I have Cherokee, Choctaw and Blackfoot American Indian in my family,?

Question:What is the best way to find out how much in my family tree or to research with the two last names I have to begin to claim the Indian heritage today?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What is the best way to find out how much in my family tree or to research with the two last names I have to begin to claim the Indian heritage today?

If you are absolutely sure on the Cherokee Indian heritage, they have rolls which you can research to see if your ancestor is registered with the Cherokee (eastern or western division). You should check the Native American websites to see who to contact about applying for Native American citizenship or to be considered as a Native. I believe they have blood-percentage requirements.
As to your question on slave surnames, sometimes the slaveowner did not allow the slaves to take on their own surname after emancipation, so the slaves would have taken on the surname of a family which was considerate to them after emancipation in the area. If you know where your former slave ancestor was in 1870, then go back to 1860 in the same county and see if the 1860 slave schedule will have any information showing your ancestor before emancipation in the surname family of the slave owner. Otherwise, another option may be to go to this website:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/aa/
this is for African Americans
and you can try this website:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/ai/
this is the website for American Indians
Both sites are part of the Genealogy.com network, and you can also search by surname from a link at this webpage:
http://genforum.genealogy.com
Best of Luck in your searches! The Genforum is easy to use, you only need to create a login and password, and will be prompted to do so when you want to post a question.

http://www.censusfinder.com/

the LDS church has one of the largests collection of records. they are in the white pages..

Ancestry.com geneology.com

I have done a lot of searching for indian in my family.
Search for your local Indian Headquarters.

Go to your local indian dept and look on the dawes roll, search for names of ancestors and relatives. You know they had to have a dawes roll number.====

www.ancestry.com

Wow, how lucky