Hi. My gggreat-grandparents were in Pickens Co., Chickasaw Nation, IT by 1900 and I am trying to determine whether they were legal or illegal. I would appreciate any research suggestions on where to search for relevant records or historical information. Below is some of the information I know about them that may be relevant. According to the 1900 Federal census, John L. Salmon (b. 1836, Mercer Co., KY) and Tabitha Emmiline DeArman (b. 1838. Calhoun Co., AL), were in Pickens Co., Chickasaw Nation, IT (I believe they were living in the area of current day Addington or Comanche, OK as that is where the family remained after statehood). Also listed living nearby are two of their adult sons and their families. John died in 1906 and is buried in Montague Co. TX (where some of their adult children were living in 1900). Emmiline died in 1910 and is buried in Addington, Jefferson Co. TX. All branches of the family have the tradition that Emmiline was American Indian, but not what tribe. Every branch of the family has the same story about Emmiline, even without contact between the branches over the years. Whenever I have contacted any "lost" relatives, the first question they ask is, "Is it true that she was Indian?" or some version of that question. My great uncle said Emmiline (his grandmother) could have had an allotment, but would not admit to being Indian and refused to enroll. One elderly in-law from another branch of the family remembered family members discussing the fact that Emmiline was Indian at her funeral in 1910. Yet another, now deceased, family member said her side of the family thought (knew?) she was adopted. My father believed Emmiline denied being Indian because there were Texas laws at some time that forbid Indians to live in Texas. Emmiline was born in Alabama, possibly Calhoun County, in 1838 and her parents moved to Texas circa 1840. After she married John in 1854, they are listed in the Navarro Co. TX censuses until 1880, so they moved to I.T. sometime after 1880. Another interesting fact about Emmiline's famly is that in Alabama, the DeArmans are said to have been the first white settlers of the DeArmanville community, near Oxford AL. According to local history, in 1833, the DeArman's traded wild ponies acquired in Texas for land with the Creek Indians in Choccolocco Valley, later known as Benton Co., and then Calhoun Co. AL. I have one photograph of Emmiline, so I asked one of my cousins who works in Okla. law enforcement to ask a colleague, who is an America Indian forensic artist (the artists who draw faces from skeletal remains), to examine Emmiline's photograph to see if she appeared to be of Amer. Indian ancestry to him. He confirmed that she did and even named two or three tribal possibilities, but said he would need more photographs to pin the tribe down for sure. So, there is a lot of "soft" evidence to indicate that Emmiline was indeed American Indian to some degree, but no documentation. I know the fact that she was living in Chickasaw nation does not mean she was Chickasaw since amongst the five tribes in Indian Territory, members of one tribe could be living in the territory of another. However, even if she was Indian, could she live legally in I.T., if she denied being Indian and/or refused to enroll? Does anyone know who would have made records of legal and/or illegal residents in Chickasaw Nation -- federal, tribal, or both--and where these types of records would be found? Thanks Deborah King