DAWES ROLL “PLUS” OF CHEROKEE NATION “1898” The 1891 Dawes Roll by Bob Blankenship is available in our library. The spiral bound book is 9” 12” and 216 pages of small print. There are ages, addresses, relationships, Miller Roll Number, Miller Application Number, etc. See such things as a 1906 Surname change brought about by marriage, divorce, or adoption. This book was produced from microfilm enrollment cards prepared by the staff of the Commission to the five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) between 1898 and 1914. These records are part of the records of the Office of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, and are housed in the National Archives-Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas. An act of Congress dated March 3, 1893, provided for a commission to negotiate with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma to dissolve their Tribal Governments and to allot their land to individual citizens. Senator Henry Dawes was appointed the commissions chairman and consequently the commission became known as the Dawes Commission. The work of the commission was very slow, until Congress passed the Curtis Act in June of 1898 which provided that a new roll would be created that would supersede all previous rolls. The Commission enrolled individuals as “citizens” of a tribe under the following categories: Citizens by Blood, Citizens by Marriage, New Born Citizens by Blood, Minor Citizens by Blood, Freedmen (former black slaves of Indians, later freed and admitted to tribal citizenship), New Born Freedmen, and Minor Freedmen. Delaware Indians adopted by the Cherokee tribe were enrolled as a separate group within the Cherokee. The Dawes Roll was supposed to be the final roll of the Cherokee Nation that dissolved the Tribe forever. Under significant Cherokee leadership during the 1970’s, the Tribe rose from the ashes and the Dawes roll again was used. This time, as a basis of membership in a new Cherokee Nation. Today, there are over 150,000 Cherokee registered with the Cherokee Nation. The rolls in this book are indexed alphabetically by surname and then by Dawes Roll number. In most cases, this keeps the families together on the rolls. Although, there are some cases where individuals with different surnames are on the same census card. For those Dawes enrollees who wee also on the Guion Miller roll, that information was brought into the Dawes Roll through the computer. The address information, along with the Miller Application and Miller roll numbers was obtained there. The surname used in 1906 for the Miller Roll is included. (Below are a few examples of information found.) CRAFTON, Mary C.; Dawes 13791; Census 5750; Miller 8880; Millera 28924; age 37; sex; F Blood 1-31; Milsurn COX; Address: Grove, OK. Close this window to return to the website
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