Welcome to the Ottawa section of ITGenWeb. If you are researching an Ottawa ancestor, you may find records connecting the family to several different places and names. Ottawa families lived in the Great Lakes region, were removed to Kansas in the nineteenth century, and later moved to Indian Territory, where the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma established its present-day homeland in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Ottawa are also known as Odawa or Adawe and are part of the larger Anishinaabe peoples. The Ottawa were well known historically as traders, traveling extensively through the Great Lakes region. For genealogists, understanding these migrations is essential because an ancestor may appear in Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma records during different periods of the family's history.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1600s | Ottawa communities lived throughout the Great Lakes region, including areas of present-day Michigan, Ontario, Ohio, and surrounding territories. |
| 1700s | Ottawa communities continued to occupy and travel throughout the Great Lakes and Ohio country and became widely known as traders. |
| 1795 | Ottawa leaders participated in the Treaty of Greenville following the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The treaty resulted in the cession of large areas of Native land in Ohio. |
| 1830s | Ottawa communities from Ohio were removed westward. Several groups traveled to Iowa and eventually to Kansas. |
| 1837 | Ottawa groups from Ohio migrated to Kansas and received a reservation there. |
| 1862 | Ottawa leaders entered into a treaty concerning their Kansas lands and the transition toward individual citizenship and land ownership. |
| 1864 | The Ottawa transferred 20,000 acres for an educational endowment associated with what became Ottawa University in Kansas. |
| 1867 | Under a new treaty, the Ottawa sold their remaining Kansas lands and purchased approximately 14,863 acres from the Shawnee in Indian Territory. |
| 1867-1870 | Ottawa families moved from Kansas to their new reservation in northeastern Indian Territory, near the present-day Oklahoma-Kansas-Missouri region. |
| 1887 | The Dawes Act introduced the federal allotment system that divided tribal lands into individual allotments. |
| 1891 | 157 Ottawa individuals received land allotments, while much of the remaining tribal land was opened for sale. |
| 1900 | Approximately 170 Ottawa were recorded in Indian Territory. |
| 1907 | Oklahoma statehood brought the Ottawa community into the new state of Oklahoma. |
| 1936 | The Ottawa organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. |
| 1956 | The federal government terminated the Ottawa Tribe's federal recognition. |
| 1978 | Federal recognition of the Ottawa Tribe was restored by Congress. |
| 1979 | The Ottawa government and constitution were reestablished following restoration of federal recognition. |
The Ottawa, or Odawa, have deep roots in the Great Lakes region. Their traditional homeland included areas around Lake Huron, Manitoulin Island, the Bruce Peninsula, Michigan, and the Ohio country. Ottawa communities maintained extensive relationships with neighboring Anishinaabe peoples and became especially prominent as traders. The Ottawa name is commonly associated with the Algonquian word for trading or buying and selling. Their extensive trade networks meant that Ottawa people and families could be encountered over a large geographic area. This mobility is important when searching historical records. One of the best-known Ottawa leaders was Pontiac, an Ottawa war leader associated with the resistance to British policies following the French and Indian War. His life and the Ottawa communities of the eighteenth century provide important historical context for earlier generations.
During the nineteenth century, increasing American settlement and federal removal policies forced many Ottawa communities westward. Ottawa groups from Ohio made several removal journeys during the 1830s. Some traveled first to Iowa before continuing to Kansas. The removal process was difficult. Ottawa tribal history records separate journeys in 1832, 1837, and 1839. These migrations involved family groups and leaders whose names can appear in removal records under different spellings. This is an important consideration when tracing an Ottawa ancestor. By the late 1830s, a significant Ottawa community had been established in Kansas. The reservation eventually became associated with the town of Ottawa, Kansas, which took its name from the tribe.
The Ottawa remained in Kansas for several decades. Their history there is closely connected with education, missionary activity, and the gradual loss of their reservation lands. In 1862 the Ottawa entered into a treaty that changed their land and political status. The tribe also provided land for educational purposes. Twenty thousand acres were designated for an educational endowment, contributing to the establishment of Ottawa University. The experience in Kansas did not produce the future the Ottawa had hoped for. Tribal leaders became increasingly concerned that the loss and sale of their lands would leave Ottawa families without a secure homeland.
Chief John Wilson became one of the most important leaders in the effort to establish a new Ottawa homeland. Wilson negotiated with the Shawnee for the purchase of approximately 14,863 acres in Indian Territory. The 1867 treaty confirmed the Ottawa's move to their new homeland. Ottawa families sold their Kansas allotments and moved south, primarily between 1867 and 1870. The new Ottawa lands were located in northeastern Indian Territory, between the Spring River and Neosho River in what is now northeastern Oklahoma. The community became part of the region administered through the Quapaw Agency. Chief John Wilson died in 1870 while traveling from Kansas toward the new Ottawa homeland. He was buried in what became the Ottawa Indian Cemetery.
The Ottawa reservation was relatively small compared with many other Indian reservations in Indian Territory. Nevertheless, it provided the community with a new homeland after the loss of the Kansas reservation. The Ottawa lived in the northeastern corner of Indian Territory near other Native communities. Because federal records were often organized by agency rather than by modern tribal boundaries, Ottawa researchers should become familiar with the Quapaw Agency and the records associated with it. By 1900, approximately 170 Ottawa were recorded in Indian Territory. Many Ottawa families were engaged in agriculture and other economic activities in the area around present-day Miami and Ottawa County.
Ottawa genealogy often requires research in several states and record systems. Do not assume that an ancestor who lived in Oklahoma throughout the twentieth century will appear only in Oklahoma records. A typical research path may lead from Michigan or Ohio to Kansas and then to Indian Territory. The names of individuals may also appear differently in records because Ottawa names were sometimes recorded phonetically by English-speaking clerks.
The American Indian census records are among the most valuable sources for researching Ottawa families in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies Ottawa census records from the Quapaw Agency beginning in 1885. These records can provide names of family members, ages, relationships, residence information, and changes in family composition over time. The Oklahoma Historical Society notes that its American Indian census collection also includes records such as citizenship cases, payment records, births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and school enrollment. The surviving Ottawa census series includes:
For Ottawa families who lived in Indian Territory, the Quapaw Agency is one of the most important record groups to understand. Federal records list the Ottawa under the Miami (Quapaw) Agency. The National Archives identifies Ottawa records under the Miami (Quapaw) Agency from 1867 through 1936 at the Oklahoma Historical Society, with additional agency records from 1871 through 1970 held by the National Archives at Fort Worth. Agency records can contain correspondence, enrollment information, census records, land matters, education records, financial records, and other information concerning tribal members and families.
The Dawes Act of 1887 changed the ownership of many Indian lands in Oklahoma. Ottawa lands were divided into individual allotments, and in 1891 the records show 157 Ottawa receiving allotments. Allotment records can be especially useful for locating a family in a specific place. They may provide an individual's name, age, family information, allotment number, legal description, and other details concerning the land. When researching an Ottawa ancestor, search for the ancestor's allotment record as well as the census record. The two sources can help establish both family relationships and residence.
The modern Ottawa Tribe maintains its own enrollment records. The tribe identifies a 1940 Base Roll and a 1956 Final Roll as important records for present-day citizenship research. The Ottawa Tribe states that these rolls are not publicly accessible. Researchers seeking tribal enrollment information should contact the Ottawa Tribe enrollment office rather than assuming that an online genealogy database contains the complete rolls.
Ottawa researchers should not overlook the specialized Indian census records for vital events. The National Archives microfilm collection includes Ottawa birth, marriage, and death records from the 1930s. These records can be particularly useful for connecting parents and children when civil registration records are incomplete or difficult to locate.
School records can provide another way to establish family relationships. Indian agency records sometimes contain school enrollment information, correspondence, pupil lists, attendance records, and records concerning children attending schools away from the reservation. The Oklahoma Historical Society notes that school records may be filed under the agency that maintained the student's records rather than under the name of the school itself.
Researchers tracing an Oklahoma Ottawa family should search Kansas records before concentrating exclusively on Oklahoma. The Ottawa reservation in Kansas existed for several decades, and many Oklahoma Ottawa ancestors were born or married there. The Kansas Historical Society is an important repository for researching the Ottawa reservation and the communities that developed around it.
Useful Kansas sources include:
For earlier generations, researchers may need to move farther east. Ottawa families and communities were associated with Michigan, Ontario, Ohio, and the Great Lakes region before removal to Kansas. Earlier records may use terms such as Ottawa, Odawa, Ottawa and Chippewa, or the name of a particular band or community. Searching only for the modern name "Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma" can therefore cause important records to be missed. The Oklahoma Historical Society's census database also includes Ottawa and Chippewa records from Michigan, as well as a 1862-1867 Sac and Fox Agency census that includes Sac and Fox, Chippewa, Munsee, and Ottawa individuals.
When researching Ottawa ancestors, keep a list of the different places and names associated with the family. This can help explain why a person appears to move long distances between records.
When beginning an Ottawa genealogy project, start with the most recent known generation and work backward.
Ottawa genealogy is a story of movement, resilience, and adaptation. A single family may appear in Great Lakes records, Ohio removal records, Kansas reservation records, Quapaw Agency records, Oklahoma allotment files, and modern tribal records. Do not be discouraged when the trail seems to jump from one state to another. Those movements are part of the Ottawa historical experience. By following the family through each period and using both tribal and federal records, researchers can often reconstruct several generations of an Ottawa family and place them within the larger story of the Ottawa people.
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State Coordinator: Linda K. Lewis
Asst State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney
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