Welcome to the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma history and genealogy page. Whether you are tracing an Iowa ancestor, researching a family connected to Indian Territory, or learning more about the Ioway people, these resources can help you follow your family through the historical record.
The Iowa people call themselves Baxoje, commonly translated as "People of the Gray Snow." Their history reaches from the Great Lakes and upper Midwest through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and eventually Indian Territory and Oklahoma. For genealogy research, it is important to distinguish the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma from the separate Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The two communities share a common history but became separate tribal entities.
Begin with the most recent documented ancestor you can identify and work backward, using census, agency, allotment, and family records to establish each generation.
The Iowa are a Siouan-speaking people whose historical homeland extended through portions of the upper Midwest. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Iowa communities moved south and west as settlement and pressure from neighboring nations and the United States affected their homelands.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1600s | Iowa ancestors lived in the Great Lakes region. The Iowa language belongs to the Chiwere branch of the Siouan language family. |
| 1700s | Iowa communities lived in areas of present-day Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and along the Des Moines and Missouri Rivers. |
| 1824 | The Iowa ceded lands in Missouri and were required to relocate as the United States expanded westward. |
| 1836 | A treaty assigned the Iowa a reservation along the Great Nemaha River in what became Kansas and Nebraska. |
| 1838-1839 | The Iowa had ceded their remaining tribal lands in Iowa and Missouri and were concentrated on the Great Nemaha Reservation. |
| 1854 | The Iowa entered another treaty with the United States that further reduced their reservation and provided for changes in land ownership. |
| 1878 | A portion of the Iowa left the Kansas-Nebraska reservation and began moving to Indian Territory. This group became the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. |
| 1880 | Iowa families were being recorded at the Sac and Fox Agency in Indian Territory. |
| 1883 | President Chester A. Arthur issued an executive order establishing an Iowa reservation between the Cimarron and Deep Fork Rivers. |
| 1890 | The Iowa agreed to allotment. Individual Iowa members received 80-acre allotments, while surplus land was ceded to the United States. |
| 1936 | The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. |
| 1937 | The tribe adopted its constitution and bylaws. |
| Today | The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is headquartered near Perkins, Oklahoma, with its jurisdictional area including portions of Payne, Lincoln, Logan, and Oklahoma counties. |
The Iowa reservation along the Great Nemaha River was established in the 1830s in the region that became northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska. Not all Iowa people followed the same path after removal. Some Iowa remained in the north, while others moved south to Indian Territory beginning in 1878. These communities eventually became the separately recognized Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Because families moved between these communities, Kansas and Nebraska records can be important even when the researcher is tracing an ancestor who eventually became part of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
The Iowa who moved to Indian Territory initially lived among the Sac and Fox. An Iowa reservation was established by executive order on August 15, 1883. The reservation was located between the Cimarron and Deep Fork Rivers, west of the Sac and Fox Reservation. It included portions of what are now Payne, Logan, Oklahoma, and Lincoln counties. The reservation was later allotted to individual Iowa members. The Oklahoma Historical Society reports that 109 tribal members received allotments in 1890.
Iowa genealogy requires searching records from both the northern reservation and Indian Territory. An ancestor may appear in Kansas or Nebraska records before appearing in Oklahoma records. Historical records may identify the people you are researching as:
Spelling was not standardized, and names may have been written differently by agents, missionaries, census takers, and county officials. Search for variations in both personal names and tribal terminology.
The Iowa have an unusually useful series of federal census and agency records. The Oklahoma Historical Society's American Indian Census collection identifies 43 Iowa-related records, including census rolls, annuity payment rolls, birth and death records, and marriage records.
Important Oklahoma records include:
The National Archives notes that Indian census rolls commonly contain names, ages or birth dates, sex, family relationships, agency or reservation information, and sometimes tribal affiliation. The information varies by year and agency. See Oklahoma Historical Society Iowa Census Records, and the National ArchivesIndian Census Rolls, 1885-1940
The Iowa were recorded under more than one federal agency. This is important when searching microfilm because the tribe may not appear under an agency named specifically for the Iowa. Oklahoma records include Iowa material from the Sac & Fox Agency and later the Shawnee Agency. Earlier Iowa records can also be found through the Potawatomi and Great Nemaha Agency and Kickapoo Agency in Kansas.
The Oklahoma Historical Society's Individual Indian Files collection also includes approximately three boxes of Iowa records from the Sac & Fox and Shawnee Agency. And checkout the National Archives Bureau of Indian Affairs Records: Oklahoma
Annuity and per-capita payment records can be useful for placing an ancestor within a particular Iowa community and time period. They may also help distinguish people with similar names. The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies Iowa annuity payment rolls for 1882-82, 1886-1909, 1919, 1930, and 1932. When using payment records, compare the names with census records and known family members rather than treating the payment record alone as proof of a relationship.
Allotment records are especially important for Iowa research. In 1890 the Iowa accepted individual allotments of 80 acres and ceded more than 221,000 acres of surplus land to the United States. An allotment record may provide information about the individual, the location of the land, and the legal history of the property. Later deeds, probate records, restrictions on alienation, and county land records can provide additional evidence about the family. See Oklahoma Historical Society's Allotment resource.
Later Iowa agency records include separate birth, death, and marriage records. These can be particularly valuable when a census gives only an approximate age or when several members of a family have similar names. These records are held within the National Archives microfilm series and are also identified in the Oklahoma Historical Society's American Indian Census database.
School records can provide another way to identify Iowa children and their families. The National Archives identifies Iowa records connected with the Haskell Institute jurisdiction in Kansas, including Iowa birth and death material. School records may help establish a child's age, parents, residence, and relationship to other members of the family.
If your ancestor lived in Kansas before moving to Oklahoma, search the records of the Great Nemaha Agency and related Kansas agencies. The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies Iowa census records from the Potawatomi and Great Nemaha Agency for 1891-1893 and 1895-1902, as well as Iowa records from the Kickapoo Agency beginning in 1903. These records can be especially useful for families who remained in Kansas or who had relatives in both the northern and Oklahoma Iowa communities.
There are two federally recognized Iowa tribal governments: the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The two communities share a common historical origin but followed different paths after the Iowa reservation was established along the Great Nemaha River. The Oklahoma community began its migration to Indian Territory in 1878 and received its own reservation in 1883. When documenting an ancestor, determine which community the individual belonged to before concluding that a record applies to the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
Iowa genealogy often crosses several states and federal agencies. A family may appear first on the Great Nemaha Reservation in Kansas or Nebraska, later in Sac and Fox Agency records in Indian Territory, and eventually in Shawnee Agency records in Oklahoma. Do not stop when you find the ancestor's name. Compare the surrounding family members, ages, residences, agency, and land information. Following those details from one record to the next can establish the family connections that turn an isolated name into a documented Iowa family. The historical record can lead you from the Great Nemaha Reservation to the Iowa reservation in Indian Territory and, ultimately, to the families and communities of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma today.
Page updated:
State Coordinator: Linda K. Lewis
Asst State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney
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