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It is often a surprise to those just starting out but the Five Civilized Tribes were one of the largest owner of slaves. As I have stated before, many of the tribe’s men were farmers and wealthy plantation owners. Slaves were used on the large plantation prior to the Civil war, and when the Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory many of these slaves went with them. On the Henderson roll you can find out who was a slave owner by checking the records. Georgia lists a total of 776, Alabama 299, Tennessee 480 and North Carolina only 22. The total slave population in 1835 was listed as 1,592! Though names were not listed on the Henderson roll for the slaves, it can serve as a good outline for which of the families you may want to research. If you have gotten back this far in your research I strongly suggest trying to obtain wills or slave inventories for your suspected slave owner. Often these will give you a great deal of information on the family that you are looking for.
There are several different rolls that were taken in the west, starting with the 1867 Tompkin roll, this roll includes Cherokees, slaves and intermarried whites. It is available through the National archives Microfilm #7RA-04. There is a special index (National Archives microfilm 7RA-51) listed for the Freedmen, a term used to indicate that they were ex-slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes. The 1880 census and the 1890 Cherokee Nation census that I have transcribed also lists the Freedmen. There are several other rolls that were also available including the 1890 Wallace roll (National Archives microfilm 7RA-51) and the 1896 Clifton/Kern roll.
Source: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/OCEsite/GoHome/NativeAmericanlesson2.pdf
over 99% of Indians in I.T. had NO slaves (though AmerIndians had kept slaves for about 15-20,000 years). FEW could have afforded a slave, had they wanted to buy one. (MY family certainly could NOT have as the branch, that was in IT by 1861, had a 34 acre farm. my great-aunt Lily still lives on & farms blackberries there.)
was it you that thought that GEN Stand Watie was a slaveowner??? (wrong answer. he was so poor that he could afford NEITHER a CSA General's uniform OR his own horse. the General rode a BORROWED mule during most of TWBTS.)
free dixie,sw