Adopted searching bio family road block Nellie May Ray

I lost both my parents when I was four and then five years old and got adopted later on in life. Through relatives that I managed to get in contact with I was able to find out some details of our Cherokee heritage. My line goes as follows my mother was Laura Lynn Kulchycki her mother is Mary Smith and my great uncle, Mary’s brother was Thomas Raymond (Running Bear) Smith(1935-2006) and their father was Andrew Jackson Smith (Cherokee) 1915-1951(don’t ask me why anyone with Cherokee heritage would be named Andrew Jackson anything ) My great uncle Running Bear did a lot of research when he was younger and found our line and that we where of the wild potato/bear/wild savannah clan. He was a great man in the military, in business, and with his giving to others. Like the St Joseph’s Indian School. All of our records that show our details have been lost and all I have is family stories. The story is Uncle Thomas Running Bear was born in Tahlequah OK as his parents Andrew Jackson Smith (Cherokee) and his wife Marian Kostolich where on their way from Pennsylvania to California to see her sister and stopped to be in Cherokee areas. Cant find any records to prove this but there are records for Thomas Running Bear at six years old back in PA but Tahlequah does show on his Obit. as where was born. Now Andrew Jackson’s mother Nellie May Ray(1888-1956) is the next link and it said that her Uncle and Aunt adopted her when she was young and that her she was born on the trail of tears and that her birth parents gave her to her uncle Mosses Ray (1851-?) and aunt Susie Ray(1851-?) to keep her from being taken by the govt or her aunt and uncle got her from a catholic school she was in on the reservation in Oklahoma. And there is my roadblock. Now the official years of the trail of tears are 1830-1850 so what I know of Nellie May Ray very well could be the story of her mother and not that of herself and Mosses and Susie could be her birth parents. It was also said that Nellie May Ray toured with a gospel group when she was younger also. If anyone could be of assistance in helping me break this roadblock and find out more details of my family it would be very much appreciated. My tree is listed on ancestry.com under Commodore Perry Kulchycki. The account is under my adopted name of Perry Mock Please email me also perryrock79@gmail.com