Great Plains Indians & Metis Genealogy Query Board

Great Plains Indian and Metis Genealogy Forum

Introduction and Instructions

This message board covers a geographic area extending roughly from mid-Alberta in the north to southern Louisiana in the south and from northwestern Montana in the east to the Mississippi River where it forms the eastern border of Arkansas. To see a map that shows this area, consult Paula Giese's work, North American Pre-Contact Native Culture Areas GIS map. Paula's map shows the area for our discussion as the "Plains and Prairie" culture areas.

This culture area includes three linguistic families:

Algonkian Linguistic Family

Siouan Linguistic Family

Caddoan Linguistic Family

Consideration of these tribes from the standpoint of language is very useful to the genealogist. It helps us understand how tribes were, later, grouped on reservations. It tells us what their pre-contact (with Europeans) migrations might have been. It gives insight to the reasons certain tribes formed certain alliances during the Colonial, Revolutionary and more recent historical periods. It also presents many mysteries concerning the dissemination or diaspora of the Indian Nations throughout history.

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Remember, please, that the tribe lists and geographic areas described are approximate and the delineations are soft. If your people are from an area nearby or are not listed but known to be in the area, please don't hesitate to post your message.

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Within the Algonkian Linguistic Family of the Plains and Prairie culture areas are the following tribes:

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Plains Cree

Northern Blackfoot

Blood

Saulteaux

Pequis

Metis

Plains Ojibway

Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas

Northern Cheyenne

Northern Arapaho

Southern Arapaho

Southern Cheyenne

Within the Siouan Linguistic Family of the Plains and Prairie culture areas are the following tribes:

Saskatchewan

Assiniboine

Alberta

Mountain Assiniboine or Stoney

Montana

River Crow

Mountain Crow

Hunkpapa

Sans Arc

Blackfoot Sioux

Two Kettle

North Dakota

Yanktonai

Nakota Sioux

Mandan

Hidatsa

Hunkpapa

Sans Arc

Minnesota

Mdewkanton

Sisseton

Eastern Sioux or Dakota

Wahpekute

Wahpeton

South Dakota

Eastern Sioux or Dakota

Sioux

Yankton Sioux

Hunkpapa

Sans Arc

Blackfoot Sioux

Two Kettle

Teton or Western Sioux

Lakota Sioux

Miniconjou

Brule

Oglala

Nebraska

Ponca

Omaha

Oto

Kansas

Kansas or Kaw

Iowa

Yankton Sioux

Missouri

Osage

Arkansas

Quapaw

Kansas or Kaw

Within the Caddoan Linguistic Family of the Plains and Prairie culture areas are the following tribes:

North Dakota

Arikara

Nebraska

Skidi

Chaui

Kitkehaki

Pawnee

Pitahauerat

Oklahoma

Tawehash

Yscani

Wichita

Texas

Waco

Kichai

Tawakani

Caddo or Kadohadacho

Natchitoches

Adia

Eyeish

Hasinai

Kiowa (Athabaskan Linguistic Family)

Kiowa Apache (Athabascan Linguistic Family)

Comanche (Uta-Aztecan)

Tonkawa (Aranama)

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Reference Books which can be consulted for details on these tribes include:

Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico.New York, Greenwood Press [1969]2 v. illus. 27 cm.

The Gale encyclopedia of Native American tribes / edited by Sharon Malinowski ... [et al.].Detroit : Gale, c1998.4 v.

The Indian tribes of North America / John R. Swanton.Baltimore, MD : Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003.726 p. ; 23 cm

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Go to the Great Plains Indian and Metis Genealogy Forum and Post Your Query

How to Write a Query

When using Message Boards and Mailing Lists online, it's important to understand what your readers need to know about your research problem or question (query). Following are instructions for writing queries. If you follow these instructions, you will have greater and more appropriate responses to your queries.

REMEMBER: You will be consulting people who are experts in their fields and very busy. An incomplete or improperly written query will probably garner a "sorry, no information" answer from most other experts. However, I am dedicated to teaching genealogy as well as answering questions in my area of interest, so, do, please, keep a copy of this instruction and consult it when you make your next request for information.

REMEMBER: In writing your query, answer the following questions, so far as you are able. If the information you have is uncertain, follow it with a question mark (?). If you have no information, place a blank area in the query ( _______ ). Abbreviate birth (b), marriage (m) and death (d). If you have to list more than one marriage write them (m1), (m2), etc.

YOUR QUERY SHOULD ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

1. Who is the person you want to find information about (if a female, give her maiden name, or, if none is known, explain)?

2. When and where was this person born (b), where and when did he die (d), where and when did he marry (m)?

3. Who did this person marry? Where did this person marry?

4. Who were the children that resulted from the marriage (b, d, m) and what were the names of their spouses (no further information needed for the children's spouses unless there is some pertinent reason to add more)?

5. Who were the parents (b,d,m) of the person on whom you are focusing (question #1)? Where and when did they live and die, etc?

6. Who were the siblings (brothers and sisters) (b,d,m) of the person on whom you are focusing (question #1)? Where and when did they live and die, etc?

7. With what tribe(s) do you think your focus person was associated?

8. Why do you think your focus person was Indian (physical characteristics, family story, Indian name, proximity to tribes, etc.)?

TO PREPARE AND USE YOUR QUERY:

Write your query in a word processor (answering ALL of the questions), select and copy it onto your clip board; then go out on the web and look for places to deposit it. As long as you don't use your copy command on anything else, it will remain in memory. All you need to do to insert it is to click on the place where you want it to go, and click on "paste". Simple, huh?

BE SURE TO PLACE YOUR SURNAME(S) AND PLACENAMES IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE QUERY SO READERS CAN SORT THEM OUT QUICKLY.

Go to the Great Plains Indian Genealogy Query Board and Post Your Query

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Thanks,

Kathie Donahue AG

"GENEALOGY WITHOUT PROOF IS MYTHOLOGY"

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