Researchers Beware

Unfortunately, there are groups that claim to be tribal and will gladly assist you with your quest for enrollment for a fee. For example, there is a group presenting themselves as the Cherokees of Missouri and Arkansas. For $60.00, they will even issue you a card. However, they are not connected in any fashion to the federally recognized tribes of North Carolina (Eastern Cherokee) or the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. As P.T. Barnum once stated, “there is a sucker born every minute.”

What creates some confusion is that at one time, there were Cherokees who migrated to northwestern Arkansas as early as 1808. After the Treaty of 1817, a group called the Old Settlers voluntarily removed out west to Arkansas or in some cases Spanish Texas.

When Arkansas became a state in 1836, state leaders sought to extinguish the land title held by the Cherokees. Consequently, the federal government offered the tribal members a choice. Move into Indian Territory west of Arkansas or give up their claim as Cherokee citizens and take up United States citizenship. Some did do the later, but many moved into Indian Territory. This is two years before the infamous “Trail of Tears”.

The Missouri – Arkansas group who are not federally recognized and likely will not be designated as such, prey on the gullible and those who “want to be Cherokee”, but do not have verifiable proof as such.

Take my advice, save your $60.00 bucks. No tribal organization requires you to “pay” to become a member.

January 23, 2011

William D. Welge, Certified Archivist & Historian