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by Jeff Bowen (Transcribed by)
This series of transcriptions from the records of the Dawes Commission concerns files of persons claiming entitlement to a portion of the Cherokee tribal lands (under the Dawes Act) in 1906, based on the intermarriage of a Cherokee and a white person. In all, nearly 4,000 individuals made application on this basis; however, the Commission of the Five Civilized Tribes affirmed a mere 286 as entitled Intermarried Whites, far fewer than the numbers of Intermarried appearing on the rolls of the Choctaw and Chickasaw. The reason for the disparity rested with the strictness of Cherokee tribal laws governing citizenship, established in 1877 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in November 1906. Moreover, the Cherokee were also particularly mindful of the importance of protecting their tribal allotment within the Oklahoma Territory from unscrupulous individuals who might claim acreage under false pretenses.
This series will appeal to both the historically and genealogically minded. Mr. Bowen begins with a helpful introduction that explains the evolution of Cherokee tribal laws and the litigation that culminated with the Supreme Court decision. The bulk of the volume consists of verbatim transcriptions of the successful applications themselves. Here researchers will learn the names and ages of all parties involved in the claims, with dates of marriage, names and ages of children, places of birth and residence, and more. Assertions of Native American ancestry are the stuff of American family lore and legend; however, thanks to Jeff Bowen we now have proof of Cherokee-White bloodlines going back to the 19th century!
