The Biloxi and Pascagoulas

The French in making their voyages of discovery along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1712, under the command of Iberville, anchored one evening near an island (now known as Ship Island) which they discovered to be intersected with lagoons and inhabited by a strange and peculiar animal seemingly to hold the medium between the fox and cat, and they give it the name Cat Island, by which it is still known; thence they passed over the main land, where they discovered a tribe of Indians called Biloxi, among whom they afterwards located a town and gave it the name Biloxi … Read more

The French In Alabama And Mississippi

History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period

After the Spanish invasion of De Soto, to which allusion has so often been made, our soil remained untrodden by European feet for nearly a century and a half. At the end of that long and dark period it became connected with the history of the distant dark period it became connected with the history of the distant French possessions of Canada, which were contemporaneous with the oldest English colonies in America. For more than fifty years the French fur traders of Canada, associated with the enterprising Jesuit Fathers, had continued to advance southwestward upon the great lakes, discovering new … Read more

Biloxi and Pascagoula Burial Customs

The “Siouan Tribes of the East,” whose burial customs so far as known are detailed on the preceding pages, were carefully studied some years ago, at which time all available notes were gathered and presented in a single volume. A few years before the preparation of this most interesting bulletin a discovery of the greatest importance was made by another member of the bureau staff, Mr. Gatschet, who, while engaged in Louisiana in 1886, discovered a small band of Biloxi, some of whom spoke their old language, which Gatschet soon found was Siouan. The Biloxi therefore belonged to the great … Read more

Biloxi Indians

Biloxi Tribe: Apparently a corruption of their own name Taneks anya, “first people,” filtered over the tongues of other Indians. Also called: Ananis Anaxis Annocchy, early French spellings intended for Taneks Polu’ksalgi, Creek name. Biloxi Connections. They belonged to the Siouan linguistic family. Biloxi Location. Their earliest historical location was on the lower course of Pascagoula River. (See also Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.) Biloxi Villages. None are known except those hearing the name of the tribe, unless we assume the “Moctobi” or “Capinans” to be a part of them. These, however, may have been merely synonyms of the tribal name. … Read more

Choctaw Indian Research

Choctaw (possibly a corruption of the Spanish chcdu, ‘flat’ or ‘flattened,’ alluding to the custom of these Indians of flattening the head). An important tribe of the Muskhogean stock, formerly occupying middle and south Mississippi, their territory extending, in their most flourishing days, for some distance east of Tombigbee River, probably as far as Dallas County, Ga. Ethnically they belong to the Choctaw branch of the Muskhogean family, which included the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Hunt and their allies, and some small tribes which formerly lived along Yazoo River. Archives, Libraries and Genealogy Societies Societies Oklahoma Historical Society Indian Archives Search the … Read more