While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
These pages are meant as a guide for researching
you Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole ancestors, also
known as the Five Civilized Tribes.
Dusty has provided us with a guide and suggestions on how to start the
process, I have added URL's for additional information.
If you have additional questions please contact
Dusty!!
So, there's a story in your family that great, great
grandma (or grandpa) was an Indian, and you'd like to find out if it's
true? Good for you...it's about time the millions of descendants of
this country's original inhabitants were reconnecting with their lost
families. However, stepping off into the quagmire of Native American
research can be, for beginners, a nightmare of rolls, numbers, changed
names, etc., so here's a few suggestions that might help you track down
that lost ancestor.
What I'd like to address here is "the rolls". Since my experience
has been only with what is now called "The Five Civilized Tribes" of the
southeast (Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw), these
remarks will be limited to doing research on those tribes.
Let's take the
Final Dawes rolls,
for example, which are the most important rolls for those ancestors who
removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the 1800's, as well as the
Seminoles in Florida. The
Dawes rolls lists those members of the Five Civilized Tribes who
participated in what is called "The Trail of Tears".
This is a census of those people who were awarded land allotments
subsequent to the General Allotment Act of 1887, passed by Congress in an
effort to do away with communally-held tribal lands and initiate
individual land ownership among the Indians in Oklahoma. The mistake that
most researchers make is to go immediately to one of the rolls without
doing the proper research first. It is common for a researcher to find the
name they are looking for, and assume that they have found their long-lost
ancestor and the search is over.
There are, however,
tens of thousands of allottees listed on the Dawes alone, ensuring that
you can find just about any name you are looking for.
(There are 32 John Smith's listed on Dawes.)
By the time you have searched the many extant rolls available for
all five southeastern tribes, you can see the confusion that can abound.
I'm going to list the major rolls, when and
where they were done and a brief explanation of why each census was made:
The Final Dawes Roll (1898-1914):
Dawes is a list of those members of the Five Civilized Tribes who
removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the 1800's and were living
there during the above dates.
IF YOUR ANCESTOR WAS NOT LIVING IN INDIAN TERRITORY AT THIS TIME, THEY
WILL NOT BE LISTED ON DAWES!!
This is a list of those Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Seminoles and
Creeks who were given land allotments in Indian Territory via the 1877
Dawes Act. It was the final
step the US government took to break up the tribal status of these nations
and to assimilate them into mainstream white society.
The left-over land in Indian Territory was opened to white
settlement and sold prior to statehood.
This act opened the way for the famous "land runs" in Oklahoma at
the turn of the century.
Not until the Indian Reorganization Act of the 1970's were these
tribes re-established and their tribal governments reinstated.
Does that mean that every person living in Oklahoma at this time is
listed on Dawes?? NO!
There were plenty of people there (intruders and others) who were
not entitled to land allotments.
Dawes lists only those Indians who RECEIVED LAND under the
provisions of the Dawes Act.
It also lists those Freedmen who received land allotments as provided for
in the Dawes Act.
The
Guion-Miller Roll (1909):
In 1909 the US government was ordered by the courts to make payments to
the descendants of the original Eastern Band of Cherokee (of North
Carolina) for treaty violations on the part of the US that had occurred in
the 1800's. Some 100,000
people made applications to be included in this payment, claiming they
were descendants. Each
application was reviewed and only 35,000 were proved to be actual
descendants. Therefore, your
ancestor may have applied for this roll, but found not eligible and
rejected. There are records of these applications which include name,
application number and the state the applicant was living in at the time
it was made. Those who were
found to be genuinely eligible for this payment are listed on the "Guion
Miller Roll". This roll
includes EASTERN CHEROKEE ONLY, but they may have been living in any state
in 1909.
1817
Reservation Roll: A list of those Cherokee living in the "east" who stated they
did not want to remove to Oklahoma and signed up to accept a 640 acre
tract of land in the eastern part of the United States and remain there.
1817-1835 Emigration Rolls:
This is a list of those Cherokees in the east who signed up to move
west, first to Arkansas Territory and then on to Oklahoma.
1831
Armstrong Roll: This roll was done in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and
is a listing of CHOCTAWS living in those states, the number of acres
farmed and number of people in the household.
Made prior to the removal of the main body of Choctaws to Indian
Territory under the provisions of the Dawes Act.
1835 Henderson Roll: These Cherokees were living in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee
and North Carolina IN 1835 and signed up to remove to Oklahoma under the
1835 Treaty of New Echota (contains 16,000 names).
Just because they signed up doesn't mean they actually went, but
they registered their intent to remove.
1848 Mullay Roll: This is a list of those Cherokees who REMAINED in NORTH
CAROLINA after the others left in 1838.
It contains 1,157 names.
1851 Siler Roll: An act of Congress in 1850 forced the United States
government to make a payment to some members of the Eastern Band of
Cherokees. These are the
names of those who were found to be entitled to receive this payment.
Contains 1700 names.
1851 Old Settler Roll: This roll lists those Cherokees IN OKLAHOMA who were still
living in 1851 who were already living in Indian Territory when the main
body of the Cherokee arrives in the winter of 1839.
These people are known as the "Old Settlers".
They were already in Oklahoma when the Cherokees who removed under
the 1835 Treaty of New Echota got there.
1852 Drennen Roll: This was the first census of the new arrivals of 1839 and is
today known as the "Trail of Tears" group.
1852 Chapman Roll: This roll lists those Cherokee who actually received the
payment based on the names
Siler had.
1855 Cooper Roll: Listing of CHOCTAWS remaining in Mississippi, Alabama and
Louisiana at this time.
1869 Swetland Roll: Lists those Eastern Cherokee and their descendants who were
STILL LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA in 1848 and who were considering removal to
Indian Territory.
1883 Hester Roll: Lists the Eastern
Band of Cherokees in 1883.
These were the people who were still in the east and had not removed to
Indian Territory. This roll
contains ancestors, age and Indian name, plus English names.
1908 Churchill Roll: Again, lists only those members certified as Eastern Band of
Cherokee. Includes degree of
blood and lists rejected.
1924 Baker Roll: This was supposed to be the last roll of the Eastern Band of
Cherokee. Their land remaining in the east was to be allotted to them
individually rather than communally-held tribal lands, and they would
become regular US citizens.
Fortunately the Eastern Band of Cherokee was able to avoid termination of
their tribal status, unlike those who had removed to Oklahoma.
The Revised Baker Roll is the "base roll" for membership in the
Eastern Band of Cherokee today.
One must be able to PROVE a direct blood line back to someone
listed on the Baker Roll, plus meet age and blood quantum requirements, to
be enrolled today in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North
Carolina.
Most newbies to Indian research seem to think that, at
some point, those government bean-counters said to themselves, "let's sit
down and make a list of all the Indians so their descendants can find them
in 150 years." NOTHING could be further from the truth! The
above-named tribes were removed from their homelands during the
administration of Andrew Jackson (although plans for the removals had been
started under the presidency of Thomas Jefferson) to free-up prime
agricultural lands inhabited by indigenous people to white settlement.
The long-range plan of the US government was to isolate those tribes in
that portion of the southeast that had been designated "Indian Territory"
(later to become part of the States of Arkansas and Oklahoma) and then to
begin the total assimilation of all Indians into the encroaching white
culture with the termination of all tribal governments and ties to their
original nations.
The only reason we have the "rolls" or "censuses"
that we have today is because Uncle Sam had to keep track of who he was
moving, allotting land to, making payments to for treaties broken, etc. -
not to make sure that everybody was counted. The rolls and censuses
done are not complete and sometimes inaccurate, but they're all we have.
There are dozens of different "rolls" (they were censuses first - later
they became "rolls) for the different nations (tribes) done at different
times for different reasons.
These rolls have been transferred to microfilm and
are housed at the National Archives, the Ft. Worth, Texas branch being the
primary home for those records dealing with the Five Civilized Tribes.
Some are also housed at the branch in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of them
have been published in some form, and are available for public research at
libraries in larger towns (usually in the "Federal Records" division), on
the Internet at various sites, and in printed form for private purchase.
There is also available many other "lists" of names recording transactions
between the nations and the federal government, both published and on
microfilm.
The National Archives publishes a catalog of all it's
holdings relating to Indian records which can be searched for the specific
records you will need to research your particular tribe. That
catalog is a good place to start. Most libraries have this catalog,
or a copy can be ordered from any branch of the National Archives.
Ask for "American
Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications".
Records are listed by nation (tribe), so it's a good idea to first find
out which nation your ancestor may have been a member of. Look at
the nations that were living in the area where your ancestor was born at
that time.
Another terrific source for researching the Five Civilized Tribes is the
Oklahoma Historical Society, 2100 North Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City,
OK 73105-4997. This Society is committed to preserving Oklahoma
history and maintains a large library of documents, manuscripts, etc.
They also publish a catalog of their holdings which can be ordered by
contacting them at the above address.
