Choctaw Mixed Bloods Collections

Sample of Mixed Blood Ubiquity: Representative Family Histories

The extant records concerning the traders and other countrymen are uneven in their coverage of mixed-blood families. Although only the better-known families were chronicled in the works of early regional historians and authors commenting on the Indian tribes, the existence of scores of surnames within these records indicates that mixed-blood families were widespread in the Choctaw nation. Over the space of several generations the mixed-blood families of the traders and countrymen began to move more and more towards the culture of their white kinsmen, especially if the white progenitor had stayed in one area and recognized the paternity of his … Read more

Probable Mixed-Blood Heads of Household, 1834

Dr. Samuel James Wells’ “Choctaw Mixed Bloods and the Advent of Removal” includes three extensive appendices documenting individuals of mixed ancestry within the Choctaw Nation during the removal era. Appendix C, the focus of this analysis, includes mixed-blood Choctaws Heads of Household in 1834 as taken from the Register of Choctaw Indians: Feb. 24, 1834-May 13, 1834.

Pitchlynn Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866

The Pitchlynn Choctaw family, although represented by one of the smallest name lists in this study, has a long and noted history in the literature of the Old Southwest and Indian Territory (see Chart 18). The eldest Pitchlynn, Isaac, was still alive in 1804 although in ill health. His son, John Pitchlynn, Jr., is recorded as the Choctaw interpreter at the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786 and for nearly half a century was a respected and honored countryman in Choctaw country. John lived a long while on Old Woman’s Creek, a tributary of the Oknoxabee (or Noxobee) River which itself … Read more

Nail Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

[92]Another ubiquitous family, the Nails (see Chart 17), was intermarried into several full-blood and mixed-blood families. Cushman, while visiting the gravesites of some noted Choctaws in Indian Territory, discussed the Nail family: “Close by that of Colonel David Folsom’s was the grave of Joel H. Nail, a brother-in-law to Colonel Key to Chart Probable = P, Countryman = C, Yes = Y, Trader = T, Married = md, Mixed Blood = mb Chart 17[92a] [93]Folsom, and grandfather of Joel H. Nail, now living in Caddo, Indian Territory. He was another true and noble specimen of a Choctaw Christian man. A … Read more

LeFlore Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

When prominent mixed-blood families began to emerge from the Choctaw people in the early 1800s they usually did so where one or both parents were mixed bloods themselves. A case in point is the Leflore family. According to Cushman, the brothers Michael and Louis were living in[90] Choctaw country as early as the late eighteenth century. Cushman has the LeFlores in Mobile not long after the end of the French and Indian War and identifies them as French Canadians who entered Choctaw country as traders, Louis marrying into the mixed-blood Cravat family already in residence there (see Chart 16). J.F.H. … Read more

Juzan Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

One of the earliest and most colorful of the mixed-blood lines is the Juzan family (see Charts 14 and 15). The noted Choctaw historian Muriel Wright discussed the history and genealogy of the family in a little-known, private letter to a Juzan descendent in 1931, writing: “A young Frenchman by the name of De Juzan, acting as military aide to Chevalier De Noyan, fell in a battle [Ackia] between the French and the Chickasaws, in May 1736….Whether De Juzan was connected in any way with the Juzan family among the Choctaws is uncertain at this time, although it has been … Read more

Jones Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Blood

[80]The Jones family represents one of the longest lists of this study with sixty-one family members being listed in records (see Chart 13). Despite the probable duplication of Key to Chart Probable = P, Countryman = C, Yes = Y, Trader = T,Married = md, Mixed Blood = mb Chart 13[81a] [82]names there are by conservative estimate more than fifty valid individuals represented. Of the twenty-five on the Armstrong roll a family total of one hundred nineteen yields a family average size of just below five. At least four mixed bloods are named: William, Soloman, Polly, and Siney, with William … Read more

Jefferson, Mixed Bloods and Frontier Defense

[102]By the beginning of the nineteenth century at least two major changes had altered the political environment affecting the Choctaw Indians. Within the Choctaw tribe several countrymen were beginning to exert influence in tribal decisions. Although not yet accepted as equals to the chiefs, white men such as Nathaniel Folsom and John Pitchlynn were respected and utilized as counselors in negotiations between the tribe and American officials. External to the tribe, the United States had negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795 with Spain and assumed economic hegemony over the tribes which mainly resided on lands north of the … Read more

Introduction, Choctaw Mixed Blood

One of the most controversial areas of American history is that of Indian/white relations and the federal policies, which led to Indian Removal. In the early and middle nineteenth century the United States government embarked upon a program of wholesale government-sponsored emigration of tribes residing within the various states and territories. Later called the “Trail of Tears” this official program of tribal displacement was long the focus of American Indian policy and the genesis of the present-day reservation system. Although several northeastern and eastern tribes had been displaced earlier, the removal of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations … Read more

Indian Removal and the Legacy

[177]The articles of removal of the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek were set into motion immediately. By 1831 and 1832 when Removal was in full force mixed bloods still maintained their positions of trust and authority within the tribe. During Removal the percentage of mixed-blood captains — the headmen and leaders of the organized emigrant bands bound for the new Indian nation -was greater than their percentage within the overall population of the tribe (see Chart 22). Their understanding of the English language and the ways of Americans became even more valuable as the bands of emigrants made their way … Read more

From Alliance to Removal

[138]Throughout the Jeffersonian period and later, the white countrymen and mixed bloods expanded their influence over the full-blood tribal members. One aspect of this can be seen by analyzing the ratio of full-blood to mixed-blood Choctaw signers of treaties with the United States. CHART 19 Breakdown of Choctaw treaty Signers Year Treaty Full Bloods Mixed Blood 1786 Hopewell 29 0 1801 Ft. Adams 15 1 (6%) 1802 Ft. Confederation 10 0 1803 Hoe Buckintoopa 10 0 1805 Mt. Dexter 14 9 (39%) 1816 Trading House 11 2 (15%) 1820 Doaks Stand 78 25 (24%) 1825 Washington 4* 4 (50%) 1830 … Read more

Frazier Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

One of the few reports which identify the Frazier family as being of mixed blood is a little known article appearing in the Revista de Indias by Frank Defina.

Folsom Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

The Folsom family is easily one of the best known of all mixed-blood groups (see Charts 10 and 11). Their earliest members in Choctaw country were reputedly the three brothers Edmond, Ebeneezer, and Nathaniel who migrated through Indian country with their parents prior to the American Revolution. According to Cushman: “Nathaniel Folsom married Aiahnichih Ohoyo (A woman to prefer above all others). She was a niece of Miko Puskush (Infant Chief), who was the father of Moshulatubbee. She descended from a long ancient line of chiefs, and belonged to the ancient lksa Hattakiholihta, one of the two great families, the … Read more

Emeline Jane Smith, Application

No. 9576 Action: Reject Name: Emeline J. Smith and X children Residence: Mt. Vernon, Ala Reason: Applicant claims through her fathers brother who was ½ Cherokee and as applicant was born in 1833 and her father in 1790 her father’s mother must have been born about 1770. It does not appear that any ancestor was ever enrolled or that any ancestor was party to the treaties of 1835-6 and 1846. Shows no connection with the Eastern Cherokees. Covers #1Mobile, Ala (hand written) No. 9576 Name: Mrs Emeline J. Smith With No.__________ also: 139366, 39835 Remarks: To be adjudicated by letter– … Read more

Durant Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

The Durant family represents an important link between a large number of modern Alabamans and Mississippians of mixed blood heritage and its line can easily be traced into several prominent pre-Civil War southern families (see Charts 7, 8 and 9). One such example is the Linder family of south Alabama. Their history stretches back across the Atlantic to Switzerland and touches the mixed bloods when John Linder, V, married Sophie Durant, another daughter of Ben Durant and Sophie McGillivray, and lived near the mixed-blood communities along the Alabama River above Mobile. The Durants are more amply documented than many mixed-blood … Read more

Database of Choctaw Mixed Blood Names

Mississippi Choctaw Phillip Martin and his wife Bonnie with two kids

Cravat Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

Horatio Cushman, the source of so many mixed-blood family histories and the only known source for facts about the Cravat family, states: “The Cravat family of Choctaws are the descendents of John Cravat, a Frenchman who came into the Choctaws at an early day, and was adopted among them by marriage. He had two daughters by his Choctaw wife, Nancy and Rebecca, both of whom became the wives of Louis LeFlore. His Choctaw wife dying he married a Chickasaw woman, by whom he had four sons, Thomas, Jefferson, William and Charles, and one daughter, Elsie, who married a white man … Read more

Correspondence from Emeline J. Smith

Images of hand written correspondence of Emeline J. Smith concerning her Choctaw heritage.

Choctaw Trade and Coexistence in the Nation

Choctaw Village near the Chefuncte, The women appear to be making dye to color the strips of cane beside them, by François Bernard, 1869

After the discovery of the new world, trade quickly became the most important interaction between the American natives and the colonists. For the Indians it was an extension and continuation of their inter-tribal practices. Reuben Gold Thwaites, an early nineteenth-century student of the American frontier, stated that “the love of trade was strong among the Indians,” and that they had a complex “system of inter-tribal barter.” This existing trade system allowed the Europeans to quickly establish their own trade with the various tribes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. One of the foremost Indian trading nations was the Choctaw tribe, … Read more

Choctaw Mixed-Bloods, 1831-33

Tul-lock-chísh-ko, Choctaw Ball Player. George Catlin, 1834

Dr. Samuel James Wells’ “Choctaw Mixed Bloods and the Advent of Removal” includes three extensive appendices documenting individuals of mixed ancestry within the Choctaw Nation during the removal era. Appendix B, the focus of this analysis, includes mixed-blood Choctaws from a variety of source documents for the years of 1831-1833.