Articles & FAQs

How to Use All Things Cherokee in Your Genealogy Search
by Christina Berry

This page is a great starting point for those chasing down their Cherokee ancestors. This article will help guide you through the different resources available to you through All Things Cherokee.

Customized Cherokee Rolls Reports
All Things Cherokee offers custom Cherokee rolls reports, which provide you with tons of genealogy information. You provide the surname of an ancestor you're looking for and receive back a custom report with results for that surname on all of the Cherokee rolls. In addition to this personalized information, the report also includes historical information about the Cherokee and many helpful tips and hints for tracing your Cherokee genealogy.

Family Tree Research
All Things Cherokee offers genealogy research to help you trace your family tree and understand your Cherokee connections. Two different research options allow you to decide the level of assistance you'd like to have. Research includes researching the family back several generations, specifically seeking a connection to the Cherokee tribe, or a smaller search to determine if you are eligible for tribal enrollment with one of the federally-recognized tribes.

Articles
All Things Cherokee contains several helpful genealogy articles. Learn about what is required to join one of the Cherokee tribes. Find out why DNA testing is a problematic method for proving Indian ancestry. And read bigraphies about noteworthy Cherokees throughout history.

Query Boards
The Query Boards are basically the community of this site. The Query Boards are where any Cherokee can post a question, or information, about his/her ancestor(s) for others to read. You can browse or search the boards to find other people who are searching for your ancestors as well. Or you can post your own query for free in order to allow others to contact you if they have information on your ancestors. I've heard from several people who have found distant cousins and lots of information after posting their query on the board.

Books
Browse books related to Cherokee genealogy, history, language, and culture.

Genealogy Discussion Lists
All Things Cherokee provides a list of Cherokee related e-mail mailing lists available online. The lists range in topic from general Cherokee related discussion to very specific discussion of a particular theme. Be sure, when joining the lists, that you are aware of what topics are allowed to be discussed and what topics are off limit. For example, CHEROKEE-L is for the discussions of Cherokee topics other than genealogy, where as the CherokeeGene-L is just for the discussion of Cherokee genealogy.

Links
If you can't find what your looking for on All Things Cherokee, try the links section. Find links divided into several sections including: maps, tribal membership, history, language and more.