Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

ok, first of all,, your story is abbreviating facts and that makes it very difficult to check. this all sounds like oral information. there is nothing wrong with that, it can guide you toward records. but you need documentation, like where and when they appeared on the census and under what name.

if your people were in tennessee in the 1850’s, they didn’t go on the trail of tears. so they might have been native but they probably didn’t apply for enrollment in any tribe. they might have accepted a land grant or $ to terminate their membership in a tribe.

my advice is to start doing genealogy from you on down, so get your parents’ birth certificates and marriage license and then you have more information about where to find your grandparents. documents fix a family to a place and time and often point to parents.

you say they are on the census, but you give NO DETAIL about where to find them. and under which names.

do get any information about their native records. http;//www.accessgenealogy.com/native gives you native census records and databases and rolls. the dawes roll is the only roll that gives you the earliest tribal members 1896-1906. you must be related to someone on the dawes roll that was accepted for membership in the tribe, in order to be eligible for membership yourself.

you will want to know which tribe they were affiliated with. maybe you can get that from the guion miller roll.

first of all, heritage and tribal enrollment are two different things. many times natives didn’t apply for enrollment because 1) they didn’t qualify, 2) they were philosophically opposed to enrollment, 3) they didn’t have documentation, or 4) they were mississippi choctaw and their ancestor had accepted land or benefits in lieu of tribal enrollmment.

the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906, so you should trace your ancestors down to that time period., mostly, they had to be living in oklahoma by that time and agree to live there.
the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/

i am just a volunteer that wants to empower people to learn how to do genealogy.

suzanne hamlet shatto

Hi William: Your enthusiatic post prompted me to look closer at my mothers line which was an Ensley. I have found a mother and daughter both named Mary E Buck. The Mary you found on the census was already 40 years old in 1850 and her daughter Mary E aka Betty Buck most likely wss the one to marry John Ensley in 1869. Betty and John had 10 children, of which I only have 3 or 4 names. I did locate a Mary E Fisher from Georgia on the Dawes list but I cannot make the Buck name connection. Hope this inspires you to search a bit harder. Good Luck and keep me informed, I am just mildy curious. Nichole Campbell