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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2002

A new Internet web site contains millions of records from the 1880 U.S. Census, including information on 66,000 American Indians.

A 17-year effort by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints debuted online yesterday. FamilySearch Internet, found at http://www.familysearch.org, contains more than 55 million individuals who were counted after the Civil War.

With the help of a web browser, anyone can locate data on their ancestors who appear on the census rolls. All the site requires is a first or last name -- exact spellings are not required.

"People used to search through rolls and rolls of microfilm with varying degrees of success," said D. Todd Christofferson, executive director of the Family and Church History Department for the Mormon Church. "Now with just a few keystrokes, they can search through millions of records from anywhere at anytime." 

Sample searches of the Native American rolls turned up Eastern Pequots in Connecticut, Pueblo Indians in New Mexico and numerous Lakotas in what was then known as the Dakota Territory. There even appeared to be data on the descendants and family of Cherokee Nation Chief John Ross, who died in 1866.

Other records on Indians were less precise. One entry described a one-year-old girl living in Western Shoshone territory in Nevada simply as "Little Pappoose." A total of 44 "squaws" -- a term considered offensive by today's standards -- turned up.

There are, of course, some limitations to the site. It's not possible to list, say, every Indian who was counted on the Wahpeton Indian Reservation in present day South Dakota.

And like today's efforts, not every Indian living at the time appears on the rolls.

But the site contains a wealth of information for those who know what they are looking for. The 1880 Census was the first to include the birthplace of their parents and to record the relationships of family members.

It also documents the end of the treaty-making era and the gradual removal of tribal nations to the West. There were examples of Indians who living in the Dakotas in 1880 but whose parents were born in the Great Lakes area.

To access the records, select the "1880 United States Census" from the Census Records page at the FamilySearch web site. Doing so will show options to search via race -- the categories of All, Asian, Black, Mexican, Mulatto, Native American and White are available.

Queries can be restricted via census state, county and location. For example, a combination of Dakota Territory for state and Yankton for county will allow searches on the Yankton and Wahpeton reservations.

The 1880 Census visited a number of Pueblos in New Mexico, several reservations in Arizona and other parts of Indian Country in the West.

Relevant Links:
FamilySearch Internet - http://www.familysearch.org