Native American Genealogy
Tracing your Native American ancestors
If you have ancestors who were native to the USA, then you may have a unique task ahead of you. Documentation can be harder to find, and not always that helpful.
Many people hit brick walls when they reach their ancestors who migrated here from other countries, because records can get lost or misplaced during immigration. Well, even if your ancestors are native to the USA, you can still end up with brick walls.
I've collected some good resources and articles for anyone who is trying to learn more about their Native American ancestry. It's not an area I have had to research personally (yet).
Native American Indian Genealogy - A fully-packed site, with all kinds of genealogy records, including land patents, census rolls, cemetery records, and even articles of general Native American history.
American Indian Resource Directory - Not a database, but a list of offices for the federally recognized American Indian tribes. Some have addresses and phone numbers, but some are just the names of reservations. A good place to start if online databases aren't revealing what you need.
Reconnecting with Your American Indian Heritage - Suggestions on how to research your Native heritage, depending on how immediate or current this relation is to you.
Native Mailing Lists - Dozens of mailing lists you can join in order to network with others doing similar research, but you will need to know which tribe you need in order to choose an appropriate list.
Native Americans in the Census - Some interesting history on the census records between 1860 and 1890, specifically how Indians were enumerated and taxed (or not).
