Will Rogers
This Dawes Roll enrollment card from October 22, 1900, records actor and humorist Will Rogers’s application for membership in the Cherokee Tribe.
The Dawes Commission was headed by Henry Dawes, who was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to negotiate land agreements with the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Tribes. The Dawes Rolls, also known as the "Final Rolls," are the lists of individuals who were accepted as eligible for tribal membership in these tribes. Tribe members were entitled to an allotment of land, in return for abolishing their tribal governments and recognizing federal laws. In order to receive the land, individual tribal members first had to apply and be deemed eligible by the Commission. The Rolls contain more than 101,000 names from 1898 to 1914 (primarily from 1899 to 1906). Today these five tribes continue to use the Dawes Rolls as the basis for determining tribal membership. They usually require applicants to provide proof of descent from a person who is listed on these rolls. Rodgers's application to the Dawes Commission in 1900 was accepted, and he was enrolled as a member of the Cherokee Nation.
Dawes Enrollment Cards for Cherokee, Citizens by blood (BB), 4747, dated October 22, 1900. National Archives Identifier: 4662500
View and download Dawes Enrollment Cards for Cherokee, Citizens by blood (BB), 4747 on the National Archives Catalog. You can explore more records held in the National Archives at Kansas City through the National Archives Catalog or by visiting our research room in person. These records are located in Record Group 75: Records of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Series: Enrollment Cards, 1898–1914.