Cherokee County, Texas

Cherokee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 50,845. The county seat is Rusk. The county was named for the Cherokee, who lived in the area before being expelled in 1839. Rusk, the county seat, is 130 miles southeast of Dallas and 160 miles north of Houston.Cherokee County comprises the Jacksonville, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Tyler-Jacksonville, TX Combined Statistical Area.HistoryNative AmericansThe Hasinai group of the Caddo tribe built a village in the area about AD 800 and continued to live in the area until the 1830s, when they migrated to the Brazos River. The federal government moved them to the Brazos Indian Reservation in 1855 and later to Oklahoma.The Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, and Kickapoo Native American peoples began settling in the area circa 1820. The Texas Cherokee tried unsuccessfully to gain a grant to their own land from the Mexican government.