INDEX TO THE CHEROKEE FREEDMEN ENROLLMENT CARDS OF THE DAWES COMMISSION, 1901-1906

INDEX TO THE CHEROKEE FREEDMEN ENROLLMENT CARDS OF THE DAWES COMMISSION, 1901-1906 - Jo Ann Curls Page. (1996), 2006, 5�x8�, paper, alphabetical, 216 pp.

During the Civil War the African-American slaves of the Cherokee became freedmen. Many of them moved from Cherokee Nation territory in present-day Oklahoma to Kansas and Texas. After the war, a treaty made with the Cherokee required that former slaves be adopted into the tribe if they returned to the Cherokee Nation within six months. Many of the Cherokee freedmen, now living far away, found out about this treaty too late; thus, the Dawes Commission was established at the turn of the century to assess the claims of former slaves who sought to prove their Cherokee citizenship and share in the land of the Cherokee Nation. The product of the Dawes Commission's work was thousands of enrollment cards, recording the names of each member of a household and that person's age, sex and relationship to the head of the family. Often the cards contain notations of births, deaths and marriages, and the names of parents. In cases where only one parent was African-American, the other parent is sometimes identified as a Cherokee, Choctaw or Creek Indian, a white, or a non-citizen.

Of great interest to genealogists, these enrollment cards as well as the complementary applications for enrollment are available on microfilm at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and at other institutions in the West. However, anyone interested in using this microfilm resource effectively will want to start by purchasing this new, comprehensive index of over 7,500 names. An index of the names of individuals approved as Cherokee freedmen and listed in the Dawes Commission final roll is already available, but Ms. Page's index ties the names directly to the enrollment cards, which contain the more valuable information. Furthermore, Ms. Page has indexed not just the names of those approved by the Commission; the second part of her index is a list of Cherokee freedmen rejected by the Dawes Commission and denied citizenship. A third section contains the names of the children of Cherokee freedmen that were born after the closing of the roll in 1905 but before its approval in 1906. In addition to name, age and enrollment card number, all entries include, when available, the individual's parents' names.

P9495
ISBN: 0788404954