how to find out if my grandfather was in cherokee orphanage in salina

Question

found paper work that shows roll number for great grandfather, but want to find more information on him how do I go about finding out if he was in the saline orphanage

Answer 1

The records may have been destroyed by the fire in 1903

on the 17th day of November 1903 the entire home, including the original building and the three wings which had been added was destroyed by fire. The fire occurred at noon, causing no loss of life but consuming almost the entire contents of the building. About fifty of the orphans were transferred to the Whitaker Home at Pryor Creek and the others were cared for at Tahlequah. The orphan home, or asylum, as it was called, was never rebuilt and a mound of old brick is all that is left to remind the Cherokees of their historic home which for thirty years was one of the institutions in which they manifested special pride. Muskogee and Northeastern Oklahoma; including the Counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata,

by John D. Benedict, Volume 1, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing company, 1922, Pages 586-587)

http://genealogytrails.com/oka/mayes/orphanage.html

Answer 2

It depends partly on when your great-grandfather was there.  If in the 1800's, there were seven Cherokee censuses between 1880 and 1900, they include students at the Orphan Asylum.  There are other sources with information, too.  The "Cherokee Advocate" published honor rolls and other stories, and the Asylum itself published a newsletter for a couple of years. My grandfather and his sister were there in the late 1880's-early 1890's.  Their uncle was the superintendent.  If you post your great-grandfather's name here or send me a private message (just click on my name here and you'll see where to do that) I'll be happy to help you look.