On the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll Margarita Brittain is 4/4

In the late 1950's and early 1960's Pala sought to organize itself.  Part of this process was establishing a government to government relationship with the BIA which meant establishing governing documents.  Pala worked to establish the Articles of Association as its governing document.

Pala also sought economic development.  Part of economic development involved per capita payments to its members from business enterprises.  In order for this to happen Pala had to establish an enrollment standard and the BIA had to approve the rolls. This lead to the establishment of Ordinance No. 1 which governed enrollments.

Pala decided to use the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll as the base roll for the tribe.  The original Pala Allotment Roll was hand written by alloting agents and did not have blood degrees.  In the 1960's Pala and the BIA reconstructed this roll to include blood degrees using notes from the Alloting agents, Individual Family History Cards, and other documents.

The Pala Enrollment Committee had 5 points to consider:


Pala Enrollment Committee - 5 points to be considered for enrollment

Notice the Pala Enrollment Committee recommended a minimum blood degree of 1/16.  This was because they wanted to look out for their grand children and great grand children.

Here is the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll as reconstructed in the 1960's.  Margarita Brittain is listed as 4/4 and her children as 1/2:

1913 Pala Enrollment Approved by Secretary of the Interior




Every name on the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll is listed as either 4/4 or 1/2.  This because one had to be at least 1/2 to receive an allotment at Pala.  Margarita's children received allotments.  Also note there is no distinction as to what type of blood degree each person had.  There was a mix of Indians living at Warner's and Indians already living at Pala.  As such Pala is a "Band" of Mission Indians which include Kupa, Luiseno, Kumeyaay, Cahuilla, and Yaqui.  Blood Degrees in the Articles of Association came to be known as "Pala Blood" rather than distinguishing from each group.

Here is Margarita Brittain's selection for Allotment:

1911 Margarita Britten Selection for Allotment (Brittain)

You will notice that the Alloting agent that signed Margarita's allotment selection was L.W. Green.

When Pala inquired into Margarita Brittain's blood degree in 1962 they received this letter from the BIA:
1962 Feb 27 Letter from the Department of the Interior - Margarita Britten Full Blood Cupa Indian


Notice that it was the alloting agent L. W. Green who made a record that Margarita Brittain was a fullblood Cupa Indian.

My copy of the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll came from my Grandmother, Pauline Pink.  This is the letter that she received with her copy of the roll:

1967 Jan 12 Letter to Pauline Pink Accompanying the 1913 Pala Allotment Roll