Welcome to the Peoria Tribe ITGenWeb site. If you are researching a Peoria ancestor, you may find that the family history reaches across Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Indian Territory before arriving in present-day Oklahoma. The Peoria story is also the story of several related Illinois Indian peoples who came together through migration, intermarriage, and political union.
The modern Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is descended from four historic tribes: the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, and Wea. These peoples originated in the Illinois Country and surrounding Great Lakes region, moved westward during the nineteenth century, united as the Confederated Peoria in Kansas, and eventually established a new homeland in northeastern Indian Territory.
For genealogists, this history is especially important. A person who appears as Peoria in an Oklahoma record may have an earlier record identifying the family as Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, or part of the Confederated Peoria. Federal records were also often maintained by the Quapaw Agency, making agency records and Indian census rolls essential sources for research.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1600s | The Peoria and other Illinois peoples lived in the Illinois Country, along the Illinois and Mississippi River systems. |
| 1700s | The Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, and related Illinois peoples experienced warfare, epidemic disease, and increasing pressure from European settlement. |
| Late 1700s | Peoria and related Illinois groups began moving westward toward Missouri and the Mississippi River region. |
| 1818-1832 | Illinois Indian nations ceded most of their remaining lands in Illinois and moved westward. |
| 1832 | The Peoria and Kaskaskia received a reservation in Kansas through the Treaty of Lewisville. |
| 1830s-1840s | Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, and Wea communities increasingly consolidated their political and social relationships in Kansas. |
| 1854 | The four groups formally united as the Confederated Peoria under a treaty with the United States. |
| 1867 | The Omnibus Treaty provided for the removal of the Confederated Peoria from Kansas to Indian Territory. They purchased lands in northeastern Indian Territory from the Quapaw and other interests. |
| 1870s | Peoria families established homes and farms on the new reservation in northeastern Indian Territory. Federal administration was conducted through the Quapaw Agency. |
| 1873 | The Miami joined with the Confederated Peoria in the United Peoria and Miami Tribe. The political union eventually ended during the twentieth century. |
| 1874-1899 | Confederated Peoria, Wea, Piankashaw, Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Miami census and payment records document families living in Indian Territory. |
| 1887 | The Dawes Act established the federal allotment system that divided many Indian reservations into individual allotments. |
| 1890s | Peoria lands were allotted to individual tribal members, and remaining lands were opened for non-Indian settlement. |
| 1915 | The Peoria had lost their remaining tribal land base and lands held in restricted status. |
| 1936 | The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act provided an opportunity for Oklahoma tribes to reorganize their governments. |
| 1939 | The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma ratified a new constitution and reestablished its tribal government. |
| 1956 | The federal government terminated federal recognition of the Peoria Tribe as part of the termination policy. |
| 1978 | Congress restored federal recognition to the Peoria Tribe. |
| Today | The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma maintains its government and community in northeastern Oklahoma. |
The Peoria are an Algonquian-speaking people whose ancestors were part of the larger Illinois Indian world of the central Mississippi Valley. Their traditional homeland included portions of present-day Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and surrounding areas.
The Illinois peoples included the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Michigamea, and Tamaroa. Other closely associated peoples included the Piankashaw and Wea. During the eighteenth century, warfare and epidemic disease dramatically reduced the population of these communities. French missionaries established relationships with the Illinois peoples, and many Peoria converted to Catholicism. French records therefore contain some of the earliest written references to Peoria families and individuals.
The Peoria name may appear in historical records in several forms. Researchers should also search for Peoria families under the names of the other Illinois tribes that e ventually became part of the Confederated Peoria.
The modern Peoria Tribe is rooted in four distinct historic peoples. Although they eventually became one federally recognized tribe, each group had its own history and identity.
The four groups became increasingly connected during their years in the Midwest and Kansas. The 1854 treaty formally recognized their union as the Confederated Peoria. For genealogy, this distinction matters. An ancestor may be identified as Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, or Wea in an earlier record and as Peoria or Confederated Peoria in a later record.
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Illinois tribes faced continuing pressure from American settlement. The Peoria and related groups moved westward into Missouri and surrounding areas. The westward movement did not mean that the families abandoned their earlier identities. Instead, several small and closely related communities increasingly lived together, intermarried, and shared political interests. Federal records from this period may therefore contain individuals whose tribal affiliation changed or whose names appear under different tribal designations from one record to another.
The Peoria and Kaskaskia were among the Illinois peoples moved west of the Mississippi River as the United States acquired and opened their former homelands to settlement. In 1832, the Treaty of Lewisville provided the Peoria and Kaskaskia with lands in Kansas along the Osage River. The Piankashaw and Wea were also living in the region under separate arrangements. As the four communities faced increasing pressure from American settlement during the 1840s and 1850s, cooperation among them became increasingly important. Their relationships eventually led to formal political union.
In 1854, the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, and Wea formally united as the Confederated Peoria. The treaty recognized the political union and provided for the disposition of their Kansas lands. The new confederation included descendants of several Illinois peoples whose identities had already become closely connected through migration and intermarriage. Historical records from the period may therefore use several different tribal names for members of the same extended family. This is one of the most important facts for anyone researching Peoria genealogy. A search limited to the word "Peoria" can miss an ancestor who was recorded as Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, or Confederated Peoria.
The Civil War created significant disruption for Native communities in Kansas. After the war, most members of the Confederated Peoria agreed to relocate to Indian Territory. The Omnibus Treaty of February 23, 1867, provided for the move. The Confederated Peoria purchased land in northeastern Indian Territory, including land obtained from the Quapaw. The new homeland was located between the Neosho River and the Arkansas border in what is now northeastern Oklahoma. The Peoria relocation created the foundation of the present-day Peoria homeland in Oklahoma. Some members of the confederation chose to remain in Kansas and become United States citizens rather than relocate with the tribe.
Peoria families began establishing themselves on their new lands in Indian Territory during the late 1860s and 1870s. The region was administered by the federal government through the Quapaw Agency. The new reservation became part of a larger concentration of Native communities in northeastern Indian Territory. Peoria families lived near the Quapaw, Ottawa, Wyandot, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, Miami, and other Native peoples. Federal records from this period may therefore contain references to several neighboring tribes. Researchers should not assume that every record concerning a Peoria family will be filed under a separate "Peoria Agency."
The history of the Peoria in Indian Territory is also closely connected with the Miami Tribe. In 1873, the Miami and Confederated Peoria were joined politically under the United Peoria and Miami Tribe. The union reflected the complicated history of Native communities in Kansas and Indian Territory. Some Miami families had joined or associated with the Peoria migration, while the two communities continued to maintain distinct identities. The union eventually ended, but records from the period can contain both Peoria and Miami names. This is another reason researchers should examine the complete record rather than relying solely on a tribal label.
Peoria genealogy requires an understanding of both tribal identity and federal recordkeeping. The Oklahoma Historical Society's American Indian Records collection contains a particularly valuable series of Peoria census and payment records. The National Archives also holds Bureau of Indian Affairs records for the Peoria through the Miami (Quapaw) Agency. These records can provide information about families, land, education, government administration, and other aspects of tribal life.
The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies several important Peoria census records. These include both Peoria-specific censuses and earlier records for the Confederated Peoria and related tribes. The census and payment rolls are especially useful because they can help bridge the period between the move to Indian Territory and the later twentieth-century tribal records. Researchers should compare multiple census years rather than relying on one enumeration. Changes in household membership, ages, marriages, deaths, and children can help establish family relationships.
Important Peoria records include:
The Quapaw Agency is one of the most important record groups for Peoria genealogy. The National Archives identifies Peoria records within the Miami (Quapaw) Agency from 1871 through 1970 at the National Archives in Fort Worth and from 1867 through 1936 at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Agency records may include correspondence, census material, land records, education records, financial records, administrative documents, and other information about tribal members. Because the Peoria were administered through the Quapaw Agency, a researcher should search Quapaw Agency records even when the ancestor never lived among the Quapaw.
Payment rolls can be particularly valuable for identifying families. The Peoria collection includes a long-running census and payment series from 1874 through 1899. Payment records may identify individuals who were eligible for annuity or other payments and can sometimes provide information about household membership and tribal affiliation. These records are especially useful when a family member disappears from one census and appears again later under a slightly different spelling.
The Peoria reservation was subject to the federal allotment system. The General Allotment Act of 1887 transformed communal tribal lands into individual allotments. Allotment records can be one of the most useful sources for locating an ancestor in Indian Territory. A land file may contain the individual's name, age, family information, allotment number, legal description, correspondence, and information about later transfers or sales. The allotment process eventually resulted in the loss of the Peoria tribal land base. By 1915, the tribe no longer held tribal lands or lands in restricted status. When researching an Oklahoma Peoria family, land records should be examined alongside the Indian census. The census can establish the family relationship, while the allotment record can establish where the family lived.
Researchers sometimes assume that every Native family in Oklahoma will appear in the Dawes Commission records. This is not the case. The Peoria were not enrolled by the Dawes Commission in the same manner as members of the Five Civilized Tribes. Peoria researchers should therefore concentrate on the Peoria census, Confederated Peoria records, Quapaw Agency records, and Peoria allotment records rather than expecting to find a standard Dawes enrollment card.
Education records can provide important genealogical information. A federal school operated among the Peoria beginning with a school established by Quakers in 1870. The federal government later operated the school. Peoria children were taught English, arithmetic, history, and reading. Later, some Peoria students attended the Seneca Indian School at Miami, Oklahoma. School records may identify a child's name, age, parents, residence, attendance, and other information. They can be especially helpful when an Indian census does not clearly identify the relationship between family members.
The Oklahoma Historical Society's American Indian Records collection includes many types of records in addition to census rolls, including births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and school enrollment. Researchers should search these records when available, particularly for the period after the family's arrival in Indian Territory. These specialized Indian records can sometimes provide information that is missing from county vital records or can confirm a relationship suggested by a census.
One of the most important aspects of Peoria genealogy is understanding the relationship between the Peoria and the other three constituent tribes. A family identified as Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, or Wea in an earlier record may later appear as Confederated Peoria and eventually as Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. This means that researchers should search all four names when working with an ancestor who belonged to the modern Peoria Tribe. The same principle applies to the earlier Illinois peoples whose descendants became incorporated into the Peoria community. Historical tribal identity was not always recorded in the same way from one generation to another.
For the earliest generations, researchers should move eastward into Illinois and the surrounding Great Lakes region. Useful sources include French colonial records, Catholic church registers, treaty records, military records, missionary records, land records, and historical accounts of the Illinois tribes. Because Catholic missionaries worked among the Illinois peoples, church records can be particularly valuable for establishing marriages, baptisms, and family relationships. Researchers should also consider the possibility that an ancestor who later became identified with the Peoria Tribe may have been recorded under another Illinois tribal name.
The Peoria and related Illinois peoples spent part of their nineteenth-century migration period in Missouri. Records from Missouri may therefore provide an important bridge between Illinois and Kansas. Look for federal treaties, Indian agency records, military records, church records, newspapers, and local histories that identify the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, and Wea. Because these communities frequently moved together and intermarried, research should be conducted using all four tribal names.
Kansas is an essential part of the Peoria genealogy trail. The Peoria and Kaskaskia were located there beginning in the 1830s, and the four tribes formally united as the Confederated Peoria in 1854. Some members of the Confederated Peoria chose to remain in Kansas after the 1867 treaty and became United States citizens. A family that appears in Kansas records after the majority of the tribe moved to Indian Territory may therefore represent one of these families rather than a later return migration.
Important Kansas sources include:
The Peoria homeland in Oklahoma is centered in northeastern Oklahoma, particularly in present-day Ottawa County. The town of Peoria lies east of Miami in Ottawa County and is closely associated with the historic Peoria community. The surrounding area became home to several Native communities whose histories intersected through the Quapaw Agency. County records can be useful for later generations, but they should be used together with federal Indian records. A family may appear in an Oklahoma county deed or marriage record while simultaneously appearing in the Quapaw Agency census.
In 1956, the federal government terminated its relationship with the Peoria Tribe as part of the termination policy. The tribe lost its federal recognition and the federal supervision associated with it. Peoria people continued to maintain their community and worked to restore federal recognition. In April 1978, Congress restored federal recognition to the Peoria Tribe. The restoration of recognition is an important dividing point in modern Peoria genealogy. Researchers working with twentieth-century families should be aware that tribal records and federal records may differ significantly before, during, and after the termination period.
The Peoria reorganized their government under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. The Peoria Constitution and Bylaws were ratified on October 10, 1939. The 1939 constitution defined tribal membership in relation to the official census roll as of January 1, 1937, along with provisions concerning children born to tribal members. The 1937 census and the 1939 constitution can therefore be especially important for researchers attempting to connect historical Peoria families with modern tribal enrollment.
When beginning a Peoria genealogy project, work backward from the most recent known generation while keeping all four constituent tribal names in your search.
Keep a list of the names and places associated with your family as you work backward. Historical records may identify the same person under different tribal or geographic designations.
The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma remains a federally recognized sovereign tribe based in northeastern Oklahoma. The modern tribe continues to represent citizens whose ancestry reaches back through the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, and Wea. The Peoria community continues to preserve its history, language, cultural traditions, and connections to the northeastern Oklahoma homeland. The story of the Peoria is therefore not simply a history of removal and land loss. It is also a story of survival, political reorganization, restoration of federal recognition, and the continued identity of the Peoria people.
Peoria genealogy can require following a family through several different identities and places. An ancestor may appear first in Illinois records, then in Missouri, followed by Kansas records identifying the person as Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, or Wea, and finally in Indian Territory records maintained by the Quapaw Agency. The most effective approach is to follow the family rather than a single tribal name. Compare census and payment records, agency records, land and allotment documents, school records, and Kansas and Illinois sources. When these records are used together, they can reveal family relationships and help reconstruct the remarkable journey of the Peoria people from the Illinois Country to their present-day home in Oklahoma.
Page updated:
State Coordinator: Linda K. Lewis
Asst State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney
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