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December 5, 2009

Genealogy: Dawes Rolls one of best tools for Native American research

By Tammie Dehler

TERRE HAUTE — For Native American research, the Dawes Rolls are considered one of the best of the limited tools available to a family researcher. Also known as the “Final Rolls,” the official name of the listings is the “Final Rolls of the citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory.” A two-volume index to the Final Rolls is available from the Genealogy Publishing Company,

First, some history on how the rolls came to be: In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which was designed to remove native tribes from the southeastern United States in order to open up their lands to white settlers. In its time, this was a very controversial piece of legislation, opposed by Davy Crockett, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay. It was hotly debated for several months. Nevertheless, it passed and was eagerly signed by President Andrew Jackson. This legislation led to the forced relocation of the “Five Civilized Tribes” in what is called the “Trail of Tears.”

The Five Civilized Tribes consisted of the Cherokees in Georgia; the Chickasaws, from western Kentucky and Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and northwestern Alabama; the Choctaw tribe from Alabama and Mississippi; the Creek tribe of Alabama and Georgia; and the Seminoles, who were actually a subgroup of the Creeks and lived in Florida.

In order to get the Indians to relocate, treaties were negotiated with each tribe in which they were to be given autonomy on land set aside in “Indian Territory” (what is now Oklahoma), for perpetuity, and cash settlements. The Cherokee tribe was split on this issue, but the majority were against it. However, a minority of about 500 individuals backed the signing of the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. This resulted in the tribe's removal from their ancestral lands in 1838-9 and the Trail of Tears (“Nunna daul Tsuny” — “the trail where they cried”).

The removal of the Cherokee was scheduled to take place IN 1838. The general in command, John Wool, resigned his post in protest. He was replaced by General Winfield Scott, who entered the Cherokee lands later that year with 7,000 soldiers and began rounding up the Cherokee. They were taken to forts and then marched out on foot. Several thousand died on this thousand-mile march to Indian Territory, due to lack of enough food and shelter, the indifference of the army, and a bitter winter. Their chief, John Ross, was able to negotiate with General Scott to break up the large group into several smaller groups, thus allowing them to hunt for food on the way and saving many lives. A group of Cherokees escaped before the removal and fled to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, where they live today in the areas around the town of Cherokee, N.C.

Similar marches were conducted for the other four tribes.

The land in Indian Territory amounted to 19,525,966 acres divided among the five tribes. Cash settlements were to be awarded to the tribes for the sale of their lands in the east. The tribes had also agreed to abolish their own governments and accept U.S. law. Individual members of a tribe were to get an allotment of land. In order to be eligible to receive the land, they had to prove their lineage in the tribe.

The Dawes Commission was created in 1893 under President Grover Cleveland to do just that. The purpose of this commission was to create citizenship rolls for the tribes. Those members by blood or marriage would be considered a citizen of the tribe and thereby eligible for land. Next week will continue by relating how the rolls were created and how they can be used to aid family research.

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