Wilburn Wells Carnes' Eastern Cherokee Application: Rejected (1908)

Wilburn Wells Carnes applied for a share of the money awarded the Cherokee Indians in lawsuits in the US Court of Claims Under ther Treaties of 1835, 1836, and 1845. This is a copy of his rejection by the Indian Office of Eastern Cherokees, Washington, DC, for a share of the money appropriated as settlement in the US Court of Claims due to Eastern Cherokees alive 28 May 1906. Transcribed by Teresa McVeigh 13 Jun 2010 from microfilmed records obtained from NARA by Jim Gilmer.

No. 2003 Action: Rejected


Name: Wilbern Wells Carnes and 4 children.

Residence: Ball Ground, Ga.

Reasons: The applicant and his father and paternal grandfather were never enrolled in any roll. Ancestors lived in Franklin Co. Ga. in 1835-6. Could not have been parties to Notice of 1835-6 1846 (See letters herein)
 
An explanation of this record is taken from the NARA website:
 
Selected Microfilmed Records Pertaining to Eastern Cherokee Enumeration


The Eastern Band of Cherokees traces its origin to the more than 1,000 Cherokee members who eluded forced movement westward in 1838-39 by remaining in the mountains. Approximately 300 of these individuals were living on tribal lands in 1838 and claimed U.S. citizenship. Other tribal members living in Tennessee and North Carolina towns were not immediately found and removed. Throughout much of the 1840s Federal agents searched the mountains of North Carolina in attempts to remove the refugees to the Indian Territory. By 1848, however, the U.S. Congress agreed to recognize the North Carolina Cherokees' rights as long as the state would recognize them as permanent residents. The state did not do so until almost 20 years later. With only minor changes, the lines of the current reservation were established in 1876 and in 1882 a regular reservation was established. The Eastern Cherokee Reservation consists of approximately 56,668 acres in five counties in North Carolina: Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon, and Swain Counties. The following information concentrates on those Cherokee residing in the east after the western migration.

Special Enrollment and Claims Records, 1906-1910

Pursuant to an act of 1902, the Cherokee filed three suits in the U.S. Court of Claims to press their claims for funds due them under their treaties of 1835, 1836, and 1845 with the United States. The court awarded more than 1 million dollars to be distributed to all Eastern Cherokee alive on 28 May 1906, who could prove that they were members of the Eastern Cherokee tribe at the time of the treaties. They also had to prove that they were descended from members who had not been subsequently affiliates with any other tribe