Indian population in the United States and Alaska. 1910 - RootsWeb

STOCKS AND TRIBES, BY SEX, AGE. AND MIXTURE OF BLOOD.
In the census of 1910 the attempt was made to
enumerate Indians by tribes, and to secure data as
well in regard to the tribal affiliations of both parents.
The rapid changes taking place ia the conditions of
Indian life are breaking down the tribal organization,
and it was felt that this was perhaps the last oppor-
timity to secure information which should be reasona-
bly rehable upon these points. Unfortunately, the
data desired were not secured for those Indians who
were li\Tng widely scattered among the general popu-
lation, and who to the number of 18,546 were enumerated
only on the general population schedule, no
special schedules being obtained for them. The num-
bers enumerated of the different tribes are, therefore,
too small in varying degree, as some persons who
should have been coim.ted as members of particular
tribes were instead enumerated simply as "Indians"
on the general population schedule. The extent of
this understatement varies considerably in different
states, but the actual error is beheved to be compara-
tively small in most cases.
The determination of tribal affLliation in the case of
Indians of mixed-tribal blood presented something of
a dilenuna, inasmuch as affiliation might be counted
either by inheritance or by blood. In the former
case the tribe to which an individual belonged would
depend on the particular system of inheritance (that
is, maternal or paternal) which was followed. If the
tribe among which he hved followed the former sys-
tem, he wotdd be affiihated with the mother's tribe; if
the latter, with that of the father. As different tribes
employ different methods this threatened to involve
serious confusion. To take an extreme example:
If the father and mother of an Indian were each re-
ported as of mixed-tribal blood, to which of the four
tribes represented in the individual should he be at-
tributed ? On the other hand, as the primary basis of
classification of Indians was purity of blood, it would
be logical to make tribal affiliation also dependent
on actual descent, although this might, in some cases,
lead to the coimting of an individual as a member
of a tribe other than that to which he claimed to
belong. After careful consideration and trial it was
determined that the latter method presented fewer
difficulties and chances of error, and consequently an
arbitrary rule was adopted of counting Indians of
mixed-tribal blood as members always of the father's
tribe. The only exceptions to this rule were in cases
where, owing to complexity of blood in both parents,
the rule would lead to obviously incorrect results. In
such cases tribal affiliation was held to follow the dominant
blood, if any; otherwise, that of the father's
father. In short, actual blood relationship was fol-
INTRODUCTION.
lowed as far as possible in determining the tribe to
which an individual belonged. The differences between
the numbers obtained for individual tribes by
the use of this method as opposed to that of customary
inheritance are not beheved to be considerable. Close
observation of several cases showed httle change, and
the certainty of this mode of treatment as opposed
to the uncertainty and confusion which were found to
arise in following the other method is beheved to
justify it.
Table 50 (p. 116) gives in summarized form, for each
stock and tribe in the United States and Alaska, a
statement of the number of Indians reported in 1910,
classified according to purity of blood and sex. A
detailed distribution according to purity of blood, tribal
mixture, sex, and age is given for each stock and
tribe in the United States in Table 51 (p. 123), while a
similar distribution according to purity of blood, sex,
aijd age is given for each stock and tribe in Alaska in
Table' 52 (p. 154) . In these tables, as well as in the fol-
lowing textual statement as to the habitat of each
stock and tribe, the various tribes are, for convenience,
grouped alphabetically by hnguistic stocks, the location
of which may be seen by reference to the map
opposite page 9.^ Any particular tribe may be readily
found by reference to the alphabetical list of tribes as
given in Table 9 (p. 17).
A separate presentation is given for each stock in the
United States, both in the textual statement and in
Table 51 (p. 123), as follows:
Algonquian.