As previously stated, Charles Juzan was born in the mid-late 1760's, the illegitimate son of Pierre Gabriel Juzan, II and most likely, Henriette De St. Aignet, the widow De Livoy. His contemparies were Jean Louis Lefleau (Leflore), Jean Michal Lefleau (Leflore), and Simon Favre, all who ventured among the Choctaw. He also most likely knew and interacted with the other families in the area, the Rochon, Trouillet, Boudin, and Krebs families. In later years, when the Choctaws met for council, I am sure these Frenchmen had something to talk about.
Charles Juzan, by his own letter, first settled among the Choctaw about 1789. His father was the Spanish Indian agent, and I suspect encouraged his son to develop trade relationships with the Choctaw. He probably also encouraged Charles to marry within the nation. Marriages such as these were mutually beneficial, and generally occurred between a Mingo, or Chief, and his sister, niece, or daughter. It is difficult to tell if a daughter, such as Mary Ann, the wife of Simon Favre, and the daughter of Franchimastubbe per testimony of John Jones, Sr., was the actual daughter or his niece, because among the Choctaw, a niece was the daughter of the Uncle in their language.
Charles ran several successful trading houses. According to Halbert, he had more than the two we know of that were located at Chunky and Koonsha. Now, Halbert most often refers to Charles as Pierre in the facts he writes about, and in one case, has a brother Pierre and Charles in his notes. I think however, based on all the documentation we have, that Halbert did have that in error. Pierre Charles Juzan is the only Juzan found in any Choctaw records with the exception of his children.
The Choctaws didn't have calendars, but I know after years of research, that it was typical for a Choctaw woman to marry sometime between the age of 18-20, and Choctaw men, sometimes remained unmarried until in their mid to late 30's. Charles married his first wife, a niece of the Choctaw Chief Pushmataha sometime around 1792. This wife's name is Margaret, or Peggy. We had thought, based on all the information we had that Peggy was a full blood, but a recent find of a newspaper article from 1870, in which her daughter Eliza discusses her family, she states Peggy is a half breed.
We estimate that their first child was born 1793. Unlike Louis Leflore, Charles did not baptize any of his children. It is unclear which of the daughters, Mary or Delilah is older. They both were married and had several children by 1830. It is suspected that the children were born about 2 years apart at least, as native american women in that time generally did not have a child until their current infant was weaned. Thanks to a descendant, we have picture of the portrait of Mary Juzan Leflore, the wife of Benjamin Leflore.
Like the marriage of Charles to Peggy, I am sure the chosen wives of the daughter's of Charles Juzan had a purpose. Mary was married to Benjamin Leflore. About the time of her marriage, Benjamin's great Uncle, Robert Cole was the right hand man of Apuckshunnubbe, Pushmataha's fellow district Chief, and eventually Chief of his district. (1825-1828). At the time of this marriage, very few mixed bloods had positions of authority, predominately it is believed, because some of the Chiefs distrusted the mixed bloods to do what was best for the nation.
Delilah was married to Jesse Brashears. Jesse was the son of Zadoc Brashears and Susanna Vaughn. I am not sure what connections the Vaughn's had to the prevalent Choctaw elite at that time, but there is enough evidence to make me think that they had a strong connection. Lucy was married sometime in the mid 1820's to Wesley Brashears Trahern, the son of Wesley Trahern and Delilah Brashears, and a nephew to Delilah's husband. Just before the treaty, Rebecca Juzan was married to John Bond, a business man from Maine. Eliza Ann, the youngest child of Charles Juzan, was probably 16 or 17 at the time of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and unmarried. When Jesse Brashears died, Delilah was married to David Wall, a mixed blood descended from the Folsom family and teaching at the missionary school near her father. Lucy married an american Amos W. Geary after the death of her husband, and eventually Eliza Ann married an american named Hugh Flack. Rebecca Juzan's second husband was George Walker, the son of Zadoc Brashears then wife Rachel Durant, and a descendant of the Wind Clan among the Creek nation.
In order of their birth, the daughters of Charles and Peggy were Delilah and Mary, Lucy, Rebecca and then Eliza. His three sons with Peggy were Pierre, William and Jackson. Pierre attended the Choctaw Academy, and was called by Richard Johnson a "young man" in 1829. I suspect he was probably somewhere between 20-25. Though he had relatives who were far more literate, based on samples of their letters, Pierre acted as second hand, and communicator to the government for his Uncle Tappenahoma (successor of Chief Pushmataha) and then Nitakechi. Pierre's wife was per oral history a Chickasaw, but the only document I have about him was that his wife Eliza signed a dower in 1839. Pierre accompanied the Choctaw on all three emigrations, and was Chief of his district I believe from 1840 until his death sometime in 1842. By process of elimination, we have determined that Pierre is the father of Louis Juzan.
William also accompanied the Choctaw on at least two of the emigrations. His wife was a woman named Harriet Brashears, with no known relationship to the Choctaw Brashears. He died sometime around 1834 as his estate is found in Washington County, Alabama and his widow remarries. He had no children. Jackson must have been the youngest, or was, because of his marriage, unable to participate in the emigration to the indian territory. Jackson was married to Mississippi Allen, a descendant of the Colbert's. Jackson and Mississippi had four children, Charles, Alexander, Thomas and Lucy G. Juzan. Jackson and his family resided in the Chickasaw portion of the new indian territory, and his family is listed among the Chickasaw on rolls. Jackson Juzan died in 1866.
It was the relationship with Pierre and William that for years had me believing that Nitakechi was related to Pushmataha. Given his strong ties to the Black Water village though, I no longer believe that Nitakechi was related to Pushmataha through a sister. I can't rule out a brother, but I am unsure that there is a connection at all.
Mary Juzan and her husband Benjamin Leflore had a large family in Holmes County, Mississippi. Benjamin died during the Civil War, and Mary not that long after. After the Civil War, some of Mary 's family moved to the Choctaw nation and are among the Dawes enrollees. Those that remained in Mississippi however, were denied citizenship and are found on no official membership of either the Choctaw Nation or the Mississippi Choctaw nation.
Delilah Juzan had 6 children with Jesse Brashears, and one child who died young with David Wall. Delilah and her family came to the Choctaw nation sometime around 1849. I found a diary of a minister that mentions Eliza Ann bringing her "elderly" sister to her home at the close of the Civil War. Based on the death's of the Rebecca and Lucy, and since Mary hadn't left Mississippi, this must be Delilah. There are some children in Delilah's home in 1840 that I can't account for, one of them, we know, is the child of her daughter Letha. The descendants of Delilah and Jesse include the Ainsworth, Bilbo, McKinney, Hodges, and Lanier families of the Choctaw nation.
Rebecca had three children with John Bond, but only the eldest, Thomas J. Bond survived to adulthood. Thomas J. Bond was the first choctaw educated to be a physician. Rebecca also had three children with her second husband, George Walker. All three of these children survived and it is from them that Rebecca has descendants on the Dawes.
Lucy Juzan had four children with Wesley Brashears Trahern and three with Amos Geary. Alive in 1856, Lucy died by 1860 as Amos' new wife, Margaret Hall Geary is listed as a slave owner in the Choctaw nation. None of Lucy's children with Wesley Trahern had descendants by 1890. Lucy's daughter's with Amos, Lucretia and Eliza Ann have children and grandchildren on the Dawes rolls. Eliza Ann had several children who were still born or died as infants, and of her three that made it two adulthood, one a son, was murdered along with his father, another had a daughter who died at age 12, and the last died I think before Eliza Ann, but had four children who are on the Dawes.
Charles also had a second wife with whom it appears he had three daughters. Phoebe, the second wife was about 20 years younger than Peggy. She was still alive in 1844 when the family had dealings with Robert Nail. According to some sources, Phoebe is the daughter of Oklahoma, but when he names his children in 1844, he doesn't name Phoebe but uses only Choctaw names. We know that Pierre referred to her as a friend in a deed. This would appear to mean that Phoebe is not a close relative in Choctaw, or not related to his mother.
Phoebe's family has been harder to trace. We know from a deed, where Oklahoma and his wife give to Phoebe, and the children of Charles Juzan, "for the love we have for Charles and Phoebe", that the girls were Isabelle or Sybil who married Benjamin Walker, a brother to George Walker. By 1844 though, she's Sybil Juzan in records again, and disappears. Another was Ramona who married Ransom McElroy and then ran off with David Wall, her sister's husband. She had a son who died who went by the name of both Jackson Wall and Jackson Juzan. He disappears from records. The last daughter, Narcissa married William Thomas, and may be the mother of two children.
Hello, I am writing an academic article that heavily includes Thomas J. Bond and his story. I would love to find some of the sources you have used to find his genealogy! Please reach out to me at garret.mccorkle@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete