I am creating profiles from cemetery records in the western united states. I am running into burials for native Americans. Most don't have a "first" name and other are listed as "Chief ----". I've tried searching the index to see if a profile already exists but have found nothing. How do I create a profile for these people? Example: see Find-a-grave 10427346 for Chief (Tin Doi) Tendoy. Thanks!
Hiya Lisa,
Per: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Native_Americans#Name_Fields_Guidelines
It is the policy of WikiTree's Native American project to use the tribe/nation name as Last Name at Birth for profiles of Native Americans born before the introduction of surnames by that community.
I would suggest perhaps joining this project and collaborating with the group
I did a little internet digging and found a few things. First, Lehmi Shoshone refers to his tribal affiliation, although it seems the name "Lehmi" was given to the place by the Mormons (after a King Lehmi in the Book of Mormon) and the Lehmi Shoshone are the Shoshone from Lehmi. It is not their original name for themselves. Here is some stuff I found:
http://www.lemhi.idgenweb.org/NativeAmericans.htm
https://archive.org/details/tendoychiefoflem00crow/page/n7
https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/conversation-between-tendoy-and-huerito-sign-language.htm
And, here is NARS roll 498 of the "Indian Census, 1885-1940" which contains the Shoshone Agency census from 1885 and should, theoretically, have him in it, but you will have to look for him.
https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll498unit
If you end up wanting to use the NARS roll as a source, the source page is here with a copy and paste citation:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Indian_Census_of_the_United_States%2C_1885-1940
