Choctaw Nation Genealogy

03/16/2026

Reno Crims, Tvshkahomma Capitol Museum Curator with his Historic Choctaw Capitols presentation. We are here til 630.

03/13/2026

Congratulations to Nicole for winning our Lucky Heart earrings! Chim ponna!

Make sure you come join us tomorrow at The Choctaw Cultural Center for another giveaway from the Genealogy booth. 🍀

03/13/2026

Halito! Choctaw-Irish Friendship Festival a̱ ant hʋsh pi pisa chike! 🍀 ♦️

Hello! Be sure to come see us at the Choctaw-Irish Friendship Festival here at the Choctaw Cultural Center! 🍀 ♦️

If you sign up to receive your Dawes roll packet, you will be entered into a giveaway for a pair of beaded earrings made by one of our genealogists Hen Brooke (Chelsea Henson).

We hope to see you!

02/24/2026

Pictured are three unidentified Choctaw women with three unidentified Choctaw children in Broken Bow. This great photo was taken by J. L. Langley in 1918 and is one of the many photos taken at Broken Bow by Langley in the collections of the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division. Unfortunately, all of Langley's photos from Broken Bow are unidentified.

Do the people in this photo look like some of your ancestors? We would love to identify as many people in the Langley photos as possible.

02/20/2026

We’ve been working on something special behind the scenes lately…

Let’s just say it involves records, research, and a lot of careful storytelling. 📚

Our team has been busy capturing a few “how-to” moments that we hope will make navigating genealogy resources a little easier for everyone.

Stay curious. 👀

02/17/2026

Choctaw Tribe
The Choctaw were first noted by Europeans in French written records of 1675. Their mother mound is Nanih Waiya, a great earthwork platform mound located in central-east Mississippi. Early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral Mississippian culture villages and chiefs.
The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 17th century and developed at least three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western, and southern. These different groups sometimes created distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers. These included the French, based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the English of the Southeast, and the Spanish of Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era.
Most Choctaw allied with the Americans during American Revolution, War of 1812, and the Red Stick War, most notably at the Battle of New Orleans. European Americans considered the Choctaw to be one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeast. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to a total of nine treaties. By the last three, the US gained vast land cessions in the Southeast. As part of Indian Removal, despite not having waged war against the United States, the majority of Choctaw were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from 1831 to 1833. The Choctaw government in Indian Territory had three districts, each with its own chief, who together with the town chiefs sat on their National Council.
Those Choctaw who chose to stay in the state of Mississippi were considered state and U.S. citizens; they were one of the first major non-European ethnic groups to be granted citizenship. Article 14 in the 1830 treaty with the Choctaw stated Choctaws may wish to become citizens of the United States under the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on all of the combined lands which were consolidated under Article I from all previous treaties between the United States and the Choctaw.
During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Indian Territory and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America. Under the late 19th-century Dawes Act and Curtis Acts, the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in Indian Territory in order to extinguish Indian land claims before admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. From that period, for several decades the US Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed chiefs of the Choctaw and other tribes in the former Indian Territory.
During World War I, Choctaw soldiers served in the US military as some of the first Native American codetalkers, using the Choctaw language. Since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition. The largest are the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.
Since the 20th century, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were federally recognized in 1945, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in 1971, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in 1995.
Photograph of Emeline "Lean" Williams Jackson, standing next to her seated brother, Dennis Esco Williams, members of the Choctaw Nation. Tintype.Thank you for reading and commenting on this article.. We have a small online store here👇
❤️Visit the Native American store 👇👇👇
https://nativeamericancultureshop.com/collections/best-selling

11/14/2025

Here is a great photo from The Oklahoma Indain School Magazine, published April of 1932. The photo shows students of the Wheelock Academy, seated on the steps of Pushmataha Hall, the student dormitory of the academy.

11/01/2025

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11/01/2025

Happy Halloween from Choctaw Nation Genealogy! 🎃👻

10/11/2025

Join us! Genealogy has a table set up. We will be here from 10AM to 2PM.

Join us on October 11th, 10:00AM - 3:00PM, for our 2025 Indigenous Archaeology Day celebration! 🏺

Dive deep into Choctaw artforms and lifeways during this all-day educational and fun event.

Event includes:
• Pottery making
• Textile education
• ATL-ATL throwing
• Children's events
• Flint knapping
• Educational Presentations
• Weapons demo
• Stickball
• And more!

Samples of traditional foods will be prepared onsite and offered throughout the day.
Don't miss the Growing Hope Garden walkthroughs at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m!

Learn more at https://bit.ly/3H1e1vN.

09/25/2025

Halito,

Genealogy will not be open tomorrow, 9/26/2025. We will back in office next week. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Yakoke!

09/09/2025

Pictured is the Oka Achukma Presbyterian Church, east of Broken Bow, as it was seen in 1933.

The Oka Achukma Mission was started as a church and day school by the Rev. Cyrus Byington who was stationed at the Stockbridge Mission near Eagletown. The church's location is on the north side of the old Fort Towson - Washington, AR Military Road which was built through the area in 1824 by the United States Military in order to establish an overland supply line to Fort Towson which had been established that same year. Later, this road was also used as a primary route for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Removals of, "Trail of Tears."

The church is still in operation today as one of the oldest continuous church congregations in the state. The church's graveyard holds the graves of many of the area's early Choctaw settlers.

This photo is courtesy of the Kenny Sivard Collection of the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division.