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Eastern Cherokee by Blood, 1906-1910. Volume XIIIEastern Cherokee by Blood, 1906-1910. Volume XIII: Cherokee-Related Records of Special Commissioner Guion Miller. Exceptions Filed to His Report of May 28, 1909-January 5, 1910, from the U.S. Court of Claims. Jeff Bowen. Paperback, 2017, Index, x + 362 pp. Between
May 1905 and April 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the Secretary of the
Interior to identify the descendants of Eastern Cherokees entitled to
participate in the distribution of more than $1 million authorized by Congress.
The purpose of the authorization was to settle outstanding claims made under
treaties between the U.S. government and the Cherokees in 1835-36 and 1845.
Prior to their forced removal, it should be noted, the Eastern Cherokee domain
comprised all or part of the following southeastern states and counties: Georgia: Bartow, Catoosa,
Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Dade, Dawson, Fannim, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer,
Gordon, Haralson, Lumpkin, Milton, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Town,
Union, Walker, and Whitfield counties. Alabama: Blount, Calhoun,
Cherokee, Cleburne, De Kalb, Etowah, Jackson, and Marshall counties. Tennessee: Blount, Bradley,
Hamilton, James, Marion, Meigs, Monroe, and Polk counties. North Carolina:
Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, and Swain counties. On
May 28, 1909, Mr. Guion Miller, representing the Interior Department, submitted
his findings with respect to 45,847 separate applications for compensation
(totaling about 90,000 individual claimants). Miller qualified about 30,000
persons inhabiting 19 states to share in the fund. Ninety percent of these
individuals were living west of the Mississippi River, but all of them were
considered to be Eastern Cherokee by blood, that is, descendants of the
Cherokee Nation that had been evicted from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina,
and Tennessee in 1835. (Mr. Miller submitted a supplemental report in January
1910 that resulted in another 610 eligibles.) The thirteenth volume in this series references 11,757 exceptions or reconsidered decisions from the first twelve volumes; Miller's exceptions and reconsiderations are found on National Archive Microfilm Roll M685, Roll 6, which Mr. Bowen only recently discovered. In each case the compiler provides the name of the applicant, number of children, the original application number, city and state of residence, number of exceptions in the case, and reason for the reconsideration. Every person named in this volume may be found in the index at the back of Volume XIII. 8627-C |