Items listed or linked to will  pertain to Cherokee Family Research only. 

The Five Civilized Tribes

After the War of 1812 the U.S. government invited the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Indians to move west into what would become the Indian Territory.  These Indians were known as the "Five Civilized Tribes" because of their advanced systems of government, education and law enforcement. The Cherokee even boasted an alphabet, invented by the famous Sequoyah. Some Cherokee were small farmers, while others owned slaves.

With great sadness, these "Five Civilized Tribes" left their homes east of the Mississippi River and began their long journey westward.  

  The most famous exodus involved the Cherokee. A portion of the tribe had already moved to Arkansas in the late 18th century. The rest were uprooted from Georgia and Tennessee by the Removal Act of 1830. Their move through Missouri and Arkansas in winter took many lives and came to be called the Trail of Tears.

 By 1856, each of the Five Civilized Tribes established territorial boundaries in the western frontier. They began carving farms and cultures out of the Oklahoma wilderness, creating a society which continues to influence Oklahoma.

The Civil War

Oklahoma's Indians were generally left in peace until the Civil War. During the war, Indians who tried to remain neutral were attacked by Confederate forces. After the Civil War, the federal government punished the Five Civilized Tribes for siding with the Confederacy by taking away the western part of Indian Territory, which would become Oklahoma Territory.

 Native Americans Today

In 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes attempted to organize an Indian state named Sequoyah. The federal government rejected this idea in favor of creating a single state combining the Oklahoma and Indian Territories. More than reservation wards, Oklahoma's Native Americans become a vital part of the new state.

Today, Oklahoma boasts the largest Native American population in the nation—252,420 at the 1990 census. Many of them are descendents from the original 67 tribes inhabiting Indian Territory, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Osage, Cheyenne, Sac and Fox, Delaware, Panee and Apache.

Famous Oklahoman Native Americans include Sequoyah, Black Beaver (a famous Delaware Indian scout), Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, Wilma Mankiller (first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee) and ballerina Maria Tallchief.

Cherokee Nation - OKGenWeb

• Cherokee Genealogy Tips

• Cherokee Tribal Enrolment Forms

• Found a Roll Number

• Guion Miller Rolls 1909

• Rolls & Census

  • Dawes - Index

  • Miller Applications

All Things Cherokee - Genealogy, history and Language

Cherokee Cultural Society

Cherokee History - Time Line

Cherokee Indian - Brief History

Travelers Guide to the Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory

32 Tribes of Oklahoma

Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Black Indians - Interesting

Cherokee History - Resources on the Web

1835 Cherokee East of the Mississippi Census Index

1880 Cherokee Census

This Date in History

Cherokee Trails - Interesting reading

Cherokee Seal

Cherokee National Historical Society

Cherokee Flag - History

1851 Census - Chapman Rolls Cherokee East of the Mississippi

1889 - 1914 Index to the Final Rolls - Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory

© 1998-2009 James (Jim) H. Carroll Delaware County Coordinator for OKGenWeb jhcarroll07@gmail.com OKGenWeb State Coordinator: Ron Henson  Assistant State Coordinator: Bobbi Dunn This site was last updated 3 Jan 2009. Copying permitted for noncommercial, educational use by individual scholars and libraries.  This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission of the author.