Cherokee Census of 1835

What's In a Name? - The Cherokee Census

One of the major arguments against removing the Cherokee from their homelands in 1835 was that they had adopted many of the trappings of white, frontier civilization. They farmed, lived in houses, published a newspaper in their own language, and some even owned slaves. The Treaty of New Echota required that a census of the Cherokee be taken as a means of establishing the value of the Cherokee land and property so that reparations could be made:

And be it further enacted, That if, upon any of the lands now occupied by the Indians, and to be exchanged for, there should be such improvements as add value to the land claimed by any individual or individuals of such tribes or nations, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such value to be ascertained by appraisement or otherwise, and to cause such ascertained value to be paid to the person or persons rightfully claiming such improvements.¹

As a result of the census we know about the number of farms, mills, houses and other types of improvements the Cherokees made and have a perspective on Cherokee life beyond that provided by the historian's more traditional sources. You will start your study of the census by looking at what's in a name as you learn how to work with the data in the file.

Click map to enlarge

Open the Cherokee Removal map. Data from the census is available as a map layer as are layers showing the location of church missions to the Cherokee and the extent of gold mining in the Cherokee territory. You can also open a portion of a map from the Atlas of the United States prepared by H.S. Tanner in 1836 at the same time the Cherokee census was taken.

Open the 1835 Census layer and zoom in on the Cherokee territory. You have access to a random sample of the 1835 census that represents approximately 10% of the total. Click a point to open a pop-up with information for a single family and examine the categories of information that are included. Please understand that the locations of the Cherokee households on the map are approximate - most often to the creek indicated in the census document.

To Start You Thinking -

To...	Click...
• Navigate around your map • Turn layers on/off • Change the basemap • Zoom in/out • Display data in a table • Open a feature's pop-up window • Use a bookmark • Change feature styles • Filter data • Measure distance/area • Share your map	Viewing web maps Working with layers Choosing a basemap Viewing web maps-Navigate Show table View pop-ups Access bookmarks Change style Apply filters Measure Create Presentations

Map Help

1) Names were often given in honor of personal accomplishments or existing character traits or traits that were valued. Open the table of census entries and scroll down the list of the translated Cherokee names. In general, what do the Cherokee names say about the individuals and culture of the people who gave them? Identify any notable exceptions?

2) Open the link to the 1836 Tanner Map of the United States and examine the location of Cherokee home sites in the map carefully. What common geographic feature do most share?

3) Measure to find how far it was across the Cherokee territory from Blount City, Alabama to the farthest home in North Carolina?

4) Open the Missions layer.

a) Describe the locations of the missions in relation to the Cherokee people.

b) Measure to determine what is the greatest distance between a Cherokee home and the nearest mission

5) As mentioned, the sample you are working with is about 10% of the total. Open the table and determine approximately how many Cherokee households were counted in the complete census?

6) As the census suggests, some Cherokee owned slaves. Filter the data in the 1835 Census layer to show only slave owners.

a) How many are there in the sample?

b) How many slave owners does this suggest there were in the entire Cherokee population assuming that the sample is representative?

c) What was the typical number of slaves owned by slave owning families?

d) Was there a close relationship between slave holding and any of the other census characteristics?

7) What does the data in the census tell you about the Cherokee as farmers? Use statistics from the file to support your observations.

8) One of the primary purposes of the missions among the Cherokee was education. As you have seen the census includes information about literacy both in English and in Cherokee. How far did the educational influence of the missions extend into the Cherokee community? Examine the incidence of households with English or Cherokee readers and check to see how far most of these households were from a mission.

9) Was bilingual literacy common among the Cherokee. That is did households with Cherokee readers also tend to have English readers and vice-versa?

10) Identify and address a question that you have about the Cherokee using the available census data.

¹"The Indian Removal Act," in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875 Statutes at Large, 21st Congress, 1st Session, pp 411-412 part of the Library of Congress American Memory Project.

image from National Archives, Census Roll, 1835, of Cherokee Indians East of the Mississippi. NA#T496 imposed on a portion of a map from H.S. Tanner, Atlas of the United States part of The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

Last modified in March, 2011 by Rick Thomas