Okmulgee Tribe. Signifying in the Hitchiti language, “where water boils up” and referring probably to the big springs in Butts County, Ga., called Indian Springs. Also called:
- Waiki łako, “Big Spring,” Muskogee name.
Okmulgee Connections. The Okmulgee belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic stock and the Atsik-hata group. (See Apalachicola)
Okmulgee Location. In the great bend of the Chattahoochee River, Russell County, Ala.; earlier, about the present Macon, Ga. (See also Alabama and Oklahoma.)
Okmulgee History. The Okmulgee probably separated from the Hitchiti or one of their cognate towns when these towns were on Okmulgee River and settled at the point above indicated, where they became closely associated with the Chiaha and Osochi. They went west with the other Creeks and reestablished themselves in the most northeastern part of the allotted territory, where they gradually lost their identity. Although small in numbers, they gave the prominent Perryman family to the Creek Nation and its well-known head chief, Pleasant Porter.
Okmulgee Population. A French census of about 1750 states that there were rather more than 20 effective men among the Okmulgee, and the British census of 1760 gives 30. Young, quoted by Morse, estimates a total population of 220 in 1822. There are few other enumerations separate from the general census of the Creeks.
Connection in which they have become noted. The name of the city of Okmulgee and that of Ocmulgee River were derived independently from the springs above mentioned. The name Okmulgee given to the later capital of the Creek Nation in what is now Oklahoma was, however, taken from the tribe under consideration. It has now become a flourishing on city.