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Slover/Choate Cherokee Lineage
Silas Choate
There have been several investigations to link the Slover/Choate line to the Cherokee Indian tribe. To date there is only one documented Slover/Choate link to the Cherokee Indian tribe that I know of.
Silas Choate (1785 - 1861) married at least one Cherokee woman. His descendants are listed and registered with the Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma. Silas Choate is a brother of Sanders Choate (1790 - ?) my ancestor and father of Emeline Choate.
Silas added to the confusion by naming one of his sons Sanders to honor his brother. Many researchers have confused the nephew Sanders with his uncle Sanders (1790 - ?).
To add even more confusion the nephew is registered with the Cherokee tribe.
Many people have also confused the nephew Sanders marriage to Susan Riley with his uncle's Sanders (1790 - ?) marriage to Nancy Titsworth.
Sanders Choate
Sanders Choate (Chote) (1790 - ?) lived in the same area as Silas Choate and married a woman named Nancy Titsworth. They had five children (that I know of) and my ancestor is their daughter Emeline Choate. Emeline (1816 - 1898) married Samuel Slover (22 Mar 1831 Madison, AR) and this is where the Slovers and Choates cross lines.
Emeline applied to the government for acceptance to the Cherokee tribe in 1896. This application was rejected as not being know by the current members of the tribe.
The Dawes list had many requirements including living with the tribe on Indian lands. Emeline and her children did not do this.
Emeline and her parents did generally move with the Cherokee tribes, but there were several Cherokee migrations from the early 1800's to the mid 1800's. These multiple waves make it very hard to track who was in which tribe of the Cherokee nation.
Emeline is listed in the Slover family history and the Choate family history as being of Cherokee descent. But, neither book lists any source or documentation to support that. But, with her application it is evident that she believed it to be true even during a time when it was looked down on.
Genealogy is a murky business, especially when there is little documentation to back up the stories. Sometimes we have to look at the large picture to follow the flow of events. Sanders Choate and Nancy Titsworth did live in the area described as Cherokee Country. The Cherokees were friendly to the whites and frequently intermarried.
The conclusion that I have come to is that Emeline believed that she was at least part Cherokee, but there is currently no way to prove it. For a strict genealogist this means that no claim to the Cherokee lineage should be put forth until proof is found, if ever. For an amateur genealogist the story can be included, but disclaimers should be added as further proof is searched for. With the advent of DNA genealogy, perhaps in the future this question will be resolved.
Application for the Dawes Roll
Relationship Chart for Emeline Choate and Sanders Choate
