Oklahoma Osage Tribe Roll, 1921

By the Act of Congress on 28 June 1906, (34 Stat. L., 539-543), the lands of the Osage Nation in what is now Osage County, Oklahoma were divided among the 2229 members of the tribe. Each member received an allotment of 657 acres of surface rights. This database is a census of the tribe conducted in 1908 and certified by the Osage Indian Agency in 1921. In addition to providing the tribe member's name, each record also includes birth information, sex, and relationship to the head of the household. Commission number refers to the number assigned by the 1921 certification commission. Roll number refers to the number assigned in the original Roll of 1908. Affidavit numbers are provided for those who applied for proof of Indian blood and to what degree. This index reveals information regarding over 2,300 Osage Nation members in the early twentieth century. For researchers of Osage Tribe members, this can be an invaluable source of information.

In 1673, when the French explorer and Jesuit priest, Father Marquette, reached the mouth of the Missouri River, he encountered the Osage Nation living on the western banks of the Mississippi River. This is the first recorded meeting between the Osage and Europeans. Forced westward by successive waves of European immigrants, 1847 found the tribe in Kansas. In 1865, the Osage agreed to the sale of their Kansas lands and to the purchase of a permanent home in Indian Territory, now Osage County, Oklahoma. The Osage moved there in 1872. Oil was discovered in 1898, which made a census necessary. Each member of the tribe was assigned one headright. These are inheritable and saleable within the tribe.