Eastern Cherokee Applications

The National Archives holds many records relating to Indians who maintained their tribal affiliation. This guide explains what the Eastern Cherokee claim files contain, what you must supply to order a copy, and which enrollments to search first.

What the records are

The original records of the headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are in the custody of the National Archives in Washington, DC. These records often contain information about specific tribal members. Original records created by the various field offices and Indian schools are among the holdings of the regional archives. Most of the records, arranged by tribe, are dated 1830-1940. They include:

• Lists of Indians, chiefly Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek, who moved west during the 1830-1846 period.
• Annuity payrolls, 1841-1949.
• Annual census rolls, 1885-1940.
• Applications for enrollment and subsequent allotment of land to individual tribal members of the Five Civilized Tribes.
• Eastern Cherokee claim files, 1902-1910.

What an Eastern Cherokee claim file contains

The claim files usually contain, for each applicant, the name, residence, date and place of birth, name and age of spouse, names of father and mother and children, and other genealogical information.

National Archives staff in Washington, DC will search these files if you can supply the full name of the applicant, both English and Indian.

Which enrollment to search

To verify Cherokee heritage it may be necessary to examine several series of records in the National Archives. Most people start with the enrollments from the period 1900-1910, known as the Dawes Rolls for the Oklahoma Cherokee and the Guion Miller Roll for the Eastern Cherokee, because applicants would have listed ancestors on earlier enrollments to support their claims. The National Archives also holds copies of most of the Miller and Dawes applications, whereas there are no applications for earlier enrollments.

Note that the names on the indexes will be those of people who were alive at that time, not of earlier or later ancestors. In many cases the applications survive for persons whose claim was rejected as well as for those that were accepted.

You can check the Miller and Dawes indexes yourself, online or on microfilm. See Bureau of Indian Affairs records: tribal rolls.

Microfilm publications for Indian genealogy

• T275 - 1832 Census of Creek, 1 roll.
• T496 - 1835 Census of Cherokees (Henderson Roll), 1 roll. This is the earliest roll held.
• T985 - 1895 Cherokee Old Settler Roll, 2 rolls.
• M685 - 1908-1910 Eastern Cherokee Rolls (Guion Miller), 12 reels, index on roll 1. Roll 12 also carries older rolls of the Cherokees used by the Commission to verify memberships: 1851-1852 Chapman and Drennen, the 1851 Old Settler Roll, and the 1884 Hester Roll.
• M1186 - 1898-1914 Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 93 rolls, index on roll 1.
• M1301 - 1898-1914 Applications, Five Civilized Tribes, 468 rolls.
• M1650 - 1896 Applications from the Muskogee Office, 54 rolls.

If your ancestor is not on an enrollment

If your ancestors were officially enrolled with the Cherokee tribe, you should be able to find them on one of the enrollments. If they were not, you probably will not be able to show Cherokee heritage from these records.

Enrollment with an Indian tribe is a matter between an individual and the appropriate tribe. If your purpose in this research is to establish enrollment in a tribe, contact the tribe directly to find out what evidence they require and whether they are taking new members.

Sample images

These show the kind of record this reproduction contains. They are examples only and are not your record.

Will Rogers’ Eastern Cherokee application, admitted as number 9735. The image is the first page only; the link below it opens the complete file.

The complete 6-page Eastern Cherokee application of Will Rogers (PDF)