Cherokee Indian Agency (North Carolina)

The Eastern Cherokee Agency is located in Cherokee, North Carolina. The supervising office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Eastern Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Cherokee

History
When the Cherokee Indians were removed from Tennessee and Georgia in the 1830s, many of them continued to live in the Smoky Mountain region. The Cherokee Agency in the east was discontinued in 1839 and no regular agent assigned to those who remained. Some special agents and commissioners were appointed to carry out specific duties relating to them, but no regular agency was established until 1882. It was located for a time at Quallatown, North Carolina and, since 1893, at Cherokee, North Carolina.

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

Some of the records of this agency are in the holdings of the Southeast Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Atlanta, including:


 * Census records, 1894-1905
 * Annuity records, 1905-1952
 * Individual student folders, 1920-1952
 * Other administrative records, 1890-1952

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Eastern Cherokee Agency, 1894-1899, are on roll 11 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers (their ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1898-1899, 1904, 1906, 1909-1912, and 1914-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 22 thru 26. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

Records available through the FamilySearch Library

 * 1848-1970 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1907-1948 - School Records, 1907-1948. FS Library film: 1249958 and 1249959