Birth record for a child of Lot Eyelash, an Apache prisoner of war

Searching for the birth dates of Native-Americans is difficult, especially for Indians born in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century outside the municipal jurisdiction of a census taker, in an area that did not record birth certificates yet or at all, or on a reservation where births may have taken place without any record being made. For Native-Americans living on military bases (either as Scouts, soldiers or prisoners of war) it may be possible to obtain a year or determine a year and month by doing calculations based on a stated age in an Enlistment Paper, or by reference to the small collection of Birth Records (NARA RG94, entry 541, Carded Birth Records 1884 – 1912) that span a critical period when certified birth records for most other Americans are unavailable.

The case of Lot Eyelash (an Apache) and his son Quinton Eyelash is a good example. Lot Eyelash was a member of the Apache tribe of Arizona and that is where he was born in the late 1860s. He was among the various bands of Apache warriors who were captured by the Army in the campaigns against Geronimo and his followers. As a prisoner, Lot was sent to Fort Sill (Comanche County, Oklahoma) which was at that time the central military base in the Indian Territory, to serve an indefinite incarceration. Despite being far away from his ancestral lands, Lot made Fort Sill his home and raised a family there. Lot later served as an Indian Scout and then as a Regular soldier in the 11th and 12th Regiments of United States Infantry and in the Indian Company (Troop L) of the 7th Regiment United States Cavalry. Although a prisoner-of-war, he was allowed to enlist in the US Army, served honorably for a number of years and even applied for a pension. He never returned to Arizona.

Lot and his son Quinton appear in a number of Indian Census enumerations, including the 1917 census for Apache Prisoners at the Kiowa Agency and the 1933 Indian Census Roll of the Kiowa Agency, but nowhere does it state specifically when Quinton was born. By reference to the Carded Birth Records, we find that Lot Eyelash fathered a number of children while living near Fort Sill. Quinton’s card, although it does not have his name on it, reveals he was born on 9 February 1912.

Birth records for 3 of Lot Eyelash's children with Quinton shown as "Unknown"

We can determine that this card represents the birth of Quinton because he is the only one of Lot’s children listed in the census as having been born in 1912. It also gives the name of his mother, something which is also difficult to determine by reference to the census.

Carded Birth Records, 1884 – 1912, exists for most of the military bases in the continental United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. They only record the births of people born on the military base or in a military hospital, whether the parents were in the military or not. The births of the children of Indians residing on base, prisoners of war, Quartermaster employees, contract surgeons, nurses, teamsters, blacksmiths, sutlers or other various civilians employed by the military or living in the vicinity may also be found. They are in an alphabetical arrangement by the last name of the father, or in a few cases by the mother when she did not give the father’s name or it was not known.

Eyelashes in US Army Birth Records