The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has placed an extensive list online of organizations they consider fabricated and fraudulent; including state recognized tribes. While some tribes are fabricated; others mixed-bloods cannot produce a historical paper trail. A fascinating non-recognized tribe is the Chickamauga Cherokee Nation (White River Band and Sac River Band) with a strong Scots-Irish connection. Their pedigrees are valid, having had a genealogist trace them, and are on microfilm at the Family History Library: www.familysearch.org The Chickamauga Cherokee claim to be the tribe from the tri-state area around Chattanooga, Tennessee which moved westward decades prior to general removal and settled in what is today Arkansas and Missouri. They assimilated so thoroughly it wasn’t until they tried to gather the paper trail many white families learned of their Cherokee heritage. Pedigrees and histories were submitted, but they were denied state and federal recognition. However it left a massive compilation of genealogies.
The key to studying the Chickamauga Cherokee is in knowing core families of the Sac River Band in Arkansas are centered in Baxter, Benton, Fulton, Independence, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Newton, Pope, Searcy, Sharp, Stone and Woodruff counties. The core White River Band of families in Missouri are centered in Barry, Dade, Greene, Hickory, Howell, McDonald, Lawrence, Ozark, Polk, St. Clair, Stone and Taney counties.
State recognized tribes include the following:
Alabama: Cher-O-Creek Intratribal Indians: www.aiac.alabama.gov/tribes_Cherocreek.aspx Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama: www.aiac.alabama.gov/tribes_NortheastCherokee.aspx Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama: www.echotacherokeetribe.homestead.com United Cherokee Ani-Yun-Wiya Nation: www.ucan-online.org
Georgia: The Cherokee of Georgia Tribal Council: www.cherokeeofgeorgia.us Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee: www.georgiatribeofeasterncherokee.com
South Carolina: Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation of South Carolina: www.paialowereasterncherokeenationssc.com
For unrecognized tribes, consult: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unrecognized-tribes-in-the_United_States Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean fraudulent, and they may have genealogies. Approach all unrecognized tribes with background and education as to the validity of their research.
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