Dear Kinfolk,

Both of our grandparents, Tommie Lee and William H. Anderson claimed to be of Cherokee blood.  After years of trying to prove this heritage, I had a DNA test to decide if I had Native American DNA.  The test  reported “a full possible range of up to 1/8 Native American ancestry”.  Based upon sworn statements by our grandparents and the DNA results, we can safely say, WE ARE CHEROKEE.

To help follow our ancestry, I am enclosing the Anderson Family Tree. 

Anderson Family Tree #1

Anderson Family Tree #1 Con't.

If you are a member of Ancestry.com, you can pull up the extended Anderson chart on your computer. 

Anderson Family Tree #2

Anderson Family Tree #2 Con't.

You will note granddad’s great, great great-grandmother was Elizabeth “Betty” Harlan Mitchell.  She is one of the Anderson links to the Cherokees.  I have reason to believe that our grandmothers Fannie Griffin, born 1770 and Nancy A. Wilson born 1846, were part Native American , but yet to be proved.

Grandfather Black Bill made application for membership to Eastern Cherokees, Miller Roll #34466, on August 16, 1907.  His application along with several sworn statements from Cherokees who were acquainted with granddad’s ancestry, stated that he had Cherokee blood from his ggg grandmother, Bettie Harlan of the old Cherokee Nation East.  Unfortunately granddad did not have the Indian roll # or other information they required and his application was rejected.  Even with todays computers, it would have been difficult to provide the information they wanted on Bettie, who was born in 1760. 

Nancy Nanye Ward

Now here is where the fun starts.  IF we can prove that our Bettie Harlan is the granddaughter of the very famous Nancy Nanye Ward, we will have some real bragging rights.   Records show the famous Nanye had a granddaughter named Bettie Harlan,  however some Ancestry.com  trees show she had two granddaughters named Bettie Harlan.  Peter Hildebrand who married one of the Bettie Harlan’s,  in a sworn statement said his wife had a sister named Bettie Harlan that lived in the old Cherokee Nation East and never moved to the west.  That is the Bettie Harlan Mitchell I believe married Henry Anderson around 1780.  The NEWSWEEK article list Nancy Nanye Ward as one of the 13 Political Pioneer Milestones of the Past!  She had the status equal to that of a Cherokee Chief.  I am not ready to say our relationship to Nanye is a fact, but it makes interesting research and I will keep trying.

Newsweek Article

For reasons I do not know, granddad made an affidavit again in 1925 stating that his grandfather Henry M. Anderson was a quarter breed Cherokee Indian.  Henry M. would be a grandson of Henry Anderson who married Bettie Harlan Mitchell.

Affidavit

Next issue of the Anderson ancestry I will give grandmother Tommie Lee Boles lineage to the Cherokees.  For your information I am including  a time chart for Black Bills  colorful life.  

Have a good Labor Day Weekend,

Jim Lee