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TAHLEQUAH, OK - Several nationally-known speakers will headline a genealogy conference to be held in Tahlequah on March 9-10. Among them will be Kent Carter, Jerry Clark, Lee Fleming, Jack Baker, David Keith Hampton, Mary Belle Chase and others. The conference is presented by the Cherokee Heritage Center and is sponsored in part by a grant from the Educational Foundation of America.

The genealogy conference will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

Kent Carter is the Regional Administrator of the National Archives-Southwest Region in Fort Worth, Texas. He began his government career with NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and joined the National Archives in 1973 where he worked for two years in the unit responsible for State Department records before transferring to Fort Worth as the Archives Branch Chief. He has written a number of articles on Federal Indian policy, the U.S. space program, Oklahoma history, and sources for genealogical research and The Dawes Commission and the Allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914 published by Ancestry.com. He has written inventories on more than sixty thousand cubic feet of records created by over twenty Federal agencies and helped thousands of researchers use records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Kent received his BA and MA from the University of Cincinnati in history.

Jerry Clark is an archivist with the National Archives in Washington, D. C. His special interest in Cherokee genealogy has led him to compile basic information on how the Removal was conducted. He has compiled a list of each immigrant detachment (conductors, interpreters, physicians, commissaries, wagon masters, managers, teamsters, etc., as well as number of immigrants at beginning and end of trip, and dates left and arrived). One of his endeavors has been to compile as complete a list as possible of the names of all known participants in the Cherokee Removal, including whites, slaves, and the nearly 400 Creek Indians who took part in it. He has also compiled a list of names of persons who perished (from all causes) during the Removal.

Lee Fleming served as Cherokee Nation tribal registrar under the Swimmer and Mankiller administrations. He is currently employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C., as a research analyst. He has many years of research experience in Cherokee genealogy.

Jack Baker of Oklahoma City is an officer of the Cherokee National Historical Society Inc. Board of Trustees and president of the National Trail of Tears Association. In his role with the Trail of Tears Association he has devoted a great deal of time to researching the routes followed by the various detachments on the Trail of Tears and marking graves of those who died on the trail. Baker has produced a number of articles on Cherokee genealogy, such as Cherokee Emigration Rolls, 1817-1835. Also, he transcribed the Emmet Starr Notes with fellow speaker David Keith Hampton.

David Keith Hampton is a resident of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and known to many as the person who compiled the Descendants of Nancy Ward. In that book, Hampton began with the Emmet Starr notes and then sought out the descendants to bring it to the current generation. He has also reprinted the Old Settlers Rolls of 1851 and Old Settler Payment Roll of 1896, as well as a number of other references.

Mary Belle Chase lives in Tulsa and has done extensive work with the 1842 Payment rolls and transcribed the 1851 Drennen roll. Other speakers will be announced at a later date.

The conference will be held at the Restaurant of the Cherokees Ballroom. Sessions will begin Saturday morning, March 9 and continue throughout the day. Presentations will resume on Sunday afternoon. The adjoining restaurant offers a buffet breakfast and lunch.

Sunday morning may be spent in a variety of ways. The Cherokee National Museum will be opened for those who want a private tour. This would be an excellent time to see the new Trail of Tears exhibit. Also showing will be exhibits on the Cherokee Clans, Sequoyah, and the Art of Sam Kidd. Others may elect to take a walking tour of historic downtown Tahlequah and see the Cherokee National Capitol Building, Supreme Court Building, and National Prison. A third option will be to attend religious services at the D. D. Etchieson United Methodist Church. This is a small Native American church which is affiliated with the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.

Although predominately Cherokee, the congregation includes members of the Creek, Choctaw, Ponca, Kiowa, and other tribes.

The conference is designed to have something from beginners to those who have been working for years on their family history. Cost for the two-day event is only $35 in advance, or $40 at the door. Conference reservations may be made by contacting the Cherokee Heritage Center, phone: 918-456-6007.

Enrollment is limited and will be handled on a first come, first- served basis. Housing arrangements are being made through the Holiday Inn Express in Tahlequah.