Tuesday, December 20, 2011

$133.33 Payment - GUION MILLER ROLL OF EASTERN CHEROKEES

After searching through the rolls, I got curious about the "payment" for the Guion Miller. Did they actually get paid? How much? In researching the payment and finding it was for $133.33 I also found my Grandparents, my Great Grandparents and a bunch of Aunts and Uncles on the Guion Miller Roll. Thought the following information which was interesting.

The 1906/09 "Roll of the Eastern Cherokees" is better known as "The Guion Miller Roll". It was created as a result of a successful lawsuit filed by three groups of Cherokees who had not been paid all of the money due them as a result of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. This is the ILLEGAL "treaty" that resulted in the forcible removal from their homes of those Cherokees who refused to give up their tribal citizenship, and the infamous "Trail of Tears" in 1838/39. Thousands were first herded into "pens" and for weeks/months were given food that was not fit for human consumption, contaminated drinking water, and most were forced to sleep in the open. This was done in order to "break their spirit" so they would agree to go to the western wilderness lands of Indian Territory! It worked-- by the time they were to be transported, they would have agreed to go ANYWHERE in order to get out of the pens!

The Guion Miller Roll is the most important source of Cherokee genealogical research of any of the rolls, because the application required extensive information to be supplied by the applicant. Between 27 Aug 1906 and 18 May 1909 there were 45,940 applications filed from the United States, Canada, Mexico and-- Syria! It listed an estimated 90,000 individual applicants. Each qualifying applicant received a warrant worth $133.33 for their share of the one-time payment due to them. In order for an application to be accepted on this roll, the applicant had to prove descent from a person who was shown on the 1835 roll of Eastern Cherokees (also known as The Henderson Roll), which listed the citizenship of the tribe at that time. In order for them to have been listed on that roll as "citizens", they had to have lived in the Eastern Cherokee Nation..

3 comments:

  1. Indian Rolls can be helpful, of course. However, names are variable. It was not uncommon for family members to record different names due to family times. Some examples are various families like the Tackett, Combs, Redbird, Little and others like Howard. Anna Tackett Ogrosky, my Cherokee grandmother also had links to all these families, among others. -Martin Redbird cherokeeempire.bravehost.com

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    1. Martin
      I am very interested in the Martin family my ggggrandmother was Susan Anna Martin her father was Moses Martin her mother Nancy E. Burrus. My grandfather always clamed indian blood before he died he showed me tin types of relatives who he said were indian and they certainly looked to be. Would sure appreciate any help you could give me.
      Thank you

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  2. My Grandparents were said to be Indian. My Grandmother was Sarah Jarrell Endicott and my Grandfather was Nile Endicott. It is said she was related to Betsy Raven? I would love to find a lead since my grandmother passed away and no one wants to share the info. Can anyone help me.

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