Anderson Choctaw Family – List of Mixed Bloods

The first Choctaw family examined, the Anderson family, has little or no documentation in Choctaw country prior to the removal era (see Chart 3) other than family tradition and representation on the Armstrong roll. There is, however, a Robert C. Anderson listed as a Mississippi Territory volunteer during the Creek War. On August 12, 1813 he had a commission Second Lieutenant. 1  But beyond this and a few Andersons on the 1808 and 1810 Washington County Mississippi territorial census there is little documentation on this family. One might surmise from the relatively small number (seven heads of households) of Andersons on the Armstrong Roll that they came late into the area. Since no source positively identifies any Anderson as a mixed blood the family may have entered Choctaw country as countrymen.

One Anderson (no first name given) was located at the head of BoK Ho Ma which probably is the Bogue Homa, or Red Creek of the Melish map which flows southwest into the Chickasawhay River north of Sinte Bogue. Its headwaters would be in present Washington County, Alabama approximately half way between the Tombigbee and Chickasawhay Rivers (See Figure 2). Four other Andersons are located by Armstrong as living on the Chickasawhay at Emok La Sha, in the same area, while another is found along the eastern side of Long Creek (not found in Melish, but probably in present Yalobusha County) and a last one living on north ChakKe Creek (also not found in Melish). 2 The Andersons listed on the Armstrong roll had thirty-eight members inclusive for an average family size of over five. They were located near the white settlements along the Tombigbee and Chickasawhay Rivers.

Key to Chart
Probable = P,  Countryman = C,  Yes = Y,  Trader = T,
Married = md,  Mixed Blood = mb

Chart 3

As late as 1839 a John Anderson attended the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. He, along with twenty-nine other Choctaw students, signed a protest letter against what they considered to be poor administration of the school. It is not known whether his family was still in Alabama or Mississippi, or had removed to Indian Territory. 3  There is no known available genealogical chart for the Choctaw Andersons, making the family relationships uncertain.

Citations:

1. See John F. H. Claiborne, Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State with Biographical Notices of Eminent Citizens, (1889, reprint, Spartanburg: The Reprint Company, Publishers, 1978) 320n.[↩]
2. National Archives, Old Map Files, Melish maps of Alabama and Mississippi.[↩]
3. United States serial set, 26th Cong., 2d sess., House doc. 109, “Choctaw Treaty Dancing Rabbit Creek,” 136.[↩]