Recently another person asked me to help them prove they are part Native American, because they want Tribal Rights or advantages such as certain college scholarships.
I love a challenge.
Luckily the tribal affiliation this person is seeking is Cherokee, I believe Eastern Band.
I've found that contacting tribes for help from their end does not usually result in help. Many tribes just do not have the volunteers to coordinate efforts. I have many unanswered e-mails, even when the tribe has a website.
My advice is to proceed with proofing your genealogy starting with yourself. Then your parents, and then moving back through the lineage to show the death, marriage, and birth of the grandparents or great-grandparents who would be Native American. Besides certificates of death, marriage, and birth, THE UNITED STATES CENSUS helps you put these people in family groups.
SOMETIMES PEOPLE ARE IDENTIFIED AS NATIVE AMERICAN on census but SO WHAT?
So - honesty - I've found so many discrepancies when it comes to census information on a family when it comes to race that in itself race on a census is not dependable. There is always the question of if a family member reported these races or a census taker looked at a person and made a personal judgment.
BUT LOCATING THE FAMILY ON CENSUS IS STILL ALL IMPORTANT because it places the family at an address, a location.
CHECKING THE NATIVE AMERICAN CENSUS is a good idea, in this case the census of the Cherokee is categorized as one of the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES! You may or may not find people listed with Indian names and/or Americanized names. (By the way the notion that the Cherokee were "civilized" because they were more cooperative with the U.S. Government is subjective.)
Do all these steps - as much as you can - before contacting the tribe! The tribe will probably only tell you what their requirements for membership, if at all possible, are. Usually proving 1/16th relationship is the key.
UPDATE MARCH 2016: This is a very popular post and I'm so happy to be of some help to all of you. Now that DNA testing is getting more and more specific, I think it's a good idea to get a DNA test as part of your quest.
