"Ind." only for those who "renounced tribal rule" (United States, 1860 and 1870)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1860 · Places: Virginia
SUMMARY2. "Ind." only for those who "renounced tribal rule" (United States, 1860 and 1870) [Connections: Who decided who's Indian, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORD1860 instructions: "Indians not taxed are not to be enumerated. The families of Indians who have renounced tribal rule … who under State or Territorial laws exercise the rights of citizens, are to be enumerated. In all such cases write 'Ind.' opposite their names." The color column: white left blank, "B" for "black without admixture," "if a mulatto, or of mixed blood, write 'M'," "if an Indian, write 'Ind.'" The 1870 instructions repeat that "Indians not taxed" are not on schedule 1, that "Indians out of their tribal relations, and exercising the rights of citizens under State or Territorial laws, will be included," and "In all cases write 'Ind.' in the column for 'Color.'"
PATTERNBeing counted as "Indian" depended on a legal status (taxed, out of tribal relations), not on who you were. And "M" in 1860 meant "mulatto, or of mixed blood," so a mixed Native family could be put under M with no Indian mark at all
LENS (WW9)"Mixed blood" went into the mulatto box, so the Aboriginal half vanished at the first stroke of the pen
OPENWhether enumerators used "Ind." for Native families in the Southeast in 1860/1870 or wrote M/B instead; sample Robeson, Accomack, Northampton, Halifax/Warren schedules