Pat, I agree with you on this one. I think that is the reason I'm hitting walls too. I don't know for sure about Cherokee in my Blankenship line(wouldn't surprise me) but on the old maps, the areas they lived in(MO) are clearly marked Indian land. Another line I'm researching( FRIEND ,husbands maternal great grandmother) we know was full blood Osage, those that married non Indians seemed to stay put, the others moved on to OK. So my theory is; if they could pass for white or at least had a white spouse, they somehow avoided being forced off their land. Sure makes proving Indian heritage difficult, as most did not stay on membership rolls tribal records. Also makes other research difficult, just searching Census Indian was not documented on same records. Laura -----Original Message----- From: Patricia A Torrance [SMTP:editor-patter@juno.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 8:18 AM To: BLANKENSHIP-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BLANKENSHIP] Blankenship & Cherokee Dear Sue, I'm just kidding about forming an offshoot group. As for finding records to prove any illegitimate offspring: There won't be any! They were very careful to hide any Indian heritage in those years. Indians were not allowed to testify in court, and if they owned property it could be confiscated. If they could hide their heritage, they certainly did. It was very risky for them in the early 1800s. Even in this generation people in Oklahoma experience a lot of discrimination. Pat