No^TSr' ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 229 



Thomas as trustee for the Indians, who were not permitted by the 

 laws of North Carolina to own land (Mooney, 1900, p. 159). These 

 parcels of land still comprise the bulk of the present reservation. 



In rebuilding a life, the people were achieving some success by 

 1848, for Mullay wrote: 



I was gratified to find the Cherokees who inhabit the valleys and coves of this 

 wild, interesting and romantic region, a moral and comparatively industrious 

 people — sober and orderly to a marked degree — and although almost wholly 

 ignorant of our language (not a single full-blood and but few of the half-breeds 

 speaking English) advancing encouragingly in the acquirement of a knowledge 

 of agriculture, the ordinary mechanical branches, & in spinning, weaving, &c.[^] 



In spite of the migration of many mixbloods, some stayed behind. 

 It can safely be presumed that many of these were not as acculturated 

 as the migrants. Their lack of facility with English demonstrates 

 this conviction. However, many of their descendants figure promi- 

 nently in the present-day mixed population of Cherokee. One of the 

 most prolific of the "White Indian" families traces White ancestors 

 back at least as early as 1840. 



About the same time that Mullay visited the area, another traveler 

 spent a week with Will Thomas. He describes his impressions of the 

 people as follows: 



. . . probably as temperate as any other class of people, honest in their business 

 intercourse, moral in thought word and deeds. Three fourths of them can read 

 in their own language, and though a majority can understand English few can 

 speak it. They practice to a considerable extent the science of agriculture . . . 

 they are in fact the happiest community that I have met with in the southern 

 country. [Lanman, 1849, p. 95.] 



In 1851 the Siler Roll was taken. This roll is of interest, for, in 

 connection with it, Siler, the compiler, wrote to his superior in Wash- 

 ington requesting instructions in regard to listings of Negro admix- 

 tures. The directions came back saying: ". . . if they are recog- 

 nized as Cherokees by their council, you will enroll them as such with 

 some special mark." ^ This donation to the Indian gene pool was 

 made by slaves and probably a few freed Negroes. In the comments 

 accompanying the roll, references are made to some marriages with 

 Catawba Indians. This is not unexpected, for in 1840 one hundred 

 or more of them took up residence among the Cherokee. However, 

 because of discontent and some conflict, most of them wandered 

 back to South Carolina. The genealogy of one elite Cherokee 

 family today includes a Catawba ancestor. 



The Swetland Roll, completed in 1860, states that there were 800 

 fuUbloods in the Qualla settlement and nearly 400 people, mostly 

 fuUbloods, in Cheoah. A group of 500 that came in for registration 



' Litton, 1940, quoting from a letter from Mullny to the Washington office, 1848. 

 » Litton, 1940, p. 212, quoting from a letter from Lea to Siler, 1851. 



