After two attempts, I have convinced the Cherokee Nation that the Boles have Cherokee roots! I submitted an application for membership to their FIRST FAMILIES OF THE CHEROKEE NATION (FFCN). I had to submit proof that James Boles was a lawful resident of the Cherokee Nation, East or West , prior to the ratification of the Cherokee Nation Constitution of Sept. 6, 1839. Along with the application of the lineage chart back to 1839 or earlier and proof that James Boles lived in the Cherokee Nation, East (birth records, marriage records land records and plats, etc.) I was fortunate to find a Land Record and Plat for James. Anyone interested in an application can e-mail genealogy@cherokeeheritage.org. James Boles, b.1760-5, in Abbeville SC (Old Cherokee Nation East) son of John and Anne Ramsey Boles. My lineage chart James Boles, William Boles, Levi Boles, Tommie Lee Boles, Orren Anderson, Jim L. Anderson. Last week I received a nice certificate from the Cherokee Historical Society stating "I am now a life member of the FFCN and a direct descendant of JAMES BOLES, a legal resident of the Cherokee Nation." They further stated " you may take pride in the fact that membership in FFCN is more difficult to obtain than any other Heraldic organizations". They have placed my genealogical data in their achieves of the Cherokee National Historical Society. Over 110 years ago, my grandmother Tommie Lee Boles and her father Levi C. Boles, applied for membership to the Cherokee Nation (Dawes case # 4618) and they were rejected because they could not prove that James Boles lived in the Old Cherokee Nation East. It is a shame that my grandparents did not have computers in those days, if so we might have Cherokee cards today. Jim Lee Anderson