redbrother: Start with what you know about the people, or ask your oldest living relative for information. did these people record things in the family bible?
When did they die? If they died before the land allotments were made, chances are good you won't see any probate papers on them.if they died after land allotments and were alloted land ,then there should be a probate on them, if they didn't sell it or abandon it or die and their heirs got it.
check the Cibvil War Database at
www.gensearcher.net in case they served with either army.
if youare going to check out ancestry.com and have the English trnslation of their Indian name you have a sporting chance of finding a record on them, assuming that they didn't die before 1900.
The Mormons have their web site at
www.familysearch.org but they aren't as reliable with the English translation of the Indian Names unless the person was famous. but don't sell the Mormons short., they may be able to help you, at a rpice to find records on your ancestor.
but then so does the Minn. Hist. Soc. in St. Paul. Which has a lot of good stuff, birth,death records, church records,etc. If you have them do a search, I am not sure but I heard it cost @60 bucks/hour.
If you know what county the person lived in, go that county's GenWeb(type the name of the county and state in your search browser) they have volunteeers that will look up information for you either free or for a small donation.
Did they attend one of the Indian boarding schools? check out their web site(s) and contatct the school or wherever the records have been archived. I was able to direct a client to one of these schools where several descendants of their ancestors were born. You canalso hopefully, obtains the school records of your ancestor from Carlise, and the Hampton Institute.
finally, check out the cemeteries on and/or near the reservations. I found a bunch of prople by checking this out, which gives you dates of birth and/or death.
check out the social Security Death Index. if they had a Soc. Security No. there will be a record of when they were born and when they died, and the last place of residence.
If they served as a scout in the army, you would check the Indian Scouts and soldiers roll by Elrod(1891 or 1892).
If they were a mixed blood, check out the Mixed Blood lists. Tamara can help there.
also check out the Land allotment records for the Tribe the person belonged to.
I can't think of any other resources at this time. If I do think of some other9s), I will post them.
good luck in your hunt.
Censuses: the censuses in Minnesota prior to 1862 listed the Indian names of the heads of households, # of males,#of children,#of women.
If the person was a male you may find him in these censuses. A woman would be found only if she were the head of household.
Then you check the reservation annuity and census rolls bet. 1870 and 1940, which gave more information.The old issures of the Indian newspapers are excellent sources of information on Marriages, births and burials. Next would be the church records, assuming the person attended church.
Obituaries are excellent resources, next to the Probate /Heirship papers.