The letter about the Poarch Creeks ticked my mind about a question I posed last month to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's Justice Department. I am a descendant of one of the many Friendly Creek families in the Southeast, who received nominal reparations from the US Government during the 1930s. The funds were to compensate descendants of Friendly Creeks, who had their reserves illegally taken from them by state or local governments. Our reserves were originally granted for service to the United States during war time. They were essentially veteran's land grants, not Indian reservations, but much larger than the grants given to most Caucasian veterans. However, legally these reserves were absolutely identical in status to those reserves granted the ancestors of the Poarch Creeks - who are federally recognized. My question to the Creek official was this: Since the reparations were paid to Friendly Creeks on the basis that they were Creek Indians granted land by the Federal government, and that neither state nor local governments had the right to terminate Federal grants of lands to American Indians, was it possible that the descendants of these grantees were eligible for citizenship in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation? The answer is no. The current Muscogee (Creek) Constitution restricts citizenship to those persons who are direct descendants of persons listed on the Dawes Rolls. In an earlier telephone conversation, the court staff member mentioned that there were thousands of people in Oklahoma alone, who were true Creeks and descended from Creeks who took allotments in 1905. However, like my ancestor, who took an allotment, their ancestors feared being listed on the Dawes Roll. Therefore, they are not eligible for citizenship. Thus, if your family received an Eastern Creek reparation, and was not part of the group of families ancestral to the Poarch Creeks, at this time you are not legally considered a Creek Indian as far as the BIA is concerned - even if the US Dept. of Justice considered your family legitimately Creek in the 1930s or earlier. Theoretically, if all of us reparation descendants came together, we could petition for Federal recognition. However, there is a Catch 22 on this approach. One of the criteria used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is that the petitioning tribe must have lived as an Indian community on the same tract of land dating back to the time of their initial recognition as Indians. Thus, if your family's land was stolen from you because they were Creeks, you can't legally be a federally recognized Creek now. The one type of Creeks in Georgia who have the strongest case for Federal recognition are the descendants of the Ware County (Waycross) Creeks. There is irrefutable evidence that this band of Creeks lived in the vicinity of the Okefenokee Swamp as a Native American community until it was purchased by the United States government in the 1930s and 1940s. I may have an ancestor in that group, but am not sure. Perhaps the descendants of the Okefenokee Creeks should first form a state recognized tribe in Waycross, and then petition for Federal recognition. Richard T. **************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 )