Many people have heard family stories about Cherokee ancestry or perhaps ancestors who belonged to other nearby tribes. However, converting family traditions into documented facts can be difficult for the genealogist with little experience in American Indian research. This book tells where to find the records and also offers a lot of advice to the newcomer.

The Cherokee nation had long called western Georgia home. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes lived nearby. In 1828 gold was discovered in the northern Georgia mountains and the land the Indians claimed suddenly became valuable.

In 1830 the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. After eight years of legal wrangling, the United States government finally ordered the removal of the Indians to Oklahoma in 1838.

The U.S. Army sent a large force under the command of General Winfield Scott to march the tribal members to the "Indian Territory" of Oklahoma. Men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles. About 4,000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny").

The book Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes —Southeastern Indians Prior to Removal focuses on the toughest period to research—the century or so prior to the removal of the Southeastern nations to Indian Territory, the point at which records were regularly maintained. It provides the cultural, genealogical, and historical information and outlines a method of research that can carry you from the colonial period to the great tribal rolls of the mid-to-late nineteenth century, using the unique records kept by American, English, French, and Spanish governments.

Author Rachal Mills Lennon traces nineteen branches of her family tree through five North American Indian tribes. She has been a Certified Genealogical Records Specialist since 1985 and is the author, editor, and compiler of five books, including Some Southern Balls and Florida's Unfortunates, as well as Southeastern ethnic case studies in the major genealogical periodicals.

Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes is a "must read" book for anyone searching for Native American ancestry in the southeastern United States. The book sells for $24.95 plus shipping and taxes, if any. It is available through any bookstore if you specify ISBN#: 0806316888. You can also safely order it online through Genealogical Publishing Company’s secure website at: www.genealogical.com/item_detail.cfm?ID=3350