Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

almeta/almeda foley m. james/jim f. bryant

no dates, no location, no children, no spouse listed. with no clue on dates or locations, and with a surname that is very common, i am not going to even attempt a search.

i would suggest that you approach this chronologically, from this time period backward in time. so get your father’s birth certificate, your grandmother’s death certificate, and then you might have information to find other documents.
the 1930 census is the last public census. they will release the 1940 census in 2012, 72 years after it was taken.

if your grandmother was alive after 1/1/1937, then she would have applied for social security. to show proof of age when applying, she might have submitted a delayed birth certificate. many people didn’t have birth certificates if they were born in the frontier, so they submitted relatives’ affidavits to the states and got a delayed birth certificate.

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouses to match records. if you have a common surname, you need to give more information rather thann less. if you post about women, it is helpful to include the maiden name and the married name and designate which one is the maiden name.

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 enrollment.

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 permanently.

if the name is common, you may find too many possible records.

the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/

mississippi choctaw and choctaw tribe explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_Trail_of_Tears

i have collected many resources over the years. if you want to write to me, shamlet76@gmail.com and request the choctaw resource list, i will be glad to send it to you.

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

suzanne hamlet shatto

Thank you for the info as I don’t know very much but will try to get more info .Thanks for your giving spirit!

if she passed away in a house fire, i bet there is probably a news article on that. you can probably get a copy of the article through interlibrary loan. see your local public library for that.

genealogy is a journey, not an endpoint.