Claiming your Cherokee heritage is not unlike claiming your Scots-Irish, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Flemish, etc. heritage. You do the research, find the documents, and prove your ancestry. Then you are entitled to say, "my grandparent was a Cherokee," thus claiming your heritage.
Applying for tribal membership is altogether different. Remember, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee is a nation, the same way that the U.S.A., France, Italy and Germany are nations. An application for tribal enrollment is really an application for citizenship in another nation. Consequently, the requirements are specific and quite strict.

Tribal Enrollment Information--Eastern Band
To be eligible for enrollment with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian, an applicant must:

be a direct lineal descendant of someone on the 1924 Baker roll,
possess at least 1/16th degree Eastern Cherokee blood, and
apply for enrollment either:
within three years of the date of birth, or
within one year following the 18th birthday.
For further information, contact the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian Enrollment Office at (828) 497-4771, fax: (828) 497-2952, or write Eastern Band of the Cherokee, P.O. Box 455, Cherokee, NC 28719.
Tribal Enrollment Information--Western Band
To be enrolled by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, an applicant must first prove ancestry to a person enrolled by Dawes. (Dawes Roll 1898-1914.) Additional requirements may be obtained by writing to: Cherokee Nation, Tribal Registrar, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465.

The Act of Congress of July 31, 1854 authorized the addition of 88
individuals whose names were omitted by Siler but who were included on the Roll prepared
by Mullay.

Guion Miller Roll  

Chapman Roll

Drennan Roll

Hester Roll

Joseph G. Hester prepared this roll of the Eastern Band of Cherokee in 1883

gives the persons, place of residence, city or county, state, previous ancestors who may have been on the roll

1848 Mullay Roll

A listing of 1,517 Cherokees who remained in North Carolina after the removal of 1839.

Siler Roll (1851 Census Rolls Of Cherokees East of The Mississippi)

1851 Old Settlers Roll

Recorded those Cherokee (still living)  who had emigrated to the Oklahoma Indian Territories

before the 1839 "Trail of Tears".

Dawes Rolls (Final Roll)

Bakers Roll (Final Roll)

Henderson Roll 1835

The Henderson Roll is the first listing of the of 16,000 Cherokees living in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina who were to be removed to the Indian Territory on what would later be called the "Trail of Tears".

Old Settler Census Roll of 1895       

     Masters Roll

     Reservation Roll

      Armstrong Rolls

List Of Indian Rolls Available On Microfilm

SmallPox and Cherokee Indians

There was a smallpx epidemic February-March 1780

In 1816 there was a "Cold Plague"

There was a Cholera Epidemic 1832-33 (state-wide)

Another Cholera Epidemic in 1838 (The same year as the Removal)

Genealogical Research for Native Americans

Did your paper trail end? Are you up against a brick wall? Click here and let genetic genealogy help you!

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