In a message dated 11/30/2005 5:39:36 A.M. Central Standard Time, 7_rddover@comcast.net writes: I've heard the family story, too. Actually on both sides of my family. I've been able to get back several generations on most sides and haven't run across any proof yet. The fact that the claims were rejected back then did not mean that they were not Native American. It only meant that they didn't qualify for the Gov money because in most cases their familes had not enrolled at the time required in order to be entitiled to the money. There really is no doubt in my mind that the Cross were Indian at some point. The problem is with knowing just how much and where it came from because of the inconsistances in what the descendants were claiming. These claims were all about getting the Gov money and I'm sure were embellished in many cases. This is a link where you can check the names from the Guion Miller Rolls of the Eastern Cherokee --- _http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-guion-miller.html_ (http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-guion-miller.html) I have looked at other links with indexed names for other tribes found on many of the OK county website links. If you aren't familiar with these claims, they are a wonderful genealogical source. In many cases they give parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, siblings, children and also dob's, places born, etc. As with most things, you should still verify the info because they do contain some incorrect data as well. These claims are usually all linked to an original claim and the numbers are usually running in consecutive order for the same family groupings. Women are listed by married names in the index. The first claims that I got years ago were ordered from Wash DC but they are much easier to get now. Think you can order them online and you can find the microfilmed rolls in most of the state archive libraries if I'm not mistaken. They also had to have sworn statements by people who knew them to be honest & truthful that are also included in the files which can also be clues for finding other data. The file contains all the correspondence connected to each claim. Some of the claims that I've read are really eye opening to see just how little many of these people really knew about their families past their own parents & siblings. Many could not name grandparents. Several I've read had father's that wandered off and nothing was known about them or their families. I've learned over the years that families back then didn't necessarily keep up with each other any better than we sometimes do today. There are Dover who filed. Mary (Whitice) Dover, wife of William Dover s/o John & Elizabeth __? of York Co, SC filed through her father and many of her descendants also filed. There are some other Dover in GA that filed, but at the time we were looking at those, there was no known connection to Francis J Dover. Need to dig those back out and look at them again sometime because with some of the surprises that came out with the DNA project, some may actually link up now. Think I have most of the Dover claims here somewhere. Census records are also good clues. In some cases the Indians were listed separately in census rolls -- I have seen some in SC and GA. In 1870 many were listed as people of color because there wasn't a separate listing for Indians. Beginning about 1900 many will show up giving US or United States as place of birth. I was told one time in the earlier census records that if the husband was white, the wife & kids were usually listed white as well in most cases even though they might be Indian. I have heard the repeated story of many people who would NOT claim to be Indian or talk about it even with their own families throughout my research so apparently there were many people who did not wish to be known as Indian. Some of the claims of Black Dutch and Black Irish can also be linked in some cases to a mix of Indian heritage for those trying to conceal Indian heritage. It's interesting reading. In today's world to claim Indian heritage for actual tribal enrollment, think each tribe has their own criteria from what I've read. Some are very hard to meet. Apparently, from what little I know, there must have been many Cherokee who remained in the Hab Co GA area as I have run across many other researchers of other surnames in that area who also claim Indian heritage. These early families were so intermarried with each other, you just have to start peeling away the layers to see where it leads you. I had heard at one time that some of the Anderson Dover / Jane Cross descendants had filed claims and were successful in getting the money. A couple or so years ago, I was told by Billie Helton, who is one of the older researchers that it was true, but that they had filed through their Green ancestors and not through Dover or Cross. She is a descendant of the Hannah Dover / Wm Washington Green family. Hannah was the d/o Anderson and the mother of Jesse Mercer Green who left us with his memoirs of the family in 1912. I'm still on the fence when it comes to Indian blood in Francis J Dover. I'd really like to see something more than the one claim that just mentions him before I form a real opinion about the situation one way or the other. There's still just too many blanks. I would sure like to know more about the Posey wife who mothered his children as well. One branch of a family that I have researched had always maintained the old grandma was full blood Indian. Even when presented with the fact that her father came over on a boat from England at the age of 7, they couldn't or didn't want to understand that meant the most she could be was 1/2 Indian. Guess maybe it didn't make for as good a story to tell. You never know the turns that family research will take. Recently while working on this Cross research which is one of my maternal lines, I discovered that a dau of Robert Cross b ca 1803 GA married into a Barron family in AL and moved to Smith Co, TX where I live. Just so happens that my paternal grandmother was a Barron and it was her family that Robert's dau married into. She married the brother of my grandmother's g grandfather. My maternal Cross/Dover connection was in AR by 1860 > West TX > OK > West TX > to East TX late 1930's. My paternal lines all went straight through GA > AL to East TX pre Civil War. There was nearly 100 year gap in time before these families crossed paths again to create me. These families took very different routes and still ended up back together down the line. Sharon S