Stories of Indian ancestry exist in both my my mother's family and my father's family, but I have had no success in verifying these stories. One of my paternal grandmother's uncles - then a resident of Oklahoma - actually applied to be placed on the Cherokee rolls in the early 1900s, which application was rejected. I don't know the details because I have not yet obtained that information from the National Archives. Then he applied to be placed on the rolls of the Mississippi Choctaws and again was rejected on the grounds that his father was not present when the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed. He claimed that both his mother and his father were half Indian. His mother was born in Georgia, as nearly as I can tell. Although his father was born in what is now Mississippi, his paternal grandfather was, as nearly as I can tell, born in South Carolina, which was not one of the places that the Mississippi Choctaw lived although I believe that the Cherokees did live in South Carolina. The uncle, John Watson, was born in what is now St. Helena Parish, La., and he and his parents and siblings settled in Houston County, Texas, in the mid-1840s when Texas was still a republic. I am puzzled. Did John Watson truly believe that both of his parents were half Indian and was simply unable to prove this? Or was there some financial incentive in the very early 1900s that would encourage him to apply to be placed on Indian rolls and he decided to lie to try to take advantage of that situation? I would be most interested in the opinions of those who have researched Indian ancestry. Incidentally, the only person I know who is actually on the Cherokee rolls - her father was half Cherokee - has very fair skin, hazel eyes, and medium brown hair. Janey E. Joyce - jejoyce@sbcglobal.net