Scrip Applications in our Database
Data Categories for Northwest Scrip Applications Document Series
Over the course of forty years and eleven scrip commissions, the forms used to take Northwest “Half-breed” scrip applications evolved. The largest variation in form and content occurred between the 1900-1902 claims for children born between 15 July 1870 and 31 December 1885 and the earlier commissions. However, some common elements can be found throughout most of the records and these have been captured in the MNC Historical Online Database. An examination of the digital version of the original documents may provide additional information.
Surname: The birth name of the claimant, applicant applying on behalf of another person (applicant), or derived individual[1] was entered into this field using the same spelling that appears on the original application. If the applicant was a married woman, her maiden (birth) name would have been entered into this field.
Given Name: The first or given name of the claimant, applicant, or derived individual was entered into this field using the same spelling that appears on the original application.
Country or Place of Birth: The name of the place where the claimant, applicant, or derived individual stated they were born was entered into this field.
Place of Residence: The name of the place where the claimant, applicant, or derived individual claimed to have resided at the time of application was entered into this field.
Year of Birth: Even if a complete birth date was provided for the claimant, applicant, or derived individual, only the year was entered into this field.
Sex: The gender of the claimant, applicant or derived individual has been determined by the researcher, based on information provided in the application, and has been entered into this field.
Married Name: Because the “Surname” field captured the maiden name of a married woman, her married name (her husband’s surname) was entered into a separate field.
Spouse’s Name: The claimant’s, applicant’s, or derived individual’s spouse was recorded by researchers in this field. It was not uncommon for applicants to list more than one marriage. However, only the living or most-recent spouse was captured in this field.
Father’s Name: The claimant’s or derived individual’s father’s name has been entered into the database with the exact spelling that appears on the application.
Mother’s Name: The claimant’s or derived individual’s mother’s name (before marriage) has been entered into the database using the exact spelling that appeared on the application.
Father’s Ethnicity: This field provides information on the ethnicity of the claimant’s or derived individual’s father. Scrip applications often asked if the claimant’s parents were “White, Half-breed, or Indian.” N.B: at the time of Northwest Scrip applications, the term “Half-breed” was used extensively and was considered acceptable by the government.
Mother’s Ethnicity: This field provides information on the ethnicity of the claimant’s or derived individual’s mother. Scrip applications often asked if the claimant’s parents were “White, Half-breed, or Indian.” N.B: at the time of Northwest Scrip applications, the term “Half-breed” was used extensively and was considered acceptable by the government.
Year of Application: Even though the exact date of the application can usually be found on the original document, only the year of application has been entered into this database field. This allows the Online Database search engine to easily categorize documents by year.
Place of Application: The place of application was usually noted at the end of the original document, where the claimant or applicant signed the application. This information has been entered into the field, using the spelling that appears on the original document. Place names were written in full, and provinces, if noted on the original document, are abbreviated.
Originating Record: This field refers to the record from which the information has been obtained. For example, if a derived database record were created for a John Smith from Mary Smith’s application, the originating record would be Mary Smith’s NW Scrip Application (and would appear in this field as “Mary Smith”).
[1] A “derived” individual is someone whose name appears on the Application but who was not the applicant. These individuals have been entered into the database so that information can be found on them using the search engine, even if they never applied for Northwest Scrip. Children did not complete Applications; parents would make claims for their children by including information for each child on their own Application. Therefore, there may be many derived records, relating to many individuals, generated from one Application.