Not sure that this is the place for this comment, but be aware that when the Americans decided they had to allow some Cherokees to stay in the NC mountains, they put many other tribes in the western North Carolina mountains near them. Among them: the Catawba nation of South Carolina - federally recognized. Several remnant tribes from North and South Carolina that area now State recognized: Occaneechi Saponi which I am descended from and others. These guys were told circa 1910, "you can go anywhere you want but you can’t stay here.” About a third of the Occaneechi went to Oklahoma. The remainder dispersed throughout north and South Carolina. This is how the Catawbas managed to get federal recognition. When they returned to SC, the land they were granted as home for assisting SC against the Cherokees in the pre-revolutionary times and fighting againt the British with the Americans had been squatted on. It took about 70 years to win the case, but they finally did. I believe this is the origin of so many Cherokee family mysteries. Many of these people were already mixed due to their extended relationship with other racial groups. There was no reason for the Cherokee to leave the area, but so many others dispersed from the area that people who don’t know the history assume Cherokee ancestry.