Cherokee Nation

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Cherokee

Population
1909 4,635   1858 abt. 7,000   1790 abt. 9,000
Regions with significant populations
Ancestral Homelands: Alabama to Virginia, northern Georgia, western North Carolina, and southern Tennessee Descendants: A large portion of the tribe was removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s. Some remained in North Carolina.
Status
Federally recognized
Linguistic Group
Iroquoian
Cultural Group
Southern Appalachian Mountains
Other Related Ethnic Groups
One of what is often called the "Five Civilized Tribes" and

Leaders: Sequoyah, Elias Boudinot

History

Eastern Band of Cherokee

Removal

Brief Timeline

• 1689-1763: French and Indian War, the Cherokee supported the English
• 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: Return J. Meigs, an Indian agent, 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

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.

Tribal Headquarters

Cherokee Nation Tribal www.cherokee.org/Government/Default.aspx Government
P.O. Box 948
Tahlequah, OK 74465
Phone: 918.453.5000

Records

Correspondence and Census

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-1880 Correspondence M234 RG 75 Rolls 962 Roll Number	FHL Film Number	Post-1885 Census M595 RG 75 Rolls 693  Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Cherokee	Cherokee Agency, 1824-80	Washington D.C.	Rolls 71-118	-	-	-
Cherokee	Union Agency,    1875-1914	Washington D.C. and Fort Worth	Rolls 865-77	-	-	-
Cherokee	Five Civilized Tribes Agency Muskogee, 1914-60	Fort Worth	-	-	-	-
Cherokee, North Carolina	Cherokee Indian Agency, 1886-1952	Atlanta	-	-	Roll 22	-
Cherokee Eastern	Cherokee Indian Agency, 1886-1952	Atlanta	-	-	-	-

Census Rolls

The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census Rolls on many of the reservations from 1885 to 1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details about each person enumerated. For more information about these records, click here.

The following table lists the census rolls for the Cherokee Indians:

(M595) 1898-1914 FHL Film 573868; 1915-1922 FHL Film 573869; 1923-1929 FHL Film 573870; 1930-1932 FHL Film: 573871, 1933-1939 FHL Film: 573872

Enrollment Records

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

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 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, FHL Film: 573871;  1926-1939, FHL Film: 573872

Important Web Sites

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

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; Family History Library book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; Family History Library book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; Family History Library book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; Family History Library book 970.1 W146e 2006.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)