About the Rolls
In the spring of 2011, Marguerite Sue Strass made a generous donation to the Myaamia Heritage Museum and Archive of the original 1880 annuity payrolls to the Miami Indians of Indiana. Annuities such as these played a large role in the relations between American Indians and the United States federal government during the 19th century, and these particular rolls came at a significant time for the Miamis in Indiana. In 1872, the federal government divided the Meshingomesia Reserve - located 60-odd miles north of Indianpolis - among sixty-three Miami tribe members. Part of the act dividing the reserve was that the recipients were to be made citizens of the state of Indiana and the United States, beginning in 1881; this made them the last group of Miamis in Indiana to acquire U.S. citizenship.
The 1882 Miami census included as part of the donation lists 320 individuals. The Eel River Indians, counted 18 in 1882, were listed separately by the federal government. They officially merged with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma in 1889.
The rolls donated include the Myaamia annuity payrolls 1880 & 1881, the Eel River Myaamia annuity payrolls 1880 & 1881, and 1882 census records for both the Myaamia and Eel River Myaamia. The rolls were compiled by Thad Butler, Indian agent, with William Peconge acting as translator. Witnesses were Jas McCrea, J. H. Ray, and H. E. Coate.
About the Donation
Part of the agreement for the donation was that the rolls would be stored at Miami University, to be viewed by interested scholars, students, and Myaamia for genealogical research. To facilitate access, the staff of the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, in conjunction with the newly founded Center for Digital Scholarship, made the decision to digitize the rolls and make them available online. This digitization project would prove to be the foundation of the Myaamia Collection Online, a public, online repository dedicated to supporting the mission of the Myaamia Center.