Anyone can conduct his or her own genealogical research in search of Lumbee ancestors. The Lumbee tribe itself does not perform such a service for obvious reasons: no matter how small or large tribes may be, they necessarily deal with a wide variety of issues, much like any other government body, and simply cannot accommodate requests for individual assistance. Additionally, the Lumbee tribe does not provide databases, mailing lists, listservs, etc. for geneological researchers.
However, should you decide to take on this kind of research (and we highly recommend doing this if you are interested in learning not just about yourself and your family, but this country as a whole), once sufficient and verifiable data has been collected, it is easy enough to submit it to the tribal office for review and confirmation. Such confirmation does not automatically constitute membership in the tribe, and researchers should be advised that establishing Lumbee ancestry does not make one a Lumbee, in the eyes of the tribe. The Lumbee Tribe's criteria requires that one be able to verifiably trace one's ancestry to an individual, and thus family, listed on the 1900 federal census, as well as prove a continuing connection to members of that family who are still resident in Robeson, Scotland, Sampson, or Hoke counties. For more information about tribal enrollment policies, please contact the Lumbee Regional Development Association (LRDA) at (910) 521-8602, or see www.lumbee-tribe.org
Having conducted this kind of research ourselves, we would be remiss if we didn’t let you know that researching the Lumbee (particularly genealogical research) is a daunting task. It requires the researcher to abandon the usual definitions of “tribe,” “Indian,” “race,” “fact,” even “documents,” and just about every other convention of research on Native Americans. You have to use your imagination in tracking down evidence of your ancestors. What you probably require more than anything else when pursuing this kind of research is patience—with yourself, more importantly with your ancestors, and with the folks doing the recording.