As with all my blog entries, this will need some editing. I
have spend many years pondering what I should do, as pertains to our
Indian blood. I have decided to become a member of a state recognized tribe. It has taken me twenty years of wavering back and forth on this issue. Finally jumping in . . .
One
day, I decided I'd look into the origins of our Indian blood, and I
started the research. I started our piecing together the family
stories. The family stories took me back to both the Cherokee and the
Catawba, via separate routes. There is a possibility of a Choctaw or
Chickasaw link, but evidence of it is just too weak at present to
take it seriously.
So
I looked into the histories of both the Cherokee and Catawba. It was
a quicker search for the Cherokee as their history is far better
known than that of the Catawba. While looking into the history of the
Cherokee, My online searches discovered there are 3 federally
recognized Cherokee tribes. There were also several state recognized
Cherokee tribes, and several dozen others not recognized by anyone
but their members.
Being
new to this, I wondered if it were possible to join any of these
groups, starting at the top, the federally recognized tribes. The
Cherokee required ones ancestors were on Dawes Rolls. There were
several named “Josephine Brown”, great grandma's maiden name. But
none were born the exact day she was born, although some were close.
There was a rejected “Samuel Richey”. Josephine's husband was
Jeffrey Richey. Jeff had an uncle Samuel, and we lose track of him.
Is his uncle the same man on the rejected rolls? Still don't know . .
. However, to be admitted we need to find a DIRECT ancestor, on
Dawes. When I was researching all this, Dad had died, but my mother
was still alive. She told me she recalled hearing dad's grandparents
had once tried to sign up for Dawes, but something happened, they
became upset, of felt insulted, or something, she didn't know what
had happened. But she said because of this, they never signed up for
Dawes. Therefore I realized I would not find us on the accepted or
the rejected rolls. Not being on the rolls meant we would not and
could not become tribal members.
That
is when I first thought of the state recognized tribes. Was that a
possibility? There were also dozens of groups calling themselves the
Cherokee/Chickamauga/Tsalagi Tribe/Band/Nation of a
state/county/river-creek/mountain range. Many of these had websites.
I contacted several, and was actively recruited. I went to events
sponsored by three of them. One was called “Cherokee Tribe of Old
Louisiana Territory”, a second was called “Texas Cherokee” or
“Tsalagi Nudagi”. A third was called “Southern Cherokee”.
http://www.ncnolt.net/
This is the link to the “Northern Cherokee nation of Old Louisiana
Territory”. They broke up into several groups, and are found mostly
in Missouri and Arkansas. There was a time when the first Cherokee
settlers west of the Mississippi River lived near the 'boothill' of
Missouri. A small settlement developed there to support the warriors
of Dragging Canoe and Doublehead They went down the Tennessee River
to its mouth. Then up other rivers to attack settlers in East
Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee in the late 1770s, 80s, and early 90s.
It is thought by members of this tribal organization some descendants
of these people remain, and survive to this day as mixed bloods.
Another
was Tsalagi Nvdagi. “Nvdagi” is said to be the Cherokee word for
“Texas”. http://www.texascherokees.org/tngoals.html
. This link tells something about them. The same Cherokee who were in
the boothill of Missouri were said to migrate to Arkansas after a
large earthquake hit the area in 1811. Some of these later migrated
to Northeastern Texas. There was a large cherokee community in Texas
until they were driven out in 1839, by Texans. Again, there is a
report that a remnant remained in Texas, and this group claims to
descend from them.
The
Southern Cherokee Nation has the following website.
http://www.southerncherokeenation.com/html/home.htm.
On their website they say they are federally recognized based on the
treaty after the Civil War, in 1866. Some Cherokee sided with the
South during the American Civil War. At the end of the war, General
Stand Waite, A Cherokee, was the last Confederate General of the war
to surrender. He was not defeated in battle, but surrendered anyhow.
The 1866 Treaty with the Cherokee was a treaty with these Confederate
Cherokee. This group, the Southern Cherokee nation, claims to descend
from them.
Now
not many people believe there were ANY Cherokee still in Missouri
today. Most researchers also think most if not all the Texas Cherokee
returned to Oklahoma. The Confederate Cherokee did the same. I was
always curious, but also was skeptical.
I firmly believe many people probably have mixed-American Indian ancestry that is not documented. I am not as certain that those ancestors are Cherokee. Everyone must be able to trace an ancestor back to the Cherokee Nation, and I know this is a difficult task. It is easy to discover evidence, but a vast chasm can separate evidence from fact. A lawyer can say "an abundance of circumstantial evidence", but that is am ambiguous phrase, meaning different things to different people.
While
visiting these “Southern Cherokee” I met Michael Johnson, and
what he was saying hit a chord in me.
http://www.ewebtribe.com/NACulture/articles/johnsonemail.htm.
Here is a link to something Michael Johnson was saying. Please know
Mike knew former Principle Chief Chad Smith personally. I a honored
that Mike was also a personal friend of mine, as well. Although I saw
Principle Chief Chad Smith once, in fact he walked right past me, I
am certain he had and has no idea who I was. :). Mike said these fake
tribal organizations were unnecessary. He got into an argument with
Tony McClure, author of “Cherokee Proud”.
http://www.ewebtribe.com/NACulture/articles/cherokeechief.htm
. Mike and I talked about these things as they were happening. I knew
mike and he was my friend, so I sided with him at the time. The
Cherokee Nation even wrote an article about Mike here –
http://www.cherokee.org/NewsArchives/Archives/9-00-23.htm
. I had tried to help Mike. I had hoped if an undocumented Cherokee
was able to 'befriend' enrolled Cherokee, they might change their
position, with respect to the undocumented. I looked up many of these
organizations trying to achieve federal recognition. The more I read
up on them, even tried to communicate with them, the more I realized
many had no idea of achieving federal recognition.
But
while looking into them, I also came across other, state recognized
groups. State recognition gives a degree of credibility those other
groups didn't have. About this time my friend, Michael Johnson passed
away, a great loss. I was torn between honoring his friendship and
these state recognized tribes. This was probably ten years ago. I had
even contacted the Cherokee Nation about some of these fake tribes,
keeping them informed about some of what was going on. I had
personally separated these state recognized tribes from these fake
tribes, and I was able to do this as I had researched them all
online.
After
a while, I gave up on all of that. It didn't seem that anyone cared
for my approach. Most other unenrolled Cherokee I ran across
literally hated the Cherokee Nation, and would have nothing to do
with them. I simply wanted to find my own ancestry, and document them
better. While doing this, I discovered my family had lived just South
of the Tennessee River, in Alabama, on lands ceded from the Cherokee
in 1816. I can document my family there in 1818. Also one of the
State recognized Cherokee tribes of Alabama claimed to have descended
from this group. Hmmm . . . they have more credibility being state
recognized. Hmmm . . . But the Cherokee nation still lumped this
group with the fake tribes . . . hmmm . . .
http://www.cherokee.org/News/Stories/22692.aspx
– Cherokee Nation report on the “Southern Cherokee”.
Not
long ago there was an easily accessed entry from a 2007 entry of the
Cherokee Phoenix. Dr. Richard Allen wrote an very good article as to
why to ignore many of rte groups calling themselves “Cherokee”.
He and I had emailed back and forth a few years earlier, back when
Michael Johnson, my friend, was still alive. I copied much of Dr.
Allen's words, and placed much of it in my blog entry at the link
above. I knew many of the groups calling themselves “Cherokee
tribes” had no validity. However there are three federally
recognized tribes. There are also several state recognized tribes.
My
next research was to look into the state recognized tribes. How valid
are they? Should I try to seek membership in one of them? The one
worth mentioning is the one I sought – The Echota Cherokee Tribe of
Alabama. All I could do was read what was online about them. First, I
discovered an author who was also a member. Ricky “Butch” Walker
has written several books on the Cherokee who remained along the
Tennessee River, in Lawrence County, Alabama, after their lands were
ceded. This, my family had done. We lived right there, where he said
these Indians were living at the time.
So
how rigorous were the requirements for state recognition? What I know
is what I saw online, and what I saw was on their website –
http://echotacherokeetribe.homestead.com/History.html
. This tells a great deal about how they came into existence. It
looks like it was quite an achievement for them to achieve state
recognition.
http://www.aiac.alabama.gov/tribes_EchotaCherokee.aspx
. Here is a little more. Now the Cherokee nation says if you charge
for tribal membership you are fraudulent. But the Cherokee nation
gets thousands of dollars, probably millions, from the federal
government. Without federal recognition, state recognized tribes get
nothing., and so must generate revenue some other way. You might look
at the membership fee as a sort of flat tax.
I
slowly started to realize that I wanted something for all my efforts
to find my ancestors. I wanted something to prove my efforts were
worth while. I hope I don't lose my friends who are federally
enrolled not only with the Cherokee, but other tribes as well. After
reading the efforts the members of the Echota Cherokee went through
to become state recognized, I realized I went through a similar
effort, and for a similar reason. We were not eligible to be
federally enrolled because of enrollment regulations. But perhaps we
could be state recognized.
So,
after 20 years of family research, 15 years of learning the history
and movements of literally every tribe that is either indigenous to
Oklahoma, or descend from the Emigrant tribes, I felt I was well
versed on the topic. We also have Catawba blood, but there is no
state recognized Catawba group I'd feel we'd be qualified to become
members. Earlier in the year I sent paperwork into the offices of the
state recognized “Echota Tribe of Alabama”. I am happy to state
that per a letter post marked 09 Dec 2015, received the following
notification. It starts by saying “Hello new member and welcome,”
– I immediately smiled.
I
did not do this solely for me, but for my family as well. I think
other Richey's and Hawkins' are also eligible as well. I know a
couple who are interested. I know we won't get those federal goodies
like hospital care, or educational benefits, but we can claim our
Cherokee blood without having to bear the ridicule of being called
“wannabes”. Having lived in Oklahoma most of my life, I know how
people who have a Cherokee heritage who can not claim it are often
treated. I LOVE Oklahoma, and can trace some ancestors here back to
1832 at least and perhaps earlier. But we are not on Dawes, and
therefore are not eligible. But we can trace other ancestors back to
Northern Alabama, and it is through them we are eligible to obtain
membership in the Echota Tribe of Alabama. I also home my Oklahoma
family and friends (especially those who are federally enrolled)
understand.
