The Old Settlers

The Old Settlers

The Cherokee Nation after the Trail of Tears was divided into several different categories. Those that remove prior to this forced removal, (the Old Settlers), (some of who went into Texas and became known as the Texas Cherokees), the Treaty party, and the Emigrant Cherokees. There were also those who were able to stay in the Old Cherokee Nation and became known as the Eastern Cherokees. So add this on top of the mix blood- full blood problem there was a great deal of strife in the Nation. Today I will try to explain one of such parties, the Old Settlers and how to go about researching these ancestors.

There was a large number of the Cherokees who became known as the Old Settlers because they removed to Indian Territories befoRe the forced removal on the Trail of Tears. Mostly settling in Arkansas, between 1817- 1835. They removed as to get away from the intruding whites on the Cherokee Nation. Not only were they the mixed blood families but the full bloods who left the original Cherokee lands. The problems back in the East were very bad indeed. Most were afraid of even leaving there homes because they would return and a white family would be moved in. The Cherokees have very little recourse in these matters so for a large number of them, the territories west of the Mississippi looked pretty good. The Cherokees were unable to press suit against the white settlers.

If they signed up for removal between 1817-1835, they received from the U S government to each head of the family a good rifle, a blanket, a kettle, 5 pounds of tobacco, and compensation for all improvements abandoned. All members of the family received a blanket. Each head of household removing at least 4 persons with him received $50. They also paid for the cost of removal and substance for one year afterwards. There was said to be 1,000 Cherokees that had already removed before 1817 but it was not regulated or payments made by the government and no census was taken by the government on the Old Settlers prioR to 1851. In 1835 roughly one third of the Cherokee population had removed to Indian territory including Sequoyah.

Some of the earliest Old Settlers were Tal-on-tee-skee and his brother John Jolly. Tal-on-tee-skee was Chief of the Old Settlers also known as the Western Cherokees. He oPted to go to Arkansas after he and Doublehead took bribes from the U S government. This is said to be one of the reasons that Major Ridge a cousin and companion to Doublehead assassinated him. After Doublehead's execution, Tal-on-tee-skee who also was relate loosely to Doublehead and his brother in law decided he would be better off leaving the Cherokee Nation or face the same faith. Tal-on-tee-skee settled on the White and St. Francis rivers, what is now known as the N E Arkansas in app 1810. The Bowl (Duwali) a half blood son of a Scotish trader who was killed when he was 12 and a full blood, an Usliwai (or Fox) close by. There apperantli had been other times that the Cherokees had been in this area to hunt because earlier the Osage had made complaints about them hunting on their lands

The U S refused to give aid to these Cherokees because the land in Arkansas was not exchanged for land in the East. The Cherokees that remained in the East refused to succeed any more land but relented signing the Treaty of 1817 in which two tracts of land were ceded- one in Northern Tennessee, the other in East Georgia.

The Arkansas Cherokees fought to have the U S government recognize themselves as a separate but distinct Cherokee Nation. In the Treaty of 1817 the U S had provided for a separate census for annuity payments to the Old Settlers, however the US left the lands in Arkansas undefined and refused annuity payments. This was for two reasons. The 1st and main reason was that they were trying to encourage more of the Cherokees to move to Arkansas so the Americans could get more land. The other reason was that the Osage fought the Cherokee encroachment on their tribal lands. This caused may a battle even thought the Osage out numbered them, the Cherokees won most of these battles due to the fact that most of the fierce Chickamunga were amongst this group.

The Chickamunga were in the most part full blood warriors who had not adoPted the white man ways.  They lived traditionally and followed the Old Cherokee customs and laws. Some of the most noted were Dragging Cannoe, the Bowl, Blackcoat and Ta-kah-ko-kuh a distinguished Chief and warrior.

The matter of the Old Settler into receiving an annuity was not solved until 1828 when a payment was made top the Arkansas Cherokees. Terri Moore has put up this list on the Internet. It is very helpful in searching for information if the Old Settler had removed prior to 1828. I myself use this list often even though it is only a head of household and number in the famili it often provides vital clues

The first step on doing Old Settlers research is much the same as doing Emigrant Cherokee research. Go to the Dawes* The Dawes roll was how the land was divided by the government for the Cherokees it was done from 1898-1902. A large number of Cherokees refused to participate in the Dawes Act, believing that the government had no right to take away the lands that had been given to them "for as long as the grass should grow" or until the land that the whites didn't want and was useless to them in 1835 became very valuable and oil rich 60 years later. Another stipulation to the Dawes Act was that you had to physically go to Indian Territory now Oklahoma. So both of these facts can be contributing factors in why you might not be able to find an ancestor on the Dawes. On Guion Miller these factors did not play in so there are lots of those who never received Dawes roll numbers who did receive this payment for the emigrant Cherokees. However it is important to note that even if they were on the Millers without Dawes numbers if you wish to be registered with the Cherokee Nation you must connect to a direct ancestor on the Dawes roll!!!!!

Okay so you find your family on the Dawes where do you go from there? The first thing you should do is get the census card numbers and Dawes enrollment packet. ( I will go into further explanation of these a little later on). These numbers are included on Bob Blankenship's Dawes Plus roll book and also his Guion Miller plus roll book. The Dawes plus will also give you the age in 1902 and degree of blood. At this time it is very important to note that the degree of blood that they have registered under is not always their degree of blood.

There are many contributing factors to what the degree of blood was recorded as. First being that if they were ½ Cherokee they were not legal able to transact any business without a white guardian appointed over them. Because of this fact a large number of full bloods and those that were; Cherokee enrolled as less then half. Another one you will come across is that they are registered as full bloods and you KNOW that they have a white ancestor. In most cases those who were 1/2; or more were often classified as full bloods. Another factor is in some cases they did not actually know their degree of blood. If you have looked on the microfilm or received copies of the Dawes enrollment packet you will have probably come across " I guess I am about 1/4; Cherokee " or similar remarks in there. This was what the Dawes Commission would use as a basis for Degree of Blood. The last factor is that there were different people calculating the degrees of Blood sometimes not very accurateli. It is not unusual to find 1 brother listed as 3/32 and the rest of his siblings listed as 1/16 etc. Very often I have seen a lot of you throw out very valuable information because the blood degree doesn't match. If you have any suspicions at all GET THE CENSUS CARD.

Okay now that we have covered the census card and Dawes enrollment packet I should explain to you what information is on these items. The census cards refer to the census that was done on the Cherokee is 1900. It has on it the entire family that was living together in that year, the Dawes no., their age in 1900 their sex, degree of blood. The names of their parents and if they were or were not citizens of the Cherokee Nation and what Districts they were from. It also will include if the were on the Cherokee census of 1880 and give the number and also on the one done in 1896. These are very valuable numbers to YOU. These can pull all your famili groups together. If you have an older family member that is say 50 years old in 1902 with no children living at home you can look at the 1880 and find the children and spouses this way. The 1880 census only includes the sex and age of children and is done loosely alphabetically by family groUps so if you are looking for a half sibling most likely they will be in the district under their surname.

Dawes enrollment packet includes the census plus a questionnaire, which ask such questions as the names of your minor children, your name, if you are a Cherokee by blood or adoption, the degree of blood if your parents are living, and your spouses names. Depending on the interviewer some are more detailed then others.

The above information applies to both emigrant and Old Settler Cherokees. Now we start to differ a little bit here. Okay so now where do you go from here? You need to first check the Guion Millers plus book in the rejected section. If you get lucky they put in for a Millers claim but if they didn';t have any ancestors that didn't remove voluntarily then the would be rejected. However these applications were still kept and on the Millers application you can find wonderful research information. The names of all their children, their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and brothers and sisters. You can also find out sometimes their Indian names and when they were born and died if the claimants knew just like the Millers accepted applicants. Jerry Wright Jordan has put out a series of books called "Cherokee by Blood" that go from 1 to currently 23,800 of these application. If you do have a rejected number it is very much worth your time to look these applications up and find out if they had other family that also put in rejected applications as well that might give you some more details. You can get the applications by either ordering the microfilm rolls from your local Family History center or sending off from the National Archives.

Okay so no luck finding a rejected application so what do you do from there are you at a dead end? No way you just need to know the tricks. As I have said the 1880 numbers can realli help you, only problem is that the 1880 roll is not readily available.   It is availble on microfilm but I do have a paper copy of it. Also the 1896 is available on microfilm at least I have seen the Old Settlers part of it on microfilm and there also suppose to be part of it for the emigrant Cherokees as well but I haven't seen it. But David Keith Hampton has put out a book that has both the Old Settlers payment in 1896 (this is the census roll) and the Old Settlers roll that was done in 1851. This book is an incredibly asset for those that are looking to find Old Settlers and also those Emigrant Cherokee that might have family that was Old Settlers. In it they list the people who descend from them, their relationships, their ages and where they were living in 1896. If they were still living in 1896 they would be elieible to claim there own share.

I have found that the best age calculation from this roll is to minus the age given from 1894. Also it should be noted that males under 21 and females under 18 had guardians appointed over them. It is very impoRtant to note these minors guardians sine often times they were other family members and this in itself can provide a valuable clue when looking for "orphaned children". If a descendent from the Old Settlers roll was dead in 1896, their share was distributed to their grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins, etc.

This roll names those who they could not find any direct descendants or did not have direct famili members as heirs. These can be very confusing- an example can be an aunt or cousin only by marriage yet there is some difficult family ties that is not readily explainable.

The final step is to look in Jack Bakers Emigration roll, these rolls are in semi complete information and are a little more difficult to work with but they can serve as in valuable clues to those who became the group later known as the Old Settlers. One more book that I would like to mention a book that often gets over looked is the Western Cherokees by Emmet Starr. This book unlike his other book the History and Genealogy of the Cherokees doesn't have the genealogy information in it but it does give great insight into the thoughts of the Western Cherokees and does provide valuable time line information.
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