Land Loss Project

Submit land-loss information for review

Use this page only when you want to submit documented land-loss information. To search for family records, use the Universal Search first.

Search first, submit second

Use Search to build the research path. Submit here after you have information about a tax sale, sheriff sale, probate, guardianship, mortgage, deed, oil/gas record, county case, BIA/LTRO file reference, or other land-loss event.

Why this form is different

Build proof of patterns, not just stories.

Individual family stories matter, but a pattern investigation needs structured fields that can be compared across many families: who the allottee was, what land was allotted, how the land left the family, which records prove it, and what public/private actors touched the transaction.

Fast path: If you do not have the map entry yet, submit the Dawes roll/card information, county, book/page, case number, tax-sale/sheriff-sale/probate information, or BIA/LTRO file information. Those can be indexed now and matched to maps later.

Protection rule

Private family documents stay protected.

Do not include living-person private information, Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers, unredacted IDs, medical details, or private family disputes. Public charts should show aggregate patterns only. Submissions are held for review before publication.

This site does not determine title, ownership, heirship, citizenship, enrollment, or legal rights. It collects research leads and source citations for review.

Evidence roadmap

Questions the project needs families to answer

1. Allottee identityName, tribe/Nation, roll number, census card number, blood degree, age, family relationship, and enrollment category.
2. Land descriptionTownship, range, section, county, acreage, allotment number, LOC/NARA/BIA source, and legal description.
3. Loss mechanismTax sale, sheriff sale, mortgage foreclosure, guardian sale, probate/partition, deed, right-of-way, lease/mineral issue, or unknown.
4. Actors involvedCounty treasurer, sheriff, county court, guardian, lender, buyer, oil/gas company, BIA/Interior, railroad, city, state, or other.
5. Documents proving itAllotment jacket, patent, deed, mortgage, sheriff deed, tax deed, probate file, guardianship file, lease, court order, or LTRO title record.
6. Pattern valueWhether the same loss path appears across many allottees, counties, decades, or record systems.

Land-loss categories chart

Charts use approved Land Loss Project submissions. If no approved submissions exist yet, example bars are shown and labeled as examples.

By decade

This shows when records say the legal event happened, not necessarily when the family first learned about it.

Voluntary submission for review

Submit land-loss information or record

Use what you have. You do not need every field. A county book/page, probate case number, tax-sale year, Dawes card number, or BIA/LTRO file information is useful even without a finished map entry.

1. Allottee / family identity

2. Allotted land description

3. How did the land leave the family?

4. Who touched the transaction?

Check every actor shown in the records or suspected from the record path.

5. Protection or vulnerability flags

These flags help identify repeatable legal problems across many records.

6. Documents or source informations

Document checklist:

7. Contact and consent

The submit button activates after every required consent box is checked.
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