Jamie Oxendine of www.powwows.com wrote a great article about Cherokee tribal members, requirements for membership today with quite a bit of history thrown in for good measure.
He includes the guidelines for membership in each of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
Each tribe, as do all tribes, has their own enrollment and/or membership requirements. The Oklahoma tribe uses the final Dawes Roll of 1906, the Eastern Band the 1924 Baker Roll and the Keetoowah Band, the Base Roll of 1949.
Jamie then goes on to discuss the various Rolls, challenges in terms of proving citizenship and membership and discusses what it really means to “be Cherokee.”
Jamie did a great job documenting this topic and I see no reason to recreate the wheel, so enjoy.
Hat tip to Don for pointing out this article.
Native Heritage Project 
Pingback: Cherokee Tribal Membership Requirements - 500 NATIONS | 500 NATIONS
please message back to me on fb I have a pic of my dad and need to know if I can be helped..he is Cherokee, but does not know his father ..I want to know my family as well
my name is Brian Aro at brianaro1970@gmail.com. My family have been going thru our family tree from my grandfather on my mothers side.We have traced back to pocahantos marriage to John Rolfe. we would like more help with grandfather,great-grandfathers way into the Cherokee tribe. we have traced many of them to tribes and was told to go to Dept. of Interior , Indian affairs for our DNA test .what can we do and to whom should we go to for test??
The BIA nor tribes accept DNA testing.
I go too william hatcher the imm john h hatcher thomas william m hstcher. John landrums hatcher baker rolls
You know, the North Cherokee have a good claim for federal recognition. I don’t think they’ll ever get it because of the three federally recognized ones lobbying against them. It’s one thing to deny a tribe has a right to federal recognition, it’s another to accuse that group of being “fraudulent”