How do I find and prove my Native American heritage / ancestors?

Question

pretty sure I have family with sioux and cherokee.

Answer 1

I do have experience with tracing Cherokee. That's not always easy. The only primary source documents available for tracing and "proving" our Cherokee heritage are the rolls. The challenge is to trace our families to one or more of these rolls. The National Archives carries the records of the five civilized tribes. (Cherokee, Choctoaw, Creek, Chicasaw, and Seminole) Here are some resources that they carry.

The Dawes Rolls
Final Rolls, often called Dawes Rolls, are lists of people accepted between 1898 and 1914 by the Dawes Commission as members of these five civilized Indian tribes - Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole. Learn how to search and use the Dawes Rolls online to research your Native American ancestors.

1880 Cherokee Census
A transcription taken from LDS Microfilm #989204 of the 1880 Cherokee Census index. (You can order this through your local Latter Day Saints research center in your town. )

1896 Census Applications
An index of people who applied for enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes under the Act of 1896. Covers Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek.

Baker Roll, 1924
The final roll of the Eastern Cherokee, prepared by United States Agent Fred A. Baker, pursuant to an act of the 68th Congress on June 4, 1924.

Kern Clifton Rolls
An easy to use index to online digital copies of the Kern-Clifton index of Cherokee Freedmen.

Old Settlers Roll
This census, taken in 1851, lists the Cherokee who moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma prior to December 1835. This covers about 1/3 of the Cherokee present in the area in 1851.

Indian Bounty Land Applications
Learn about available indexes and abstracts of Indian Bounty Land applications from the nineteenth century, and ways to use the records in your Native American research. An article by Mary Frances Morrow from Prologue the quarterly of the National Archives & Records Administration.

The best ones are the detailed surname listings for the two "final" rolls -- Dawes and Baker:
Results include: name, age, blood quantum, and roll number.
Names are organized in an easy to read alphabetical listing.


There is an online index to the final Dawes rolls at the national archives website. Here is a page that explains them:

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/tutorial/dawes/

and here is where you go to access the index.

http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-final-rolls.html
and here is the index to the Guion Miller Roll

http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-guion-miller.html

You can order online reproductions of Eastern Cherokee application records, 1906-1909 Here is the link

http://www.archives.gov/research/order/o...

I hope this helps. Blessings to you in your search.

Answer 2

You should get a dna test but if u have any of these features u are probably amerindian.

Im amerindian/spanish. i have alot of amerindian features even though i dont have high cheek bones and dark skin. although i have the "oriental looking eyes". also my skin is yellowish tan though.
little things like your hands and feat can help find out if ur native american. if you have crooked fingers you might be. its important to see if your family members have the features also to see if it may not just be co incedental.
If you trying to get into a tribe or wanna know the specific tribe you are decended from then you should get dna testing and find out everything u can from your family and get supporting docs. Also u might have certain family diseases that might be amerindian related. remember just because you dont look amerindian doesnt mean anything. because they were different tribes and some tribes before even had thin faces and low cheek bones, but this was far less common to find than the "oriental look". its more important to see your body structure and diseases because these are truely the more unique features of native americans that gentically makes them different from the inhabitants of asia, europe frica and other parts of the world. Alsobecause amerindians are really a mix of polynesians and sibeareans. Polynesians are also a multi racial group who are linked with the melanesians and with the malaysians. They are other migrations towards america that i dont remember off the top of my head right now also.Amerindians are really people of all races that were just isolated so long.

Answer 3

First, trace your family back at least to the start of the 1900s using standard genealogy research sources, and determine where exactly they lived. This will provide clues to their possible tribal affiliation. You can do this through regular US census records; start with 1930 and work backwards through 1920, 1910 and 1900 (don't skip!). Note that Native Americans who did not live on a reservation may or may not have been identified as "Indian" in the Race column; they may have been listed as "*****" or "mulatto", so don't restrict your search by race.

If you find them living in Oklahoma or a bordering state, check the Dawes Rolls. If they are living in another state, you'll have to research what tribes were in those states and determine when and where tribal censuses were taken. The Dawes Rolls and some other sources can be searched at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/. Other tribal census records may only be available in libraries on microfilm. You can learn more about sources and techniques for Native American genealogy research at http://www.cyndislist.com/native.htm.

Note that if you want to prove your heritage in order to receive tribal benefits, you should first check the rules for the tribe to see what percentage of blood you need to qualify, since this varies from one tribe to another.

Good luck with your research.

Answer 4

What you will need to get started is the last names of those people in your family you believe to be Native, the farther back the better. More detailed information is listed below.
(P.S. I am Sioux and Cherokee....)

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.

Feel free to email me: [e-mail]

Answer 5

find prove native american heritage ancestors

Answer 6

RE:
How do I find and prove my Native American heritage / ancestors?
pretty sure I have family with sioux and cherokee.

Answer 7

Try the Dawes Roll.com, it has a wealth of knowledge on Native American and Indian ancestry.

Answer 8

thanks 4 your input its very usful red power from cherokee aka crengle60 cherokees or those who think they are can contact bob barth eastern bandcherokee po box 455 cherokee city north carolina 28719 tribal enrollment office make sure u have the names of relatives in order yall

Answer 9

you can try ancestry.com they have a sight for native americans.