Deborah ask: "My gggreat-grandparents were in Pickens Co., Chickasaw Nation, IT by 1900 and I am trying to determine whether they were legal or illegal" Deborah, Despite all of your "clues", it all boils down to three things-- (1) were they and their children shown on the Chickasaw rolls as "By Blood" citizens?; (2) were they and their children shown on the 1900 and later census as "IN" ("Indians")? and (3) have you identified her DeArman parents on the 1850 census to see what part of the country they came from? If the answers to the above questions is no, then it is very, VERY doubtful if they were Indian of any tribe. Calhoun Co AL was ceded by the Creek Indians several years before Tabitha was born, and the white settlers lost no time in occupying that area of AL when it was opened in 1832. As for them being "legal" or "illegal"-- that would be hard to say! The 1890 census of the Chickasaw Nation shows the ratio of whites and blacks to the Indians was very shocking- even for me! The poor Chickasaw Indians were less than 10% of the total population who was occupying their land! That does not, however, mean that your family couldn't have paid a fee and been issued a Permit to live there and pay rent, but those documents are all but impossible to find in the Chickasaw Archives. Jerri (Rogers) Chasteen Claremore OK