CherokeeFreeman.com
Evidence Standards
How this archive distinguishes documented facts, historical testimony, research conclusions and unresolved hypotheses.
The Five Labels
Every claim carries one of these labels. The label attaches to the individual statement, never to a whole person.
Method
A person may hold a documented residence, a probable birth year and disputed parentage at the same time. Publishing a single tidy answer would hide exactly the detail that matters in this research.
Records keep their own words
Original spellings and historical classifications are preserved as the record wrote them. Dates are shown as written — an approximate date stays approximate.
Conflicts are published, not resolved
Where records disagree, both readings are published with their evidence. Choosing which to display is a reversible editorial decision and never deletes the alternative.
Proximity is not proof
Geographic closeness is presented as evidence of association or neighbourhood context — not as proof of kinship, enslavement or ownership.