THE 9TH ANNUAL CHEROKEE ANCESTRY CONFERENCE
JUNE 12 & JUNE 13, 2010

Pre-registration:  $60 for C. N. H. S. members
$75 for non-members
Fees must be received by May15th,2010.
After May 15, prices are $75 and $85

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Map to the Conference

Ninth Annual Cherokee Ancestry Conference on Friday, June 11, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Registration is at 8:45am and sessions start at 9:30am each day.

The conference will be held in the Osiyo Training Room, in the same building as the Restaurant of the Cherokees/Cherokee Nation Gift Shop Building, Tahlequah, OK, capital of the Cherokee Nation. The location is a part of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex on Hwy 62.

Some of the topics that will be discussed include Preparations for Cherokee Removal: Loss & Big Business, Beginning Cherokee Family Research, American Outlaws, Cherokee Patriots, Using Footnote.com & other websites for Cherokee Research, Land Allotments & Policies in the Cherokee Nation, The Dawes Final Roll & Public Misconceptions.

Registration fees are $60 for CNHS members and $75 for non-members. Registration deadline is May 28, 2010. After May 28, registration will be $70 and $85 respectively.
Come see why the Cherokee Ancestry Conference is the one conference you don’t want to miss.

SPEAKER CREDENTIALS

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MARYBELLE CHASE—
Marybelle Chase, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has been a researcher of Cherokee historical and family history records for thirty three years. Since 1988, Ms. Chase has compiled and published eighteen books of
Cherokee claims and rolls. In addition, she was transcriber and editor of the Cherokee Tracer for fifteen years.
Ms. Chase previously taught classes on Cherokee family history for the Tulsa Community School and has participated as speaker for various genealogical groups. She has also been a speaker at the Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Genealogical Society conferences. Ms. Chase is currently vice-president of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association.

LINDA DONELSON—
Linda Donelson, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is Director of the Real Estate Division of the Cherokee Nation. She has made presentations in regards to land allotments and real estate within the Cherokee Nation.

CATHERINE FOREMAN GRAY—
Catherine Foreman Gray--Interpretive Supervisory--Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism
As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Catherine Foreman Gray has been immersed in the history of her
people since birth. A sense of pride in the traditions and culture of the Cherokee were instilled in Catherine at an early age by her family. Catherine is able to trace her heritage along the Trail of Tears and also through the Old Settlers who first came to the Arkansas/Oklahoma area beginning in the early 19th Century. Descended from the Toney, Fields, and Foreman families, she is also a descendent of Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee Syllabary, James Starr, Sr., who was assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota; and the notorious outlaw, Tom Starr. It is from interest in her past that she has become a scholar in the history of the Cherokee Nation.
Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and raised in Muskogee County, Catherine earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith with an
emphasis in Historical Interpretation. Catherine also attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where she studied the Cherokee
language. Catherine is a former park ranger at the Fort Smith National Historic Site and is a member of the National Trail of Tears Association, Oklahoma Historical Society, and the National Association of
Interpretation, among many others. She was a speaker at the 2007 U.S. Marshals Service National Symposium, featuring Civil Rights leader, James Meredith, where she discussed Ned Christie and his five-year standoff with deputy marshals and the federal government. Catherine has also served on the U.S. Marshals Service Museum storyline planning committee and was a speaker at the 2008 Wild West History Association conference where she gave a presentation titled “Outlaws of the Cherokee Nation.” In addition to her love of history, Catherine is an avid photographer and the proud mother of two boys, Mason and Jayden, whom she currently resides with in Warner, Oklahoma.

GENE NORRIS—
Gene Norris is a Certified Genealogist with his specialization in researching Cherokee ancestry. He is the senior genealogist with the Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. He is a member of the Board of
Certification for Genealogists in Washington, DC, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, the Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc., the Goingsnake District Heritage Association, the National Genealogical Society, the Georgia & Oklahoma Chapters of the National Trail of Tears Association, the Cherokee-Moravian Historical Association, the Carroll County Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. and a board member of the Cherokee Arts & Humanities Council, Inc.
He has actively been involved in genealogical research for twenty-eight years and has been specifically concentrating on Cherokee genealogy since 1994. He has had numerous articles published in the Carroll County Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly a nd the Goingsnake Messenger Quarterly. He
also co-teaches the Cherokee Nation History Course with Roy J. Hamilton, President of the Cherokee Arts & Humanities Council, Inc. and a board member
of the Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. He has presented and spoken at several workshops, seminars and conferences on Cherokee history and genealogical research.