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TOTA, a citizens' organization of national and international members, has state chapters in the nine states through which the Trail traverses. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. State chapters address the more specific issues in each state, such as membership development, chapter organization and other efforts that assist the Association and the National Park service in achieving their goals and objectives.
Each chapter has its own board of directors, including officers. This body organizes the chapter for meetings, research, and activities. For more information on what the chapters are doing, please contact the following:
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| ALABAMA CHAPTER |
| Chapter contact: |
Gail Tate King |
| 15019 Highway 55 |
| Sterrett, Alabama 35147 |
| 205-672-2074 (home) |
| gail-king@att.net |
Current or upcoming chapter activities:
- September 8, 2007: Tuscumbia Landing Dedication, 9:00 AM, George W. Carter Park West, Sheffield, Alabama
- Donated $100 to Birmingham Museum of Art for Native American exhibit
- Research on collecting forts, encampments, depots in Alabama
- Using 1840 surveys to locate Cherokee Removal roads on topo maps
- Physically locating old roadbeds for Cherokee Removal.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Gail King |
| Vice President |
Robert Thrower |
| Secretary |
Sharon Freeman |
| Treasurer |
Larry Smith |
| Member |
Hunter Johnson |
| Member |
Lamar Marshall |
| Member |
Ellen Mussleman |
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Current or upcoming chapter activities:
- Improve communication and coordination among trail partners within Arkansas, through chapter newsletter and research exchange.
- Continue to assist the Indian Removal Through Arkansas project at the American Native Press Archives of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
- Encourage local research and interpretation of all routes.
- Gather information on existing Trail of Tears-related historical markers in Arkansas and any previously published research.
- Work to expand membership.
- Individual members continue with their own research.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Pat Proctor |
| Vice President |
John McLarty |
| Secretary |
Carolyn Kent |
| Treasurer |
Mary Russell Evans |
| Immediate Past President |
Kitty Sloan |
| Member |
Daniel F. Littlefield, Ph.D. |
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Current chapter research or projects:
- Research projects focus on identification of removal forts and sites in GA. The chapter has marked one fort site, Fort Newnan. Presently, the research committee's efforts are being augmented
significantly by the efforts of the state archaeologist's office and a chapter member through a NPS challenge cost share grant. In addition, the chapter is working with the Georgia Department of Transportation to certify the federal roads used in the removal.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Tommy Cox |
| Vice President |
Jeff Bishop |
| Secretary |
Linda Baker |
| Treasurer |
Linda Geiger |
| Budget & Finance Chair |
J.B. Tate |
| Membership & Fundraising Chair |
Marvin Sowder |
| Research Chair |
Doug Mabry |
Communications Chair |
Leslie Thomas |
Fundraising Chair |
Kathy Cox |
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| ILLINOIS CHAPTER |
| Chapter contacts: |
| Trail of Tears Association |
| P.O. Box 631 |
| Collinsville, IL 62234 |
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Current chapter activities:
- Working with Illinois Department of Transportation to improve interpretive signage and design displays/waysides along the Auto Trail Route (mainly IL Rt.146)
- Building cooperation between Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri chapters through joint projects and meetings
- Visiting landowners with certifiable sites along the Trail (putting them in touch with National Park Service
- Supporting certification of authentic sites
- Supporting enactment of an Illinois state trail that follows the Cherokee Removal route through southern Illinois
- Graduate student Karen Frailey (SIU Carbondale) continues her work (with advisor Dr. Jon Burde) searching and documenting the Trail route, as well as establishing GPS locations of the old government road route used by the Army to relocate the Cherokee.
- Dr. Darrell Latch is still working on final phases of his documentary film about the Trail of Tears.
- On-going project of videotaping people telling stories of family lore or history of the Trail of Tears as it pertained to Illinois.
- The "Monument Committee" is working to raise funds to erect a monument, or statue, to be placed in the Court House lawn in Golconda to honor the Cherokees as they passed through here.
- The University Museum at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale will host a "Maping of Southern Illinois" exhibit featuring maps and information on the Trail of Tears from September 25th through December 10, 2007. The disaplay will show a pictoral history of the TOT through Southern Illinois. A public reception to officially open the exhibit will be held September 28, 2007, from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. Everyone is invited.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Sandra Boaz |
| Vice Pres. |
Joe Crabb |
| Sec/Treas. |
Cheryl Jett |
Member |
Sue Glasco |
| Member |
Rowena McClinton |
Member |
Gary Hacker |
Member |
Harvey Henson |
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| KENTUCKY CHAPTER |
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| Chapter contacts: |
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| Beverly Baker |
Alice Murphree |
| 199 Linton Bay Drive |
2380 Edward Mill Road |
| Cadiz, KY 42211 |
Hopkinsville, KY 42240 |
| btbaker@cadizky.com |
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Current chapter activities:
- The Kentucky chapter was established in July 2004 and continues its efforts to gain new members. Meetings are held at various locations within western Kentucky. Members are actively engaged in research to identify sites for possible certifcation along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Once such site was submitted to the National Park Service in the fall of 2006. Certification is currently pending. Members also work to identify sites for possible site interpretation.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Beverly Baker |
| Vice Pres. |
Carla Hildebrand |
| Sec/Treas. |
Tammy Winters |
| Member |
Shelly Morris |
| Member |
Mary Ann Read |
| Member |
Ann Day |
| Member |
Alice Murphree |
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Current chapter activities:
- Host a "working" Chapter meeting at the Snelson-Brinker Cabin, Saturday, April 14th, at 10 a.m., on the Crawford County line, between St. James and Steelville on Highway 8, two miles east of Maramec Spring Park. Bring lawn chairs, water, lunch, snacks and tools for cleaning the cemetery grounds and cabin yard, like leather gloves, rakes, clippers, litter bags, hammer, large nails to repair the fence and an old push mower. Wear work clothes. Plan to make it a day working at the last certified site in Missouri certified October 12, 2006 by Aaron Mahr, historian, National Park Service, National Trails System office, Santa Fe.
- Work on more possible sites for certification.
- Assist NPS National Trails System - Santa Fe office with the Benge Route.
- Continue to research and locate encampment sites and trail segments along the Benge, Hildebrand and Northern Routes and Missouri's more than 600 miles of trail.
- Work on signage for the Waynesville/Roubidoux Spring, Maramec Spring Park/Massey Ironworks and Snelson-Brinker route, direction, and interpretative signs.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Deloris Gray Wood |
| Vice President |
Sheryl Hubbs |
| Secretary/Treasurer |
Denise Dowling |
| Member |
Ted Roller |
| Member |
Ilene Shepard Smiddy |
| Member |
Brick Autry |
| Member |
Dave Murphy |
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| NORTH CAROLINA CHAPTER |
| Chapter contact: |
| Anne Rogers |
| P.O. Box 1311 |
| Cullowhee, NC 28723 |
| Phone: 828-227-2443 |
| rogers@email.wcu.edu |
Next Chapter Meeting:
Saturday, October 6, 2007, Cherokee Historical Association, Cherokee, North Carolina, at 2:00 PM
Current chapter research and projects:
In early 2005, the North Carolina Chapter contracted with a graphic designer to design the eighteen wayside signs that will provide information about significant sites associated with the Trail of Tears in western North Carolina.
Inventory and Assessment
Brett Riggs is completing the draft of The Inventory and Evaluation of Trail of Tears Associated Sites in Southwestern North Carolina and is working to complete the multi-property nomination of sites to the National Register of Historic Places.
Interpretation
- Development of interpretive exhibit on Cherokee lifeways in North Carolina at the time of removal for the Cherokee County Historical Museum.
- Development of 18 wayside exhibit panels for Trail of Tears related sites in Swain, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties
Preservation
- Digital imaging and archiving of the Cherokee accounts ledgerbook (1836-1838) from Hunter's Store. This ledger details store purchases and payments by hundreds of Cherokees (as well as Fort Butler staff) over the 20 months prior to removal.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Anne Rogers |
| Vice President |
Diane Wells |
| Secretary |
Jane Brown |
| Treasurer |
Stephen Vicknair |
| Member |
James Bird |
| Member |
Martha Palmer |
| Member |
Wanda Stalcup |
| Member |
Grace Hawkins |
| Member |
David Moore |
| Member |
Mary Ann Thompson |
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Current chapter projects:
- Publication of the "1835 Cherokee Census"
- On going research and grave marking of survivors of the Trail of Tears.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Curtis Rohr |
| Vice President |
Marybelle Chase |
| Secretary/Treasurer |
Betty Barker |
| Member |
Mary Adair |
| Member |
Joyce Bear |
| Member |
Roy Hamilton |
| Member |
Gene Norris |
| Member |
Carol Richmond |
| Member |
Jerri Wood |
| Immediate Past President |
Ed Henshaw |
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Current chapter activities:
- Next chapter meeting: November 17, 2007, Martin Methodist College, Upperman Room, Pulaski, Tennessee, at 11:00 AM
- Research continues on the Bell and Benge routes through Tennessee, the James Brown home, and the Chattanooga area. More information can be found on the TN chapter website.
| Chapter Board of Directors: |
| President |
Bill Jones |
| Vice President |
Floyd Ayers |
| Treasurer |
Agnes Jones |
| Member |
Ollie Speakman |
| Member |
Vicky Garland |
| Member |
Cleta Townsend |
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