The Anadarko Indian Agency was a center of federal Indian administration in western Indian Territory and later Oklahoma. For genealogists, the agency is especially valuable because its records document several tribes whose families lived together in the Wichita-Caddo region and later came under the jurisdiction of the Kiowa Indian Agency.
The agency was located on the Washita River near present-day Anadarko, Oklahoma. Although the name and administrative structure changed over time, the Anadarko office remained an important center for federal Indian records for western Oklahoma.
The Wichita Agency was established at the Anadarko site in 1870 for the Wichita, Caddo, and affiliated bands. In 1870 the agency became independent, with Jonathan Richards serving as agent. Earlier agency administration had included a much larger group of tribes living in the region. On September 1, 1878, the Kiowa-Comanche Agency at Fort Sill was consolidated with the Wichita Agency at Anadarko. The agency office was moved from Fort Sill to the Anadarko location. The resulting agency was commonly called the Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita Indian Agency.
By the late nineteenth century, the agency's records included the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Caddo, Delaware, and other affiliated groups. The Oklahoma Historical Society's surviving census material demonstrates just how broadly the agency's jurisdiction was applied.
The 1878 consolidation changed the agency's eofficial identity, and aftr the allotment and opening of the western Oklahoma reservations around 1901, the records are generally found under the Kiowa Indian Agency. The later Anadarko Area Office was a separate twentieth-century administrative office, established in 1948, and should not be confused with the nineteenth-century Anadarko/Wichita Agency.
The Wichita were the central population served by the agency at Anadarko. The Wichita group included affiliated Caddo, Waco, Tawakoni, Kichai (Keechi), and Hainai/Ioni communities. Agency records frequently group these peoples together, making the Anadarko records particularly important for families whose ancestors belonged to one of these affiliated bands.
The Caddo had longstanding connections with the Wichita region and were administered through the Wichita Agency and its successors. Caddo census records appear repeatedly in the agency records, including records from the 1890s through the early twentieth century. The Caddo allotment process also generated important land and enrollment records.
The Kiowa were originally administered through a separate agency near Fort Sill. When the Kiowa-Comanche Agency was consolidated with the Wichita Agency in 1878, Kiowa records became part of the Anadarko agency system. Kiowa census and enrollment records are among the most extensive collections associated with the agency.
The Comanche were administered with the Kiowa and later through the consolidated agency at Anadarko. Comanche census records survive for numerous years, including family-group censuses that can contain ages, marital status, school attendance, transfers between families, and occasional birth and death information.
The Kiowa-Apache, now represented by the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, were associated with the Kiowa and Comanche reservation and later came under the Kiowa Agency. Census and enrollment records identify Apache families alongside Kiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and Caddo families.
Delaware families living in western Indian Territory also appear in Anadarko-area agency records. Delaware census entries can be found in the Kiowa Agency collection, including records from the 1870s, 1889, the 1890s, and 1901. Some Delaware groups had become associated with other tribes and reservations, so researchers should follow the agency named in each individual record.
The agency's jurisdiction could include members of smaller or affiliated groups, including the Kichai, Tawakoni, Waco, Hainai/Ioni, and Anadarko bands. Historical records also contain references to Tonkawa, Shawnee, Pawnee, and other Indians who interacted with or temporarily lived among the agency populations. The exact population under an agent's jurisdiction changed over time.
The Anadarko and successor Kiowa Agency surviving records include:
The Oklahoma Historical Society's Kiowa Agency collection includes census and enrollment records as well as letters sent and received. Its census material includes Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo, Wichita, Delaware, Tawakoni, Waco, Kichai, and other affiliated groups.
National Archives records include general correspondence, land and heirship files, townsite records, individual Indian case files, land transactions, annuity payrolls, annual reports, student records, and employee records.
The Oklahoma Historical Society has an extensive series of Kiowa Agency census and enrollment records. Some of these census books provide more than names and ages. The records can include family numbers, marital status, school attendance, transfers between families, adopted tribal members, and occasional birth and death dates.
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