GENEALOGY Genealogy records exist for tribal members, but it is almost impossible to trace genealogy based on a name that does not already appear as part of the tribal records. So an individual may have Cherokee ancestry, but they are not considered Cherokee tribal members unless they have Cherokee citizenship through enrollment. And you can only gain enrollment if you can prove your Cherokee blood line. IMPORTANT PLEASE READ! I receive a lot (and I mean a lot) of e-mails and phone calls from people wanting me to help them trace their genealogy but this is not something that I have the time to do. Folks, its just a time issue that my working hours cant fit in and a time issue that my free time hours cant fit in. I can tell you this, if there is no name to prove blood relation to a tribal member on the tribal rolls then it is virtually impossible to prove your ancestry. IF I WERE YOU, I would start at accessgeneaology where there is a list of all the Tribal Rolls. It will say, Native American Rolls. Start looking there with all the names of the people you have to look up. For instance, my grandparents (my moms parents who are both full blood) are on the roll as young teenagers in 1924 Baker Roll (for the Eastern Band Cherokee) when the roll was taken. Certainly I can prove blood line through my moms birth certificate that she is the daughter of these two individuals, which also proves my mom is full-blood since both her parents are full-blood. This proves my blood line and puts me on the roll. Again, if I were you, I would use the accessgeneaology website and begin my research there. Also, DNA testing is only accepted with the EBCI (Eastern Band Cherokee Indians) to prove you are Cherokee when there is someone to compare that test to in order to prove parentage, much like a paternity test. Your blood would still have to be compared to someone who is a descendant of someone on the roll, which means you still have to know who that person is and their descendants and the person you are comparing your blood to has to be living. And you have to trace back birth certificates to the person who is found on the 1924 Baker Roll (this is for the Eastern Band Cherokee). Contrary to popular belief, there is NO DNA OR BLOOD TESTING OR SWAB TEST that is performed or accepted by the EBCI that proves you are Eastern Band Cherokee Indian (EBCI). DNA tests are not far enough advanced that prove a specific tribe. The only DNA test accepted is one that proves parentage, so that person would have to be living and a descendant of someone on the 1924 Baker Roll (for the Eastern Band Cherokee). For other tribes, you will have to check their tribal rolls on accessgeneaology. You can click here to go to the Eastern Band Cherokee Indian website to check out more regarding your possible ancestry. P.S. -- I have no idea where you would get such a DNA test. And just to set the record straight, NO ONE is related to a Cherokee Princess because the Cherokee Tribe does not have princesses. We never did. We have the Beloved Woman of whom there are very few but there is absolutely no Cherokee Princess. Another record setting fact, Pocahontas was Algonquian, not Cherokee. She was also not a princess. She was the daughter of a chief (Chief Powhatan) who was paramount chief over an alliance around 30 different Algonquian speaking groups. In 1841 William Watson Waldron wrote about her being the daughter of a chief, which was seen as a king, so he figured she must be a princess if she was the daughter of a leader, king, emperor, etc. While there are many people who have Cherokee ancestry, not everyone qualifies for tribal citizenship in any of the three bands and they all have separate criteria for citizenship. Federally recognized Cherokee are those formally recognized by the United States government. Groups around the country who have no federal, historic, or cultural foundation often misguide individuals who do not qualify for tribal citizenship. This is a complex subject because the Cherokee Nation once enveloped parts of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, western West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, northern Alabama, northwestern South Carolina and northern Georgia. It is further involved by the infamous removal of the Cherokee to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears in the late 1830s. drstandley/nativeamerican_index.shtml#Geneaology
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:35:03 +0000