Cherokee Nation

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Leaders: Sequoyah, Elias Boudinot, Nancy Ward

Tribal Headquarters
Cherokee Nation Tribal 'www.cherokee.org/Government/Default.aspx Government' P.O. Box 948 Tahlequah, OK 74465 Phone: 1-918-453-5000


 * Official Web Site of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

History
The Spanish explorer De Soto was the first to encounter the Cherokee in the1540's.

During the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War the tribe supported the British.

By 1820 a group that had tired of the encroachment by settlers migrated to Indian Territory which is now Arkansas.

Sequoya (George Grist) a mixed blood, developed the Cherokee alphabet, helping to make the tribe a literate people.

In the 1830's gold was discovered in their Nation, this became a catalist for removal. With the signing of the Treaty of New Echota, December 29, 1835 the tribe sold their remaining land and agreed to move west of the Mississippi.

The removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) occured in the winter of 1838-1839, with a 800 mile journey, this became known as the "Trail of Tears", with a loss of one-fourth of their tribe. They joined an earlier group known as "old settlers" who had been in Arkansas. Another group that had been in Mexico (Texas) was forced by government troops to move, they went to the mountains of North Carolina where in 1842, they obtained permission to stay. The Texas group are now a part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.

The Cherokee were slave owners, and resided in areas encompassed by southern influence many of them enlisted in the Confederate Army. A Treaty signed in 1866 remitted them to the United States. They were required to release their slaves. Others had joined the Union Army.

In 1870 some Delaware and Shawnee from Kansas were admitted to the tribe.

There are three band of Cherokee recognized by the Federal government; Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee, and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee

Brief Timeline

 * 1689-1763: French and Indian War, the Cherokee supported the English
 * 1736: Jesuit Mission was founded
 * 1738-1750: Smallpox epidemics
 * 1775-83: During Revolutionary War supported the British
 * 1800: "Moravians," Protestant missionaries of German origin, established the first mission at Spring Place.
 * 1801-1823: an Indian agent, Return J. Meigs, lived among the Cherokee.
 * 1819-1821: Sequoyah (George Gist) created the Cherokee alphabet.
 * 1827: Tribal leaders recorded their constitution
 * 1828: Cherokee Phoenix, a bilingual newspaper, contained columns in both English and Cherokee. Editor -- Elias Boudinot
 * December 1835: Treaty of New Echota
 * 1838: First Group; Start of Trail of Tears, 800-mile journey; 1838-39 - Second group; 4,000 Cherokees died
 * 1865: Eastern Band lost many to a smallpox epidemic
 * 1866: July 19, treaty provided for the cession of the Cherokee "neutral lands" in Kansas. Indians living on the land could receive a patent to 320 acres but stipulated that they would no longer be members of the Cherokee nation.

Additional References to the History of the Tribe and/or Bands
Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Cherokee tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America.

Reservations

 * Qualla Reservation for Eastern Cherokees, in Swain and Jackson counties, North Carolina
 * Cheowah Reservation in Graham county, North Carolina

Census Records

 * 1835 Cherokee Nation http://hometown.aol.com
 * 1851 Chapman Roll www.tngennet.org
 * 1851 Old Settler Roll www.accessgenealogy.com (A list of Cherokee still living in1851 who lived in Indian Territory before 1839)
 * 1852 Siler Roll  http://members.aol.com
 * 1854 Roll Cherokee Indians prepared by Mallay www.accessgenealogy.com
 * 1880 Cherokee Census www.accessgenealogy.com
 * 1890 Wallace Roll - Cherokee Freedmen (African Americans - Cherokee citizenship) www.afregeneas.com
 * 1896-1897 Kern - Clifton Roll www.accessgenealogy.com (contains 4523 individules missed on the Wallace Roll.)
 * 1924 Baker Roll www.easternband.com

The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census rolls on many of the reservations from 1885-1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details aboaut each person enumerated. For moare infoormation about these records click here.

Correspondence
 

Enrollment Records

 * Dawes Commision Enrollement for Five Civilized Tribes
 * Eastern Cherokee - Guion Miller

Removal
1835 Trail of Tears www.accessgenealogy

Treaties
During the latter part of the 18th Century and most of the 19th Century, treaties were negotiated between the federal government and individual Indian tribes. The treaties provide helpful information about the history of the tribe, but usually only include the names of those persons who signed the treaty. For more information about treaties, click here.

Treaties to which the Cherokee Indians were a part were:


 * 1785 November 28, at Hopewell
 * November 28, 1785, referred to
 * 1791 July 2, on Holston River
 * 1794 June 26, at Philadelphia
 * 1798 October 2, at Tellico
 * 1804 October 24, at Tellico
 * 1805 October 25, at Tellico
 * 1805 October 27, at Tellico
 * 1806 January 7, at Washington
 * September 11, 1807,
 * August 9, 1814, referred to
 * 1816 March 22, at Washington
 * 1816 September 14, at Chickasaw Council House 
 * 1817 July 8, at Cherokee Agency
 * 1819 February 27, at Washington
 * 1828 May 6, at Washington, Western Cherokee
 * 1833 February 14, at Fort Gibson
 * 1835 March 14, unratified
 * 1835 August 24, at Camp Holmes
 * 1835 December 29, at New Echota
 * March 1, 1836, supplementary
 * 1846 August 6, at Washington, with Western Cherokee
 * September 13, 1865, at Fort Smith-unratified
 * 1866 July 19, at Washington
 * 1868 April 27, Western Band Treaties


 * May 6, 1828, at Washington
 * February 14, 1833,

 

Vital Records
Prior to the Indian Reorganization Act, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through their agencies, may have recorded some vital events. Some were recorded on health forms, such as the "Sanitary Recordof Sick, Injured, Births, Deaths, etc." Others were recorded as supplements to the "Indian Census Rolls." Some were included in the unindexed reports and other correspondence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Some vital records for the Cherokee Indians include:


 * Cherokee Agency, M 595, births and deaths 1924-1932, FHL Film: 573871; 1926-1939, FHL Film: 573872

Indian Pioneer Papers
In 1936, the Oklahoma Historical Society and University of Oklahoma requested a writer's project grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in which interviews would be conducted with early settlers in Oklahoma who had lived on Indian land. More than 100 writers conducted over 11,000 interviews and were asked to "call upon early settlers and (record) the story of the migration to Oklahoma and their early life here." The University of Oklahoma Western History Collection has digitized the Indian Pioneer Papers which consists of approximately 80,000 indexed entries arranged alphabetically by personal name, place name, or subject. An index to the Indian Pioneer Papers may also be found at OkGenWeb Oklahoma Genealogy. A separate index of Indians interviewed, including the Cherokee, may be viewed at: “Indians in the Indian Pioneer Papers” Some of the surnames from the Cherokee tribe found in the collection are: Adair (Rider), Anderson, Beaver, Brewer, Bohanan, Burch (Choate), Campbell, Candy, Chambers (Ketcher), Coodey, Crutchfield (Lane), Daniels (Cummins), Daughtery (Morris), Drew, Dugan, Duncan, Harlan (James), Keys (Porter), Ketcher (Langley), Langley, Lynch, Marcham, McClure (Keith), Miller (Watts), Morris, Phillips (Keith), Rider (Howland), Ross, Rutherford (Rider), Starr, Vann, West (Spring).

Important Web Sites

 * Constitution of the Cherokee Nation
 * Official Web Site of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
 * All Things Cherokee website-- a largely commercial website with a free message board and some free information about Cherokee research and records.
 * Cherokee