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About the 1842 Claims

The 1st Board of Cherokee Commissioners adjudicated many claims, valuations, and judgments for and against Cherokee. Their work began in 1836. Their work was met with dissent by most Cherokees as being incomplete, unfair, and falling short of expected value. The Claims filed in 1838 just before Emigration show how widespread those feeling existed. Physical removal did nothing to end those feelings. The 1st Board of Cherokee Commissioners ended in March 1839.

In November 1842 the 2nd Board was established to finish the unresolved matters from the 1st Board. The Commissioners were John H. Eaton and Edward H. Hubley. It adjourned in January 1844. It was replaced in June by the Third Board, which was appointed for 1 year; its Commissioners were George C. Washington and John T. Mason.

John Ross and the Cherokee Nation authorized their agents to take claims testimony for compensation of losses by the Cherokee. The claims present losses reaching back to the early 1800s. There are claims for Valuations of Improvements, for Spoliation of personal property, claims for False Imprisonment by county & state authorities, reimbursement for self-emigration, claims for losses by Old Settlers from Arkansas, improper charges against their Register of Payments Accounts, and many other matters. In addition to details of harassment and dispossession suffered there are many bits of information on their roundup by troops and events that occurred during their forced relocation. Many of the claims identify the specific detachment or group in which the claimant was removed west. The claims contain many details that reveal details

of the lifestyles and material culture of the Cherokee in the East. Many claims provide details of family relationships, neighbors and lost communities along with the formation of communities in the west.

The vast majority of these claims were presented during the first half of 1842. Within many of the 1842 Claims are additional testimony given in 1845 to the Commissioners of the 3rd Board. There are Indexes for many of these Claims among the Records in the National Archives in Washington DC. Additional information may be found in the Records of the 2nd & 3rd Boards of Cherokee Commissioners [RG75 Entries 239 through 246]. There are also some indexes among the records of claims found in the holding of the various Manuscript Collections of our gracious partner repositories.

These claims are arranged by the Districts of the Cherokee Nation West.

  1. Tahlequah District – 493 Loose Claims. Of these, there are 116 Claims which are lost, missing or in collections not yet identified. The claims were given before Jonathan Mulkey, David Carter, James D. Wofford. The majority of these claimants were residents of Tahlequah District but there are also claims for residents of Canadian, Delaware, Flint, Goingsnake, Saline, and Skin Bayou Districts.

  2. Skin Bayou District (later called Sequoyah District) – 164 identified Loose Claims. Fifty-five claims are lost, missing or in collections not yet identified. This series of claims sequentially follow the claims categorized as the mix of Canadian & Illinois District Claims. These include 7 Skin Bayou claims which are not in the extant indexes. The extant claims were given before George W. Gunter, S. C. Stambaugh, and James M. Payne. In addition to residents of Skin Bayou there are claimants from Flint, Illinois, Saline & Tahlequah Districts.

  3. Saline District – There is one bound Book containing 212 claims. These claims were given before Jonathan Mulkey and Elijah Hicks. There is one claim for a resident of Delaware District.

  4. Goingsnake District – There are two bound books totaling 782 claims. Volume 1 contains 405 claims. Volume 1 claims were given before Ignatius Few. Volume 2 contains 377 claims. Volume 2 has never been published. The claims in Volume 2 were given before David M. Foreman, Jesse Bushyhead & Rev. Evan Jones. In addition to residents of Goingsnake there are claims filed by residents of Delaware, Flint, Illinois, & Tahlequah Districts. It is interesting to note there is one claimant who stated they lived in Arkansas.

  5. Delaware District – This District had 1,266 total claims found in 5 bound books. Volume 1 contains 257 Claims. Volume 2 contains 284 Claims. The claims in these first two books use the same series of claim numbers. Volume 3 also continues the claims numbering order but the claims book itself, which contains 239 claims, has not yet been located. There are extant indexes. Volume 4 restarted the claims numbers and contains 245 claims. Volume 5 contains 241 claims. The claims agents for Delaware District were Moses Daniel, Robert B. Daniel, Jonathan Mulkey, James D. Wofford, & Simpson Dyes. These Claims also include claims for residents of Saline & Tahlequah Districts.

  6. Flint District – This District had a total of 1,084 claims found within seven bound books. Volume 1 contains 158 Claims. Volume 2 contains 153 Claims. Volume 3 contains 72 Claims. Volume 4 contains 76 Claims. Volume 5 contains 155 Claims. Volume 6 contains 198 Claims. Volume 7 contains 261 Claims though, unfortunately, that book is also lost, missing or not yet located. The extant claims were given before D.J. Bell, E. S. Harlin, George W Adair, W. S. Adair, Jay Hicks, Moses Daniel, Thomas F. Taylor. The claimants resided not only in Flint District but also in Delaware, Goingsnake, Illinois, Saline, Skin Bayou, & Tahlequah Districts.

  7. Mixed District (Canadian & Illinois Districts) – This book contains 110 Claims. The claimants resided in Canadian, Illinois, Flint, Skin Bayou & Tahlequah Districts. Some of these claims are among the longest with the most detailed testimony among the entire series. The claims were presented to S. C. Stambaugh, P. M. Butler, Jesse Bushyhead & Christopher Love. This book ends with a statement of additional claims to be continued in Book 2. That book is the Saline District Claims book.

Many of these 1842 claims ended up being adjudicated and filed as a part of the 4th Board Claims of the Cherokee Commissioners [NARA Record Group 75, Entries 249, 250, & 251]

Missing Claims
Many claims listed among the various indexes have not yet been located. If you are interested in one or more of these missing claims you can cobble together some scant information found among the various indexes which are included among this database. The format of each of these indexes and the information presented is generally not duplicated in the other indexes.

We request all Association members, friends, and researchers keep on the lookout for any of these missing records.

Districts of the Cherokee Nation East

In 1821 the Cherokee Nation divided itself in eight Districts. These were not nominal subdivisions in name only, but fully functioning governmental entities. Each contained a District Council House where meetings and courts were held. There were District Judges, Circuit Judges, Court Clerks, Marshalls, Rangers, Constables, and Light Horsemen. The Districts were further divided into Election Precincts to facilitate election of representatives to the National Committee and the National Council. There are occasional references in this series of claims to State and county entities but the overwhelming percentage of claims are given completely from the perspective of Cherokee communities and Cherokee Districts. To make best use of this resource you will need to pay extreme attention to the creeks, waterways, towns and districts referred to by the claimants.
Cherokee Nation Districts showing state lines with Tribal boundary in red, state boundaries in grey, and districts with hashed blue line.
Cherokee Nation Districts showing state lines with Tribal boundary in red, state boundaries in grey, and districts with hashed blue line.
Cherokee Nation District map showing streams, towns and villages
Cherokee Nation District map showing streams, towns and villages

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