think you will find that this does not mean ALL THE INFORMATION EVER COLLECTED IN EACH STATE but that in some way that state is represented in the collection.

We can learn from exploring the database, even if we do not have an ancestor who was enslaved or are unsure of who was.

For instance, there may be questions such as if a person lived with another (without marriage) and for how long, how they were separated (dead, forced, separated by war, sold away), and the skin color of parents, partners, and others (mulatto, black, dark, white, yellow, milk.) Unlike the census in which a census taker might make the decision to list a person's color as they see it or because of community notions, in this case the person themselves is probably reporting parents who are not in attendance. In some cases the percentage of African- Black a person was given.  The persons who are marrying may be asked how many children they had with others and you might find a comment that they 'unitedly had children.' Once in a while the name of a former partner may come up.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND : The records were kept where the marriage was performed.

Just as many people who are part of the LBGT community rushed to be married as soon as it was legal to, many formally enslaved people who had been partnered without marriage rushed to be married.  It is not unusual to find that a particular Minister of the Gospel married twelve couples in one day. Perhaps your research can include the name of the Minister which might lead to the name of a church, church records, even church graveyard records.

Even when the couple appear on a register, rather than an individual slip of paper or form (not standardized from one state to the next), their ages are usually listed. These are adults who were generally born twenty or more years earlier. I found one record that said both persons were "free people of color" and I wondered if that meant "last week' or 'all along.'

As well, some of these forms or handwritten documents ask where the person is from. There may be the name of a place other than where the marriage took place. But you may just find a fantastic clue that the man served in the military, and most likely that means in the CIVIL WAR on the Confederate side!  If you see a line of abbreviations such as Pot. Co. C. 60 *** where it could say the name of a town or county or plantation, that means you were just given the company/troop information. You can then find what battles they might have served in...

In my next post, I'm going to write about the Black soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.

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* (I'm aware that the bank records seem to have the Freedman spelling while the other records are in plural, Freedmen.)

ALLEN COUNTY INDIANA LIBRARY : ACPL GENEALOGY CENTER OFFERINGS : OPEN YOUR MIND WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICAN GATEWAY

ACPL GENEALOGY LIBRARY DATABASES

Indigenous Peoples of North America Gateway .... Let's click on that and look at Indigenous Peoples of North America Snapshot

Up will come the list of books this library owns.  Reading it you may find a title that has been digitalized elsewhere or on your local library shelf. 

There are also links to collections which are on microfilm that reside at the library for use there. Once again, look for the title elsewhere. 

Many of us have heard of THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES census roles.  However, other census of Native Americans were made. 

There are also learning links such as to the NATIONAL ARCHIVES on Native Americans on the Federal Census (where they appear as part of the count of the general population rather than tribal focus census) such as this: American Indians in the Federal Decennial Census, 1790-1930

I can say that in looking this over, there are some tribal names I don't think I ever encountered.

Many ancestors await being found!

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CITIZENSHIP : UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : RESEARCHING DEPORTATION RECORDS? : U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES #2 (LOTS OF GOOD STUFF!)

USCIS : FEE BASED DEPORTATION SERVICE 

Yes you do have to pay a fee for their research but there are exemptions.

There is way more here at the USCIS than DEPORTATION:

WHY MIGHT REQUESTING THE FILES FOR YOUR ANCESTORS TURN OUT TO HAVE MORE THAN ANY DATABASE? (My question.)

Excerpt:

The question is important because it speaks to the most common misconception about USCIS historical records, namely that USCIS C-files are exact duplicates of court records. Yet C-Files are not exact duplicates of court records for three reasons:

1. Technically, the duplication is not exact because C-Files contain a copy of the naturalization certificate issued to the new citizen in addition to duplicate court forms. That said, if the C-File contains only a certificate, petition for naturalization, and declaration of intention, researchers might consider that C-File as little more than a duplicate of court records available from the National Archives (NARA) or from a courthouse.

2. Not all C-Files are small. Millions of C-Files contain a variety of additional forms and documents generated before or after the naturalization date. To see some examples visit the C-Files Image Gallery. Please go to this link as it lists a number of 

documents that might be especially interesting, some I personally had not encountered.

3. Many C-Files relate to citizenship, not naturalization, and so contain no court records at all. For example, minor children listed on a father’s petition could later apply for their own certificate of citizenship, creating a derivative C-File. Read more about Naturalization Records Not Duplicated in Court Records, or review our table of Certificate Series showing the series-specific numbering.It could be terrific to have a copy of the ancestors actual CERTIFICATE, which might have a photo of them.

Give this site some attention.  There is a lot to learn! 

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THE INDIAN CARD : OTHER CRITERIA FOR TRIBAL ENROLLMENT? DNA TESTS?

THE INDIAN CARD by CARRIE LOWRY SCHUETTPELZ

Excerpt page 24 : In addition to lineage and blood quantum, some Tribes add other criteria to the mix.  Some have requirements around culture and tradition - my own Tribe, the Lumbee, for example, now requires completion of that Lumbee history class before someone can enroll. A handful of Tribes take into consideration which side of your family your Native ancestry is on. Some Tribes require applicants to enroll within a certain period after their birth.  Some maintain a residency requirement: the applicant must have been born or currently reside on the Tribe's lands.

... In recent years, and with the advent of consumer ancestry tests, a misconception has emerged that DNA spit tests can be used to gain Tribal enrollment.  That's not quite true.  No federally recognized Tribe in the United States allows someone to apply for enrollment using just their 23andMe report. Tribes that use DNA tests in their enrollment processes generally do so for maternity or paternity purposes - that is, to determine a person's biological parentage.

(For people were not born in or residing in their Tribal Community. (I note, in common language, "on the reservation" do an enrollment application.) ... Usually an extensive family tree must be filled out usually, historical birth certificates of ancestors must be submitted. Often the process must be completed in person. ...

Excerpt page 25 : ... One of the biggest obstacles people face with Tribal enrollment is verifying their ancestry. It is generally the case that Tribes don't release their historical rolls to the public. Certainly, from a sovereignty perspective, this makes sense. After all, the U.S. government doesn't maintain a public-facing list of all its current citizens. I can think of  a hundred reasons this sort of public cataloguing would be problematic. The same goes for Tribes.

Lesson: For Native American Tribes, citizenship is never geographical.  It's always relational.

PUBLIC NATIVE AMERICAN ROLES (Commonly called THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES)

Cherokee Nation

Chickasaw Nation

Seminole of Oklahoma

Choctow of Oklahoma

Muscokee (Creek) Nation

According to an expert of the Chickasaw Nation, the further from these roles (called The Dawes Rolls) they get, the harder it is to prove Native Tribal affiliation.... And some people with common names erroneously "prove" they are not

Notes:  Author Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz also discusses the founding of the United States census and the evolution of questions asked. Until the 1850 census race was not asked. She explores the question of dismissiveness and also racism. She brings up the Nazi's and extermination of a people, her visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, dealing with National Archives and Record Administration.  She explores treaties and agreements between tribes and government and also individuals.  

Again, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history or the genealogy!

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Book Review and Excerpt selections

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES : DON'T FORGET TO USE THESE FANTASTIC RESOURCES

Back in the day, when I started teaching genealogy at my local public library, the Internet was fairly new. The newest computers had been installed and people were just learning to use the Internet and fewer people had purchased home computers so to the library they went. Fewer people had cell phones and those came with Internet capacity.  I didn't.  I actually resisted cell phones for some time for all the reasons people do to this day.  At the time I provided students with lists of web sites and the actual http addresses.... I must've had a hundred or so bookmarked...

Today I think people do word searches to bring up web sites rather than the belabored input of the https.  I've done genealogy research using a cell phone, especially during Covid-19 closures but I didn't print out and then the cell phone died...

Back in the day there were many genealogy oriented start ups. These days certain ones are dominating.  So it's easy to feel compelled to use those one, two, or three or four.  However, I think people are failing to consider where the ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL comes from that the databases use.  These are usually governmental; federal, state, county, and city. Next come church or religious records.

I have an account with the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES - NARA. (The Library of Congress is also helpful.) And the National Archives of few other countries. 

Some countries are newer at having National Archive resources digitized. YOU WILL WANT TO INTERACT WITH THEIR ARCHIVISTS IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS and perhaps, the old fashioned way, send for copies or pay them to research for you.  This is usually possible through e-mail. Some will ask you to set up an account, others not.  (I know! More accounts and passwords to keep track of...)

For the next few weeks I'm going to link to some of the National Archives of other countries that you should consider when researching - especially when you find that the genealogy databases DO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING.  And they do not.

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LEARN ABOUT THE HISTORY OF LABOR DAY - U.S. HISTORY at THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

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NARA gov : LABOR DAY

Excerpt: The National Archives and Records Administration holds records created or recieved by the U.S. Government on issue of labor and labor rights, including records on unions, strikes, and responses, debates about women and children in the workplace, and the Government's role in providing economic security and workplace rights....

NATIONAL ARCHIVES MAP ROOM

The National Archives of the United States, in regard to the 1950 census, has posted a number of videos that are basic mini classes to help you understand that census.  You can ask the archivists at the map room, they may be able to help you research using their historical maps to help you locate other places in time.

Excerpt:

A census enumeration district was an area that could be covered by a single enumerator, or census taker, in one census period. Enumeration districts varied in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas. This presentation will focus on locating and using census enumeration district maps, with an emphasis on maps from the 1950 census.

TRYING THE 1950 CENSUS SEARCH ON ANCESTRY TM GENEALOGY - SOME SUCCESS SOME FAILURE

I've been trying the Ancestry TM genealogy databases once a week to see what progress that big database company is making on indexing the 1950 census, which came out on the NARA web site on April first.  (Disclosure:  The title of this blog is not in reference to that site.  Ancestry TM is one of many databases that I use.)

Having found some, but not all of the people I sought to find, I kept trying Ancestry TM to see what, if anything, would come up that I had not found on the NARA web site.  Yesterday I was pleased to have brought up one of the people who I sought, and indeed the surname was spelled incorrectly enough that I might have played games with it a dozen or more different ways in hopes of finding it. So in this case, Ancestry's implied soundex did make a difference.

Interestingly, however,  the person's son,  living independently, who I did find on a NARA exploration, did not come up on Ancestry, though I spelled that surname the same way as it had come up on NARA. And he was living in the same town, not far away. 

A further surprise was that a relative of mine was counted TWICE, at two different locations in the same small town, listed as a 'lodger.'  In one it says she is 24, in the other that she is 30.  The 24 is closer to the mark, making me think that the family where she is listed as 30 years old might have talked to the census taker rather than the census taker talking to her.  Had she been in the process of moving?  Neither family is related to her, so ???

Ancestry TM is suggesting that you send them your e-mail address in order to be informed about the 1950 census.  I simply looked at the numbers and saw that about one and a half million had been indexed. About 151 million people were counted that  1950 census and no doubt about it, there must be many people working on it. So, I think I must have just been lucky enough to have been searching for a surname that comes up within the count.

Another surprise was learning that a person who I knew to have been divorced three times had two more children with the third, brief, husband. They were born after the 1940, and I know the husband was living in a boarding house that year.  I do wonder what the arrangement was.  This woman had a very hard life.  Her age is a little off on the 1950, and it says she was born in the United States, though I have her coming into New York Harbor in her mother's arms, and thus believe she was born in Europe.  Did she perhaps not know where she was born?  Since I cannot find any baptismal for her in Europe but also cannot find any baptismal for her two siblings who were born in the United States, I wonder...

The other pleasure was finding two individuals who had middle initials listed.  I had been told that the M for one stood for Mary, and that is was an honorific for her mother.  That has pretty much been proven.  However, it was only a childhood memory - I must have been ten years old -  when I asked an adult what the middle name of the man was.  I was told Peter and that makes sense of the P.

I'll be reporting on 1950 census progress again.

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1950 CENSUS ENUMERATION DISTRICTS FOR 1950 CENSUS READY TO USE! NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES

CATALOG NATIONAL ARCHIVES ENUMERATION DISTRICTS 1950 CENSUS 

Follow this link! If you already know where the family lives, perhaps because you've got their address from the 1940 census or a collection of letters, you may be able to go to the ENUMERATION DISTRICT before there are indexes on databases. THE ENUMERATION DISTRICT (ED) WILL LIKELY BE A DIFFERENT NUMERICAL CODE THAN THE 1940 because of a surge in population! 

The concerns of the nation have changed since 1940 and there are some surprises.

This is the era in which people whose parents lived in immigrant ethnic ghettos are expanding out into the suburbs as they marry. Housing is actually affordable. Huge tracks of land are being turned into zones of single-family dwellings. Veterans can get low interest rates to buy homes on the GI bill. Women, many who worked in factories previously, are being encouraged to be stay-at-home wives and mothers. 

Question of when it will be indexed.  I'd give it about six months. ****

BABYBOOMERS!

More posts on this subject coming up!

Click on the tab Genealogy Help - 1950 Census to bring up the series!

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*** addition February 14, 2022

The NATIONAL ARCHIVES 1950 CENSUS PROJECT IS also using a form of non-human -technology to provide INDEXING and the public will be able to correct information they find for the pages that did not digitalize well due to their condition. This is similar to the FamilySearch site that also offers registered users the easy ability to change surnames that are misspelled and so on. Unfortunately, it also allows people to change correct information to incorrect information if they so desire.  

VETERANS DAY - NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY RECORDS SEARCH

 

ARCHIVES GOV MILITARY RECORDS SEARCH BY BRANCH

You can also search by MILITARY CONFLICT such as Civil War or Viet Nam.

I see one soldier is asking for photographs of himself.

ELLIS ISLAND PASSENGER RECORDS and THE MYTH OF NAME CHANGES and ETHNIC NAMES #3

There's a popular myth that passengers debarking from steerage (3rd class) off steamships at ELLIS ISLAND sometimes had their surnames changed by authority figures - clerks. It's not true. 

However, if you were an illiterate passenger who spoke your name in your own language, it's possible that the person hearing and recording your name could make an error. But wait a minute! You have a ticket. You were added to a list of passengers departing from another port where your surname was also recorded, and by someone whose first language was German or your native language. Even if you never went to school and couldn't read and write in your own language, you might have learned to sign your name. (And signing your name might mean that on American census, when asked if you're literate, the answer is yes.)

Did some immigrants change their own names or the spelling of them, given and/or surnames? They did. Sometimes more than once. Usually they did so informally, by use, rather than what we do now, go to court. Making a break from the Old World and starting anew in the New World was an opportunity to develop a new identity. (And yes, some immigrants would drop a religion they felt held them back or disappear and never send for a wife left behind.)

What this has to do with finding an ancestor on a database that includes the port of New York - or really any other port - is that you might be looking for the name of the person to be consistent with the name you know them by, which might be the name on a census or naturalization papers or not.

My experience is that the given name is the first to be changed to be Americanized. There are thousands of Maria's who become Mary's. I found one who became Mammie. That's easy. 

You should always consider the name and its variants, Americanized, then go back to ethnic origins. Doing so and running a given name through databases has helped me find some ancestors whose surnames were really screwed up by census takers and other recorders. Screwed up in spelling or in confusing bad handwriting that was then transcribed into bad text, but not, if you go forward, changed after all.

Take the name Walenty. I found him using not Walter, but Valentine. An accurate translation by the way.

Elizabeta became Betty, Beth, and Lizzy.

Consider Lawrence, a man who self identified as Polish and left a village near the Ukraine, which was Galicia. (But who turned out to be Ruthenian and in Greek Catholic records.) In Polish his name is Wawrzyniec. In German, one of the languages he spoke, Lars. Lorenz, Lauren, or Leuz. In Russian, Lavrent, Levrentiy. And so on. Lawrence went to work as a crew member on a ship where his given and surname were Germanicized.

Although you might think that English versions of a name were prioritized, for central and eastern Europeans, German was a second language so using German equivalents was more comfortable and useful. German speaking people were already in America and used that language in common, especially in the workplace. So I've seen Slavic given and surnames become German by spelling or meaning. 

Consider a name change when your ancestors just doesn't seem to be on records you seek.

C 2021

This post is part of a series of posts focused on Ellis Island, New York Harbor, and Industrial Age immigrants.

WHERE HAVE MY NATIVE AMERICAN ANCESTORS GONE ON THE CENSUS? : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

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!