Our Cherokee Story- Deconstructed

Well now… a savage Cherokee Indian? That statement right there was worth every hour I have spent researching it! It seems every family has a story about a great Indian chief or Indian Princess gracing the branches of their family trees. But after much discussion in my study groups I realize that often is not the case.

Over the years many censuses were conducted to attempt to track the Cherokee and other tribes through the years. The white men decided they knew better and needed to ‘manage them’. Boy we screwed that up… we haven’t done such a great job.

• In 1817 the Cherokee People Eastern Rolls were taken. This was a listing of all the Indians that were interested in receiving 640 acres and being permitted to stay there instead of removing to Arkansas.
• Between 1817 and 1835 the Emigration Rolls were conducted. These were the Indians that had filed to emigrate to Arkansas country and after 1828, the Oklahoma Territory.
• In 1835 the Henderson Rolls were underway. This census listed more than 16,000 Cherokee living in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama and would be removed to Oklahoma under the Treaty of New Echota.
• The Mullay Rolls in 1848 contained 1517 Cherokee people that remained in North Carolina after the removal, I.e.Trail of Tears.

These rolls were often named for the officials taking them. And I am not listing all of them, just some of the more well known ones.

• In 1851 the Siler Rolls listed about 1700 Eastern Cherokee that were entitled to per capita payments pursuant to an act of Congress in 1850.
• The Drennon Rolls in 1852 was the first census of the new arrivals of the 1839 Trail of Tears removal.

More rolls continued, the Old Settlers Rolls; Swetland Rolls. Then in 1896 more than 14,000 Cherokees filled out an application for Enrollment for the Five Civilized Tribes. so this included Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminoles and Chickasaw. And Josiah did one!!!!!

I searched in earnest for a Dawes Application proving our Cherokee, or even Native American heritage through Mary Warren but I could find nothing. On a whim I decided to look for the negative evidence that may prove we were not recognized. I came across the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Indian Censuses and Rolls for 1893 and Josiah, Cynthia, Stephen W and Robert L are all within the correct ages, and Josiahs occupation of farmer is in line. So this census was actually an INTRUDER Census! White men living illegally in Indian Territory. In this instance, they were living within the Delaware District of the Cherokee Nation.

Josiah and his family are recorded in Barry County Missouri consistently over the years. Birth records, death records, marriage records, censuses and land patents all occurred in Tennessee and then Missouri. I do believe he may have fibbed a bit. The Intruder Census says he arrived in the Delaware Territory in 1889 but his application below states otherwise.

Fast forward just a couple years and Josiah applied on for Enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes, i.e. The Dawes Rolls of 1896. Unfortunately free land was just the thing to bring out the scoundrels and before long lawyers and ‘businessmen’ were offering to fill out these applications for people to get them free their free land, and pad the pockets of these entrepreneurial men. The government soon realized this undertaking was not on the up and up and the declared all 14,000 or so applications invalid. Josiah’s being one of them. While I was disappointed that I couldn’t prove any Cherokee ancestry, I was excited because this application was a wealth of information. It named all of his immediate family members, places they lived, names of in laws and members of his FAN club. This file is a wealth of information!

Remember what Aunt Mildred said? “He married Mary Warren (who was a savage Cherokee Indian).” Well! Here’s the real story according to Josiah and penned by his own hand. Per Josiah: “I am the son of Thomas and Mary Rodgers. I was born in the state of Tennessee in 1835. My mothers maiden name is Mary Warren, and she was the daughter of Edwin Warren and Betsy Warren and the maiden name of my grandmother the said Betsy was Betsy Savage and she the said Betsy Savage was a half blood Cherokee Indian woman and lived and was recognized by and was a member of the Cherokee tribe of Indians. And the said Betsy Savage’s name appears upon the rolls of the Cherokee citizens by blood.”

There we have it. Mary Warren’s mother was Betsy Savage… I guess that make Mary Warren kind of a Savage in last name, but not the way family lore has carried it on.

There is a lot I have discovered about Josiah and his family. And I know so much more to be discovered. Most recently I came across an application for membership in the ‘Sons of the American Revolution’ from a William Rogers in 1891. It lists Josiah Rodgers, his father Thomas Rodgers, and his father Josiah Rodgers. I will be vetting all the information included and if it turns out to be accurate I will have gotten our Rodgers family back into England.

Tally ho! ~ Mary