Great grandparents were either full blood or part Indian but not a tribal member, and there is a family tradition that our family had Indian blood, and I have been working on your family's genealogy and have just discovered a Native American ancestors.
Many young people are interested in learning more about their roots these days, and in the process of researching their family tree. Others have always been told there was Indian blood in their family and are understandably curious to know whether this is true and which tribe it may have been. This would describe my journey.
And along this trail of discovery I have found the following information:
Sadly, some people have this misguided idea that if their great-grandmother was a Blackfoot Indian this will somehow entitle them to money, scholarships, citizenship, or special rights. If this is your hope, you might as well give up on it right now and go buy a lottery ticket.
Very few American Indian tribes have any money at all--in fact, most reservations have standards of living similar to third-world countries--and none of them will give you any money even if you could prove great-grandma Sallie who belongs to their tribe. (Shame on you for asking them to, anyway... what kind of long-lost relative shows up at the door with his hand out demanding things?)
The US government provides very few scholarships and assistance programs for American Indians, and they are extremely strict about reserving them only for members of federally recognized tribes, their spouses and children.
I would not recommend seeking any special assistance from the government unless you live on a reservation and/or are at least 1/4 Indian with the records to prove it. Even then, I wouldn't hold your breath.
The government hasn't even got working phone lines coming in to some of our reservations yet. And as for tribal citizenship, the requirements for that vary from tribe to tribe, but unless your parent or grandparent was actually a Native American tribal member, the tribe will not be able to "look you up" and see if you are a descendent of theirs.
You will need to do this work yourself. Once you have all your genealogical information including your ancestor's full name, presence on any Indian rolls, and exact relationship to you, then you may contact the tribal enrollment office and inquire about their citizenship laws.
Please do not bother them before you have obtained this information--if you can't even find this information about your own family, then how could they?
I have been searching the rolls for 8 years now, but what I have found is that during the time period of 1800 through 1890's most did not list themselves as Native Americans they listed themselves as white....
During this time peroid it was NOT good to be an indian, the land in which you lived would be taken and sold, you and your family would be on your way to a reservation, or along the trail of tears...there was such a sigma attached to being indian and such hardships, many hid their native american heriatge out of fear.
However if you look closely and match the records and names you can indeed find the link between what the birth certificates say and the death certificates say and the indian census records. You just have to open your eyes.
Here is some of the records I have collected to date.
Wado
Debbe Miller
Cherokee Bloodlines
My family came from Tennesse to Kentucky to Missouri, during the same time peroid of the movement of the indians.
I found a Tisha Choke who was listed as Full Blooded Cherokee who was married to a great great grandfather Ruben Owens who had two sons Samuel and Wesley and the she died somewhere between the 1860 census and the 1870 census. Ruben is married to a Lou Jane Choate list in 1870 census and more children. My great greatfather was born 1868 in Kentucky Albany, Clinton County Ky. the exact location of the indians during that time peroid.
My grand mother Maggie was born (1900) in Piney Woods Ky, and is listed in the Dawes census as you guess cherokee. I also found an application submitted by Maggie (Native American citizenship) for her children, Thomas, David and Roy Miller but the appliation was rejected. David being my father is listed as BB meaning By Blood. Sudie Todd was the second wife of Harmon Miller she is also listed and was also called Susan or Susie Morgan Todd she is also listed in the cherokee blood. In short terms both my grand parents Maggie Owens and Thomas Miller were Native American.
| cherokee.doc |
