The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior today advised that Indians who are eligible to share in the 1961 Cherokee judgment award must file their claims by October 9, 1965.
The net amount to be distributed to the 41,935 tribal members on the Cherokee tribal roll is $11,741,800, under an award granted September 14, 1961 by the Indian Claims Commission. The per capita payment amounts to $280. The award represents additional recompense to the Cherokee Nation for lands in Oklahoma ceded by the Indians to the United States in the past century.
Eligible to share in the award are those whose names appear on the Cherokee tribal roll which was closed and made final as of March 1907, or their heirs. Heirs of deceased enrollees must file satisfactory proof of death and inheritance with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Office, Federal Building, Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401, where the Cherokee roll is maintained.
Claimants should direct all inquiries to the Muskogee Area Office and include all factual information possible in their correspondence.
