1830 Map of Cherokee Territory in Georgia

Improvements to Annexed Cherokee Lands

Treaty of May 6, 1828, page 9
Treaty of May 6, 1828, page 9

By article 2 of the treaty of May 6, 1828 (7 Stat., 311), the United States, in order to secure to the Cherokee Nation “a permanent home,” agreed to “possess the Cherokees, and to guarantee it to them forever,” 7,000,000 acres of land, within described boundaries, and in addition “guaranteed to the Cherokee Nation a perpetual outlet west, and a free and unmolested use of all the country lying west of the western boundary of the above-described limits, and as far west as the sovereignty of the United States, and their right of soil, extend.”

Two things occurred in this treaty, first, the United States acknowledged the Cherokee Tribe’s sovereignty over the 7 million acres of land, and the Cherokee Tribe ceded any remaining lands back to the United States. Some of the Cherokee settlers who had already settled on land originally thought to be Tribal, now found themselves excluded from the Tribal lands, and their land was to be ceded back to the United States.

The following documents list the improvements made, with the proprietors’ name, on those lands which were ceded back to the United States. It was the expectation of those named, that in return for ceding of their lands, they would receive a cash payment equal to the improvements.

List of the improvements, with the proprietors’ names, on lands ceded by the Cherokees to the United States, by the treaty of the 6th of May, 1828, with the appraised value, &c. annexed.

[box]The information below was taken from a printed source, which in turn came from the original Senate Document. That Senate Document would have been a printed copy of the original handwritten record. What I’m trying to get across is there have been several layers of transcriptions, and wherever humans are involved, mistakes can and do occur. Indeed, there appears mathematical errors in the total calculations for a few individuals… that could either be a mathematical error, or an error by an item being left off of the transcription. Furthermore, since this is a Native American document, one should expect spelling errors in the names. Most Native American’s during this time frame were unable to write, and may not been able to spell their own name. E. W. Duval would have wrote the name out as he heard it from the Native American. A good example would be “Big Sinews” which likely should have been “Big Snooze.” So think phonetically if looking for the Indian name.[/box]

List of the improvements, with the proprietors’ names, on lands ceded by the Cherokees to the United States, by the treaty of the 6th of May, 1828, with the appraised value, &c. annexed.

No. 1 Walter Webber, at Illinois bayou.
23 acres cleared land, at $8 per acre for clearing $184.00
12 peach trees 13.50
1 frame building, 22 by 24 feet 150.00
4 cabins and 2 corn cribs 64.00
1 ferry flat 25.00
$436.50
Deduct for deficiency in fence 16.00
$420.50

No. 2 Nero
6 ¼ acres land 50.00
1 without fence on old place 4.00
5 cabins 30.00
11 peach trees 12.37 ½
9 apples trees 13.50
109.87 ½
Deduct for deficiency in fence 4.00
$105.87 ½

No. 3 James Rogers
12 acres land 96.00
2 peach trees 2.25
1 double cabin, plank floor 60.00
$158.25

No. 4 Alexander Brown
7 acres lands 56.00
4 cabins 70.00
$126.00

No. 5 Peggy Smith
10 ¾ acres land, 5 ¾ at $8, 5 at $6 76.00
30 peach trees 33.75
4 apple trees 6.00
5 cabins 46.00
161.75
Deduct for fencing 12.00
$149.75

No. 6 Richard Stintson
6 ¼ acres land, at $7 43.75
15 peach trees 22.75
3 cabins 28.00
94.75
Deduct for deficiency in fencing 5.25
$89.25

No. 7 Robert Burgess
9 acres cleared land, at $7 63.00
24 large and 150 small peach trees 54.37 ½
4 apple trees 3.00
3 cabins 20.00
$140.37 ½

No. 8 John Jolly (principal chief)
29 acres bottom land 290.00
9 acres up land 54.00
87 peach trees and 18 cabins 406.00
$750.00

No.9 John Drew
57 acres land 456.00
44 apples trees 66.00
73 large and 70 small peach trees 99.62 ½
6 cabins 60.00
$681.62 ½

No. 10 Musquito
5 ½ acres of land 15.00
5 peach trees 5.62 ½
1 cabin 8.00
$28.62 ½


Topics:
Cherokee, Land,

Collection:
Senate Document 403 24th Congress 1st Session. United States Government. 1835.

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2 thoughts on “Improvements to Annexed Cherokee Lands”

  1. Hello, I’m wondering if you’re able to determine where each of these improvements is geographically? I.E. can they be attributed to a specific plot of land?

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