I am part native american, how do I begin finding records of evidence?

Question

I believe my fathers father was raised in or around Texas. His sur name was Johnson, his grandfather walked the trail of tears to Arizona. We have been told that we have land on one of the reservations in Az. I believe from what we are told he was Chyanne. We have pictures of him but that is all.

Answer 1

Please know that many Native people will never find proof of their ancestry. In the past Native records including birth certificates were burned and "lost". You can contact your tribe and ask if they have record of your relative, you can also post surnames in the tribal newspaper to see if any member has relations with you.
Below is more detailed information. Good luck!

Information on how to become enrolled is listed below:

To become enrolled in one's tribe is often a difficult process. Once one is enrolled one will have certain rights as a Native person. It is true that no one needs to prove their ethnic identity but to have full access to rights for Native people one must be enrolled.

To become enrolled one must first should call one's tribe and find out the enrollment requirements. They are different per tribe.
For most tribes you have to prove descendency and have a certain blood quantum. To prove descendency one needs to have some record of her belonging to a member of the tribe that was recognized by the tribe at some point, hopefully an individual that was enrolled at some point. The average blood quantum standard is 1/4. Unless you are Cherokee, their blood quantum standards are much less.

If you don't have contact with your tribal member then you can ask the tribe to look for his last name. They can look this up and see if his family line is registered. If so then your in luck. If they don't immediately find it then you can use the tribal newspaper and submit an article asking if anyone has lineage to your tribal member .

Many Native people can never become enrolled because standards of enrollment are high and were set up by the White government to oppress Native people and Native people have yet to change them.

To become more involved in one'sculture one might want to look up local Native organizations or local tribes. Try going to Pow-wow's (because they are easy to find) and talk to community members there. Many colleges/universities have a Native student union where one can get involved or get more information.

Please remember ancestry is very difficult for many Native people.

By the way, I am Native, so I have some knowledge pertaining to this.

Answer 2

If he walked the trail of tears he was Cherokee not Cheyenne.or maybe later he married into that tribe.
call The Cherokee council in Cherokee North Carolina,
call Cherokee council near where you live, call Cheyenne council near where you live,give his name and all records and names maybe they will help you.
call Indian affairs in washington.d.c.
Good Luck.mai nun te ka

Answer 3

piece it together like a puzzle

write down everything and where you find it

maybe get books, visit archives, talk with people

go to that reservation and talk with some old people

we are VERY LUCKY to have Native American roots.

I can't even prove mine, I can FEEL THEM though.

Answer 4

Tribal records are very good now. Contact them