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Subject: [MOMONITE] Active Cherokee Nation here in Missouri whne Missouriwas not part of the USA
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:15:21 -0000

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Author: SueLatham57
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Classification: queries

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http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.moniteau/1763/mb.ashx

Message Board Post:

hthttp://awiakta.org/tp://awiakta.org/
For over 275 years, Missouri, Arkansas and adjoining
areas have been home for thousands of "Lost Cherokees"
The Northern Cherokee Nation is the only tribe of Indians which is recognized by Proclamations and House Resolutions with the states of Missouri and Arkansas. We first received a Proclamation from then Governor, Kit Bond, of Missouri in 1983. A second Proclamation was awarded to our Nation when Governor Mel Carnahan renewed Missouri's Proclamation to our Tribe on June 22, 1996. Arkansas recognition of our people came in 1997 with a House Concurrent Resolution on March 18 and a Proclamation from Governor Jim Huckabee on April 8, 1997.

In 1721 some of our forefathers began moving west of the Mississippi as English encroachers began taking away their eastern homelands along with their freedoms. During the time of French and Spanish occupation of the Louisiana Territory, many of our ancestors first settled in a five-county area in today's Southeast Missouri and across Northern Arkansas. In time our kinsmen who remained in the East referred to us as the "Lost Cherokees". (US Bur. Of Ethnology, 19th Annual Rpt., pp. 391 & 392)

By 1799, portions of what is now St. Charles, MO, were deeded to some of our Ancestors by Spanish land grants. Chief Beverly Baker, a seventh generation leader of our people, is a direct descendent of a full-blood Cherokee who then owned land in "Green's Bottoms" in St. Charles County. The Greens lived near Daniel Boone's home.

After the "Louisiana Purchase" of 1803 many of our Cherokee forebears were forced from their properties by the US government. Some of these refugees migrated with other Cherokees to Booneslick Country which included areas of central, north-central, and western Missouri - north of the Missouri River.

In time, our people settled all over the western watershed of the Mississippi. Our forebears multiplied so that today we estimate our Northern Cherokee kinsmen number over a hundred thousand. Over 15,000 Cherokees identified themselves as such on the 1990 Missouri and Arkansas census. Several thousand have now stepped forward to join the nation of their roots, with more enrolling every day.

Because we have been dispersed throughout the former Louisiana Territory for many generations and due to the fact we have lived in this area since French and Spanish occupation, we now call our tribe The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory. Our effort is to make our people aware that the nation and government of their roots has continued to exist west of the Mississippi since 1721. We are eager for all Northern Cherokees to re-identify themselves with the nation of their forebears.

Twenty years before the "Trail of Tears" (November 2, 1819), John Ross wrote of our Nation in a letter to James Monroe, President of the United States. In the letter Ross referred to our people west of the Mississippi as: "the Cherokees on the St. Francis River (located in the present SE Missouri & NE Arkansas) who had moved there great many years before". John Ross later became the Principal Chief of the Old Cherokee Nation in the Southeast.

It should be mentioned that the US government recognized our nation until the 1840s. Evidence of this includes the fact that several Indian agents were assigned to our forebears soon after the "Louisiana Purchase". After setting up a Cherokee Reservation in Indian Territory, and after the forced migration ("Trail of Tears") of 1838 and 1839, the US government apparently chose to ignore and/or forget our people. Our effort today is to recover that forgotten Federal Recognition of our Nation.

In 1825, just four years after statehood, Missouri passed legislation which outlawed American Indians from living in the State of Missouri. In order to keep from being forced to the Oklahoma reservation, many of our people dressed and behaved like the whites to conceal their identity. The many who chose to continue residing in Missouri had to maintain our Cherokee affairs and heritage in secret. Much suffering occurred during the eighty years these laws stayed on the books.



We remain proud of our Cherokee heritage and will not permit anyone to deny us our birthright, though many have tried to destroy our heritage in the past. From ancient times we have called ourselves, "Ani Yunwiya", which means, "the Principal People". American principles of social and political equality are only part of our ancient Cherokee Beauty Way. Without original Americans like the Cherokee, the world may never have learned the joy and prosperity that only liberty can bring.

For more information about our people, please read Trail of Tears Across Missouri by Joan Gilbert (University of MO Press). The completed history of the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory, We Are Not Yet Conquered, written by Chief Beverly Baker, can be purchased through The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory - PMB 242
3305 Clark Lane
Columbia, MO 65202
and The Cherokee Trails Store -
811 Broadway
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.

Official Web Site of the
Kansas Awi Akta District
of the
Northern Cherokee Nation
of the Old Louisiana Territory

Links of Interest
Change of Address Form
8th Annual Awi Akta Veterans Pow Wow Poster
Awi Akta Bulletin Newsletters
NCNOLT Enrollment Application Forms
NCNOLT Newsletter December 2007
Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory - Nation's Home Page
NCNOLT - Itse Dugalu or New Toogaloo home page - Columbia, Missouri District
NCNOLT - Arkansas District Web Site
NCNOLT - Southeast Missouri (SEMO) District Web Site
NCNOLT Federal/State Recognition Status
NCNOLT History
Honored Veterans



The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory (NCNOLT) traces its roots to 1721. The Awi Akta District was organized and later incorporated in the State of Kansas as a "Foreign Corporation" with the parent corporation being the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory (NCNOLT) home-based in Columbia, Missouri. NCNOLT is a 501(c)(3) corporation.
NCNOLT Tribe Mail Address:
Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory
PMB242
3305 Clark Lane
Columbia, MO 65202.
NCNOLT Tribe E-mail Address:

The Awi Akta District of the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory (NCNOLT) covers a lot of space (all of Kansas) and even two time zones (Central and Mountain)! Because there is currently only one District Representative for Kansas and I live in Topeka, all the District meetings are held in this area. We do alternate between Topeka and Holton to try to accommodate more members, but that isn't much help to our spread out South and West members. It is our belief that Kansas is to big for just one District and we are searching for NCNOLT members who would be interested in holding meetings in their area. We are willing to help you get started meeting, and to eventually form additional Districts in the State of Kansas. For discussion and more information please contact the Kansas District Representative at .
The Awi Akta District (Kansas) Representative is Conchita (Connie) Ballard. Connie is the District's representative to the NCNOLT Tribal Council and can be reached at .
The Members of the Awi Akta District Council are:
.Doug Ashcraft - Assistant District Representative
.Mike Ballard - Treasurer (Mike also serves as Head Elder of the NCNOLT Nation)
.Don Anderson
.Loma Ashcraft
.Jonnie Turley
.Del Thompson
.Jessica Thompson
Our Web Site is always a "work in progress" (under construction), please check back often as information and links will be added frequently. Be sure to check out the links to the left side of this page for changes and additions.


All Text and Graphics on this Web Site - 2002, No part of this website may be reproduced without the express written permission of the NCNOLT Kansas Representative and the Awi Akta District CouncilRevised August 7, 2008

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