How to Find Out Birth Information on Cherokee Ancestors
Native Americans have had an unbroken history for centuries. Unfortunately, some tragic circumstances have decreased the availability of traditional genealogy resources for the original inhabitants of this country. The 1830 Removal Act (Trail of Tears) was a forced migration from ancestral lands to a territory in Oklahoma. This event clouded the recorded history of the Cherokee Nation. Finding your Cherokee ancestors now requires relying on a combination of tribal, federal and professional genealogy resources.
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Instructions
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Prepare a family tree for at least three generations. Gather as much as much information as you can about living family members, no matter how distant the relationship. Ask them for copies of any written records of births, deaths, marriage and military service.
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Fill in all of the information that you can about every relative from prior generations. Collect copies of any official documents that indicate the birthplace of all of your ancestors. Try to find education records that document any name changes that resulted from school attendance.
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Find birth data for your ancestors by tracing your lineage east of the Mississippi River first. Look at federal Census records (Siler rolls) to research family members who may have been members of Cherokee bands in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. The federal government does not officially recognize these groups as part of the Cherokee Nation; however, you may find a link that connects your direct ancestors to them.
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Search the information in the 1851 and 1890 Cherokee Census rolls to find additional family members. You also need to search regular census records for family links in each of the states where any of your family members lived since 1890. Start with the Oklahoma records from 1900 through 1930.
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Search the 1899 through 1906 Dawes Rolls to see if any of your ancestors registered as members of the federally recognized Cherokee Nation. The Guion Miller Rolls and state-by-state census rolls from 1817 through 1924 contain many birth, death and marriage records for Eastern Cherokee bands.
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Tips & Warnings
The National Archives has 14 regional research centers. You can visit these locations to search Census data and other valuable records on microfiche. You need to find the correct roll number(s) first to make your visit fruitful.
Tribal membership in the Cherokee Nation is limited to descendants of the families that completed the required application for membership when the Dawes Roll was finished. You must find an ancestor who met all the qualifications at that time in order to be accepted into the Cherokee Nation now.
