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[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]

http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/shart?ID=437549&TP=getarticle

Roll over to Tahlequah to trace ancestry
01/25/2000

TAHLEQUAH -- They never know, over here in the Cherokee
Nation registrar's office, what they might find when they
open the mail.

They receive little bags of sage, X-rays and photographs of
tattoos from people, all of whom are hoping to certify their
Cherokee ancestry. "People send us blood drops on paper
to see if we can test them," Registrar Lela J. Ummerteskee
said.

Lela and her staff are the keepers of the official Cherokee
roll -- part of the Dawes Commission Roll -- which closed in
1906. To be certified as a member of the Cherokee tribe,
you must be able to prove you are a direct descendant of
someone on the roll.

Lela, who went to work for the tribe 22 years ago as a file
clerk, is half Cherokee. Pam Hood, who spends most of her
day at the front counter in the registrar's office, is
17?256?th Cherokee. The lowest degree on the roll is
14096th.

The registrar's office never sees a slow day with anywhere
from 50 to 80 people arriving for help everyday. "They are
from all over," Lela said.

The roll changes daily, and Lela updates the total every two
to three days. As of last week, the Cherokee Nation
population was 211,220. Of those, 129,637 live in
Oklahoma. Cherokee County, as you might guess, has the
largest number of tribe members with 12,528. Adair County
is second with 9,705, and Sequoyah County is third with
9,629.

The months from May through September are the busiest.
People wanting to trace their ancestry plan vacation trips to
Tahlequah.

Ninety-five percent of those tracing ancestry are doing so in
order to take advantage of the benefits afforded tribe
members, Lela said. The other 5 percent simply want to
know.

"The majority of people coming in know who they are," Lela
said, "they just haven't bothered to get their certification."

Degree of blood doesn't guarantee certification. Your
ancestor must have registered with the census by 1906,
Lela said. Those who didn't are the "too lates," Pam said.

"We have full-bloods now who can't be certified because
their ancestors didn't sign up," Lela said.

Indians feared that by registering, Lela said, they were
giving the government control of their lives. "Others said,
'Why should we register as a race when no one else has
to?.' "

"Whites at that time didn't have to get a number," Lela said.
"Why should we have to prove who we are? We are the only
race of people who has to prove who we are."

The purpose of the roll was to determine who was eligible
for American Indian allotments.

Suspicion still raises a wary eye. On Thursday, as Pam
worked the counter, a mother and daughter arrived in
search of help. Before they would talk to Pam, one of them
asked: "Do you work for Cherokee Nation or the federal
government?"

They have seen people become emotional when they
authenticate their Cherokee ancestry, and they have seen
people grow angry when they can't.

"We never tell anyone they're not Indian," Lela said. "We
just tell them we can't certify them."
 

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