Cherokee Nation

This is an American Indian genealogy guide to records and research strategies for finding an ancestor from the Cherokee Tribe.

To get started in American Indian Research

Indians of North Carolina Cherokee Indians Indians of Oklahoma  Cherokee Indians

Cherokee Tribe is one of the Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Indians

Leaders: Sequoyah, Elias Boudinot, Nancy Ward

Cherokee clans: Wolf, Deer, Bird, Paint, and Ani-Saha ni, Ani Ga Tagewi, and Ani Gi la hi

Tribal Headquarters
Cherokee Nation Tribal 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 settler 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 catalyst 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) occurred 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
 * 1721: The Governor of the Carolinas signed the Cherokee Treaty. This was one of the first concession of land.
 * 1736: Jesuit Mission was founded
 * 1738-1750: Smallpox epidemics
 * 1775-83: During Revolutionary War supported the British
 * 1800: "Moravian," Protestant missionaries of German origin, established the first mission at Spring Place.
 * 1801-1823: An Indian agent, Return J. Meigs, lived among the Cherokee.
 * 1816: Lovely's Purchase. Osage agreed to cede land in Arkansas to the United States for the Cherokee people.
 * 1817: "Turkey Town Treaty" finalized the exchange for land in Arkansas. The "Old Settlers" begin their migration.
 * 1819-1821: Sequoyah (George Gist) created the Cherokee alphabet.
 * 1827: Tribal leaders recorded their constitution
 * 1828: Georgia held a lottery for Cherokee lands.
 * 1828: Cherokee Phoenix, a bilingual newspaper, contained columns in both English and Cherokee. Editor -- Elias Boudinot
 * December 1835: Treaty of New Echota, traded Cherokee lands in the southeast for land in Indian Territory (Oklahoma)
 * 1838: First Group; Start of Trail of Tears, 800-mile journey; 1838-39 - Second group; 4,000 Cherokees died
 * 1861: Beginning of the Civil War. A treaty was signed between the Cherokee Nation and the Confederate government.
 * 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.
 * 1887: General Allotment Act passed. This act required individual ownership of lands once held in common by the Cherokee people.
 * 1889: Unassigned lands in Indian Territory were opened to white settlers. (Oklahoma Land Rush)
 * 1893: Cherokee outlet was opened for white settlers.
 * 1906: A final agreement was reached between the federal government and the Cherokee people.The Dawes Commission (all Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cree and Seminole) created the enrollment records.
 * 1909: Guion Miller Rolls, Cherokee only, who applied for a share of the money from a law suit settlement against the United States

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.
 * Benjamin Greenleaf. Cherokee Almanac. 1860. FHL Film 989199 item 3
 * Fredrea Marilyn Hermann Cook. Forgotten Oklahoma Records. Cullman, Alabama: Gregath Co., 1981. FHL Book 970.3 C424co

Jurisdictions
The Cherokee Tribe was under the following jurisdictions:

Agencies

 * Cherokee Agency (North Carolina and Arkansas)
 * Union Agency

Reservations

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

Superintendencies

 * Arkansas Superintendency
 * Western Superintendency
 * Southern Superintendency
 * Central Superintendency

Records

 * Genealogy; Cherokee Notes by James Manford Carselowey. 1980.
 * Forgotten Oklahoma Records ( Allotment) by Fredrea Marilyn Hermann Cook. 1981. item 4 or FHL Book: 970.3 C424co
 * Township Plats, Cherokee Nation. Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
 * Cherokee Emigration Rolls, 1817-1835. by Jack D. Baker.
 * Cherokee Almanac, 1860. by Benjamin Greenleaf
 * Cherokee Almanac, 1861. By Benjamin Greenleaf

Census Records

 * 1835 Cherokee Nation
 * 1835,1837,1838 Cherokee Muster Rolls (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee) Item 2
 * 1851 Chapman Roll
 * 1851 Drennen Roll (Eastern Cherokees who came west after 1835) item 5
 * 1851 Old Settler Roll (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)
 * 1890 Eastern Band of Cherokees item 5
 * 1896 Tahlequah District item 2
 * 1896-1897 Kern - Clifton Roll www.accessgenealogy.com (contains 4523 individuals missed on the Wallace Roll.)
 * 1924 Baker Roll www.easternband.com also on and
 * Maude Bliss Allen, Census Records and Cherokee Muster Rolls. Washington, 1935. #54
 * 1896 Census of Citizens of Tahlequah District, Cherokee Nation item 2

Additional Records Available through the Family History Library


 * Mullary Roll 1848, Siler Roll 1851, 1852, Chapman Roll 1852, Swetland Roll 1869 and Hester Roll 1883 Item 2
 * Revised Roll 1924-1970
 * Historical Roll 1908, Churchill Roll 1908, Baker Roll 1924, Miller Roll 1909, Baker-revised Roll 1967
 * The Cherokee Phoenix, 1828-1835.
 * Cherokee Advocate, October 1844-September 1846, item 7
 * Cherokee One Feather, 1969-1973. item 4 and  item 8
 * Probate Records 1892-1908, Northern District Cherokee Nation by Orpha Jewell Wever

Enrollment Records

 * Dawes Commission Enrollment for Five Civilized Tribes
 * Eastern Cherokee - Guion Miller

Find out if you are a Cherokee by having your ancestor's name checked to the 1924 Baker Roll.

Removal
The Indian Removal Act was signed May 26, 1830 by President Andrew Jackson. The Act initiated a policy of removal of American Indians tribes living east of the Mississippi River to land west of the river.


 * "Indexes to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who Served During the Cherokee Disturbances and Removal in Organizations From the State of Tennessee and the Field and Staff of the Army of the Cherokee Nation" (NARA M908) (Worldcat) The compiled service records have not been microfilmed.


 * The above collection is also available online:
 * U.S. Army Indian Campaign Service Records Index (Ancestry) ($) - browsable only.


 * The Oklahoma Historical Societysite and research center has excellent information on Indian Removal,Census, Freedman Resources, Tribes in Oklahoma, Timelines for the removal of the Cherokee tribe and more.


 * 1835 Trail of Tears
 * Journal of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick by Trail of Tears Association
 * Library and Archives of Thomsas Gilcrease - Institute of American History

Newspapers and Obituaries
Annotated Obituaries from the Cherokee Advance, Canton, Georgia, 1880-1938 by John Carver 2003.Over 600 pages.

School Records

 * Saline District, Cherokee Nation, School Records 1900 item 6
 * Delaware District, Cherokee Nation. Beatties Prairie School item 1
 * Cherokee National Seminary, Male and Female Seminary Records, 1881-1882. item 1
 * Cherokee National Female Seminary 1876-1909. items 3, 6
 * Cherokee National Male Seminary 1876-1909. item 5 and  item 5
 * Arcadia School Records, 190. Saline District, Cherokee Nation item 6
 * T. L. Ballenger. Early History of Northeastern State College
 * Beatties Prairie School, Registers of Pupils, 1876-1881. Delaware Cherokee Nation

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 about each person enumerated. For more information about these records click here.

Correspondence

Treaties
The year link (year of the treaty) will connect to an online copy of the treaty.

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
 * 1791July 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
 * 1806January 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 Record of 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, 1926-1939,

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). Family History Library microfiche number: 6,016,865 (first fiche number)

Family History Library
The Family History Library catalog has over 1670 records of interest to the Cherokee Indians

Websites

 * 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
 * Cherokee Native Americans http://cherokeenativeamericans.blogspot.com
 * Native American Research http://nativeamericanresearch.blogspot.com