TAHLEQUAH — Their names form a litany of tragedy.

Betsy’s child. Katy’s child. Sally’s child. Flying Fox’s son. Susy. Tee Nu Lees Kee’s wife and child. Too Ni 1st. Too Ni 2nd. Too Ni 3rd. Walk on Log’s child. Peggy’s son. Dreadful. Name unknown (child).

The roll comes not from cemetery headstones, nor from a solemn list of the dead. Rather, it comes from a statements submitted by Caleb Hunt and R.M. Hook for the coffins of Cherokees who died in June, July and August of 1838 at Ross’ Landing in Tennessee.

Hunt provided 41 coffins, while Hook charged the government for 21 large coffins and 27 small ones. And the Cherokee Trail of Tears was just beginning. Before the march ended in Indian Territory the following year, an estimated 4,000 had perished.

Fifty people attending the Ninth Cherokee Ancestry Conference this weekend studied these, and other documents, as a way of tracing their tribal and personal histories. The conference was presented by the Cherokee Heritage Center and its genealogy department.

The topics included Trail of Tears research, land records, noted Cherokee outlaws and patriots (depending on one’s point of view), the final Dawes Commission roles and misconceptions about them, and methods of tracing Cherokee heritage.

Many who attended already know much about their Cherokee families, while others were on a quest to learn more, using the scraps of knowledge they possessed and tales handed down through their families.

“If this happens to be your family, you may not know, because of the names,” Roy Hamilton said, as he began presenting the result of Marybelle Chase’s research on claims submitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for services rendered by providers along the Trail of Tears. He explained some names had changed or were not necessarily accurate.

Chase was unable to attend the conference, so Hamilton, president of the Cherokee Arts and Humanities Council and a board member of the Cherokee National Historical Society, substituted. Chase recently reviewed these documents in Treasury archives, bringing the material to light for the first time.

Most claims described the efforts of people ranging from boat owners to interpreters (for “collecting and selling” Cherokee Indians’ property) to the Cherokees who later supervised them along the trail. They referred to the “Cherokee emigrants,” a term that galls Hamilton, as well as many others.

“These people weren’t emigrants of their own free will. These people were being removed from their homeland,” he said.

Hamilton referred to more records, showing how the numbers continued to grow. On Sept. 20 of that year, the government received a claim for 185 coffins.

At first, Cherokees were rounded up from their homes and kept in internment camps. The Treasury Department received claims for beef, corn and other supplies at the camps and while on the road.

“It doesn’t tell the quality of items. It leaves you wondering. What state was the beef in when they received it? We hear a lot of the corn had weevils in it, and a lot of the beef was eaten up by maggots. Much of it couldn’t be used,” Hamilton said.

The deaths began in the camps and continued along the trail. Many people, especially children and elders, died after reaching Indian Territory from the hardships suffered along the trail.

“There were so many children on this list. Many of them they didn’t have time to even name, they died so quickly,” Hamilton said.

His voice cracked as he recalled the story of his great-great-great grandmother, who was in the Charles Hicks detachment.

“About Nashville, she died and they buried her there. Her family came on,” he said. “I heard these stories. It becomes kind of personal. These are our people. It means more than just numbers.”

His ancestor had a young baby, who outlived his mother, but died after arrival in Indian Territory.

At about the time the groups arrived at the Mississippi River, Chief John Ross petitioned the government to let the Cherokees supervise the removal, thinking it would go better under Cherokee leadership, rather than the army.

“We took over our own removal after awhile,” Hamilton said. “The only people from the white government who stayed with us were the doctor and the people from the Treasury Department who wrote the checks.”

The checks continued to the Cherokees who acted as lieutenants.

After receiving tips for researching ancestors along the Trail of Tears, the group heard about looking up family land records from Linda Donelson, director of real estate for the Cherokee Nation. Donelson explained how Indian land policies, some a century old, still govern how Cherokees may use their land today.

Catherine Foreman Gray, archival specialist for Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism, heard many tales of the Cherokee Nation’s “wild west” atmosphere from family members when she was growing up. She honed her expertise on some of the major players when working at the Fort Smith National Historic Site.

There, she came across the court files of people she knew she was related to, but whom the family didn’t mention. Of one, she said, “he and his brother were well-known horse thieves.” Researching these stories became an obsession.

Judge Isaac Parker, who became known as the “hanging judge,” said about one-third of the people who came before him were Indians. Another third were white, with the remainder black. Parker commented the majority of the problems came from intruders into Indian Territory. Many had committed crimes elsewhere and sought sanctuary in its 74,000 square miles.

“It was called an outlaws’ paradise over here,” Gray said.

She discussed three famous, or infamous Cherokees, depending on what perspective historians take. The first, Tom Starr, was an ancestor. His father, James Starr, signed the Treaty of New Echota. He was scheduled to be killed on June 22, 1839, the same day as four other prominent treaty signers – Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie.

Watie and James Starr escaped the posses that day, but James Starr was killed in 1845, leading to Tom Starr’s spree of killing.

“He proudly claims that he killed every one of the 32 people that were involved in his father’s death, unless they got sick and died before he could catch up with them,” Gray said.

One person described Starr as just as terror-inspiring as the devil himself, while others called him a gentleman and a good neighbor.

“Maybe he wasn’t so much a ruthless killer as he was a political one. In his eyes he was justified,” Gray said.

The other two men she discussed, Zeke Proctor and Ned Christie, also were well-respected in the Cherokee community, but ran afoul of the white man’s law because of jurisdictional differences, she said. Much has been written about both.

Gene Norris, senior genealogist for the Cherokee Heritage Center and co-host of the event, said many people who seek his help to research their families have misconceptions about the Dawes Commission and the rolls it compiled.

Dawes, a U.S. senator, visited the Cherokee Nation in 1883 and described what he found.

“There was no poverty. There was no debt. It had outstanding social and educational institutions,” Norris said. “The one thing he [Dawes] said that the Cherokee people lacked was selfishness.”

The government wanted to make Indian and Oklahoma territories a state, and, to do so, it was necessary to eliminate the tradition among Cherokees and other tribes of communal land holding.

The Dawes Commission was established to accomplish this mission among the Five Civilized Tribes.

Norris said the roll had many flaws. He told of one woman who was listed as a freedman because her father was described as “adopted colored.” However, she was listed as white on two U.S. censuses.

Sometimes full brothers and sisters were listed with different blood quantums. One might be called fullblood, another half, the third three-fourths.

Some of this occurred because of problems of interpretation, some because Cherokees who opposed allotment, such as Red Bird Smith, did not want to cooperate with the commission. Sometimes commissioners relied on friends, neighbors or other relatives to establish the person’s credentials.

“The Dawes roll is pretty much written in stone,” Norris said, when it comes to establishing citizenship in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

He sees many people who tell him their stories of Cherokee ancestry. A grandmother “sold” or “gave away” her roll number (not possible). The grandparents were ashamed to be Indians and refused to be enrolled. Grandpa lived in Indian Territory so he must be Cherokee. Someone with a similar name to great-grandma was on the commission rolls. A DNA test proves they have some Indian blood, so they should be able to enroll.

Norris and his staff have to tell these people that unless they can establish proof of an ancestor tracing to the roll, they’re out of luck. But they also will help them find that proof, if it’s there.

On Saturday, Norris helped people get down to the business of tracing their families. He began with a beginner’s guide to research, which he called, “I just found out my grandmother was Cherokee, what do I do now?” The day concluded with information on how to research ancestry on the Internet and in records available in other sources.