Choctaw

Opening of Indian Territory

Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, was a part of the public domain that was reserved for several tribes of Indians whose native hunting grounds were principally in the Southern states.

Elliott Hall

The erection of the fine building known as Elliott Hall, was made possible by the receipt of a gift of $5,000 from Mr. David Elliott, of LaFayette, Indiana.

Era of Eliza Hartford

The story of Oak Hill as an Industrial Academy begins with the work of Miss Eliza Hartford of Steubenville, Ohio, the first white teacher in the “Old Log house”.

Era of James F. McBride

About October 1, 1888 Mr. and Mrs. James F. McBride arrived to take charge of the work as superintendent and matron.

Decision Days

As a means of enabling every one to manifest their decision to live a Christian life, Decision days were held frequently during the term.

Early Times at Forest Chapel

“I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.” The following reminiscences of early times at Forest Church are narrated for their intrinsic as well as historic interest. The first one reveals an order of service that is very general in the colored Churches. It is one that affords the deacon, if he be a man so disposed, to spontaneously introduce considerable native wit and humor into the part of the service entrusted to him; and if he does, it very naturally prepares the way for unexpected shouts of joy and gladness on the part of those … Read more

Buds of Promise

The object of this page is to note the names and careers of a number of the young people that during the early days were sent or encouraged to attend other educational institutions.

English Names from Greenwood Leflore District

With the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Indian Removal Act that same year, the legal mechanisms were put in place for President Andrew Jackson to negotiate with Indian groups for their deportation. The Choctaws, Mississippi’s largest Indian group, were the first southeastern Indians to accept removal with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in September 1830. The treaty provided that the Choctaws would receive land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi. The Choctaws were given three years to leave Mississippi. English names listed on the 1831 “list of claims allowed … Read more

Mushulatubbee District, English Names

With the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Indian Removal Act that same year, the legal mechanisms were put in place for President Andrew Jackson to negotiate with Indian groups for their deportation. The Choctaws, Mississippi’s largest Indian group, were the first southeastern Indians to accept removal with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in September 1830. The treaty provided that the Choctaws would receive land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi. The Choctaws were given three years to leave Mississippi. English names listed on the1831 “list of claims allowed under … Read more

Nitachacha District, English Names

With the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Indian Removal Act that same year, the legal mechanisms were put in place for President Andrew Jackson to negotiate with Indian groups for their deportation. The Choctaws, Mississippi’s largest Indian group, were the first southeastern Indians to accept removal with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in September 1830. The treaty provided that the Choctaws would receive land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi. The Choctaws were given three years to leave Mississippi. English names listed on the1831 “list of claims allowed under … Read more

Muskogean Indians

Muskhogean Family, Muskhogean Stock, Muskhogean People, Muskhogean Indians. An important linguistic stock, comprising the Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and other tribes. The name is an adjectival form of Muskogee, properly Măskóki (pl. Maskokalgi or Muscogulgee). Its derivation has been attributed to an Algonquian term signifying `swamp’ or `open marshy land’, but this is almost certainly incorrect. The Muskhogean tribes were confined chiefly to the Gulf states east of almost all of Mississippi and Alabama, and parts of Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. According to a tradition held in common by most of their tribes, they had reached their historic seats from some starting point west of the Mississippi, usually placed, when localized at all, somewhere on the upper Red River. The greater part of the tribes of the stock are now on reservations in Oklahoma.

Choctaw Genealogy

Choctaw Eagle Dance, George Catlin, 1845-8

Think you have Choctaw in your ancestry? This page will provide some background history and locations the tribe resided in as well as the rolls and census they were enumerated on.

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

Push-ma-ta-ha, Choctaw Indian Chief

Grave in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, a National Historic Landmark. Peter Perkins Pitchlynn, d. 1881, Choctaw chief

Push-ma-ta-ha – Pushmataha (Apushim-alhtaha, ‘the sapling is ready, or finished, for him.’ Halvert). A noted Choctaw, of unknown ancestry , born on the east bank of Noxuba Creek in Noxubee County, Mississippi in 1764; died at Washington D.C., Dec 24, 1824.  before he was 20 years of age he distinguished himself in an expedition against the Osage, west of the Mississippi.  The boy disappeared early in a conflict that lasted all day, and on rejoining the Choctaw warriors was jeered at and accused of cowardice, whereon Push-ma-ta-ha replied “Let those laugh who can show more scalps than I can,” forthwith producing five … Read more

Acolapissa Tribe

Acolapissa Indians. An tribe, of Choctaw lineage, formerly living on Lake Ponchartrain, about the coast lagoons, and on the Mississippi, in Louisiana.

Choctaw Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Dukes, Joseph. An interpreter, the son of half-blood Choctaw parents, born in the old Choctaw country, in the present Mississippi, in 1811. He attended one of the early mission schools at Mayhew, where he made such progress that he of ten acted as interpreter for Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, the pioneer missionary, who never learned the Choctaw language. After the Choctaw had ceded to the United States their lands in the E., he remained in Mississippi for some years, helping Rev. Cyrus Byington prepare a Choc taw grammar and dictionary. In 1851 or 1852 he preached under the direction of Rev. … Read more

Choctaw Indian Villages

1900 Map of the Choctaw Nation

Nearly all of the Choctaw towns were in the southeastern part of Mississippi though they controlled the adjoining territory in the present State of Alabama. From the earliest times of which we have any knowledge the Choctaw villages were distributed into three divisions: a southern, a northeastern, and a western, though a central group may also be distinguished.