My name is Joan Thomas Nelson, and for many years; I have been very passionate about my Cherokee Heritage. My faith in my Cherokee heritage has finally brought me to Eye of Eagle, Chief of the Alapaha River Band of Cherokee in Jennings, Florida.

     Thanks to Chief Eye of Eagle; I am about to become a registered member of a Cherokee Tribe..

     More and more people are discovering their Cherokee ancestry. The reasons are wide-ranging. We may have heard our relatives speak of our heritage and did not think much about it until we grew older, another reason is the American Indian lived in fear from what they called the “whites,”(European).
Therefore, many times our relatives have not felt free to pass this information down until they are passing into their spirit world. There is probably a very simple reason for this; it could be when they are passing to their spirit world they feel a freedom they could not experience during there lifetime to speak about their parents and grandparents--their “Native American Indian Heritage.”

Sincerely, Just Joan