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90-year-old man learns he's Cherokee after years-long search

By: Pete Knutson

Posted at 9:10 AM, Jan 08, 2024

and last updated 2024-01-08 20:11:33-05

TULSA, Okla. — It’s long been believed by some that the best gifts can come in small packages.

We found one of those Christmas gifts this season in the hands of Jack Strain, in the form of a heavy piece of paper from the Cherokee Nation.

“It was like a miracle on 34th street,” said Jack’s daughter-in-law, Susan Strain.

For a gentleman who proudly displays his patriotism and even his love for a good game of pool, this gift, while small in stature, will be larger than life in many important ways.

“It was the proof he had been waiting for all of his life.”

We first told you about the many chapters of Jack’s life last fall.

A somewhat faded, somewhat crinkled black-and-white picture shows Jack standing between his parents.

His mom and dad, who would eventually divorce, sent Jack and his brothers and sisters to foster homes, each to live their own lives, some to go their separate ways, even to different states.

Decades later, Jack wanted to know who he really was.

He had eventually heard he was Cherokee.

“He worked so hard on this in the early 2000s, when he first retired, and his adopted family all died, and he kept hitting one brick wall after another,” Susan said.

Susan said she’s dedicated her life and made it her mission to find out about Jack’s life as he nears 90 years old.

But to find out if a person is Cherokee, in many cases, it takes a pre-adoption birth certificate, which since the early 1930s has been elusive, seemingly impossible to find.

“Some days, I would work 20 hours a day, 23 hours,” Susan said.

But their first big break came when Susan finally discovered Jack’s parents’ divorce decree from decades ago.

“For the first time, we had Jack and his parents and his siblings all on a legal document, saying this is who he is, and he’s so excited about this.”

Still, there is no certified proof of where Jack was born and the heritage of his ancestors, although the document seemed to indicate Jack was born in Oklahoma.

So, in April 2022, Susan applied in writing for Jack’s pre-adoption birth certificate from the state of Oklahoma.

After several months without a response, she again contacted the state’s vital records agency.

She was told since an adoption was involved, the records were sealed, and she’d need a court order, which she hired a lawyer to obtain.

When weeks passed and still no birth certificate, she contacted the state again.

“They said we’re not going to give it to you without a court order, and I said you’ve got it already. They said we can’t find it.”

That order was signed by a judge in September 2022, but as of last month, the state still hasn’t produced the certificate.

“So, with the Indian Child Welfare Act requiring states to give up documents that will rejoin Indians with their tribes, and with a court order, I would expect the state of Oklahoma to produce the birth certificate.”

Frustrated, she contacted the Problem Solvers.

Less than a day after we asked why the state hadn’t complied with the court order, she heard from the Vital Records Office, saying it couldn’t find any record of a pre-adoption birth certificate for Jack in Oklahoma.

It was not the answer she wanted, but it was still an answer, and she and Jack could move on.

“Before Jack dies, I’d like to have his birth certificate, and I’d like him to see him recognized as a member of the Cherokee Nation.”

Since Oklahoma doesn’t have Jack’s original birth certificate, Susan will try to find out if he was actually born in Colorado, in one of several counties along the Rocky Mountains where his family was known to have lived.

Eventually, we learned the Cherokee Nation offers other options that could help in Jack’s situation.

Susan said a Cherokee agency asked for other documents, such as signed affidavits, that could lead to him being recognized as a Cherokee Nation citizen.

Finally, enough of the pieces of Jack’s scattered, tangled, and confusing history finally came together in the form of that small gift on a piece of heavy paper that came in the mail.

“On Dec. 26, we got a letter from the Cherokee Nation,” Susan said.

A card that states Jack is a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Susan said, “At the age of 90, he finally received what he had wanted for so long, the best Christmas gift ever.”

Yes, indeed, Jack and his family say, the best gifts can come in the smallest of packages.

As for the difficulty in finding a birth certificate, the state of Oklahoma says part of the reason for the delay in the search for Jack’s birth certificate, which was never located, is the difficulty in finding records before the 1950s.

Contact the Problem Solvers: