The Western District, Okla Falaya 1770-1830, part 1

 My latest Choctaw comments always go back to a few families. Relatives of the Mingo's Pushmataha, Mushulatubbee or the Juzans. I want to take a step back though and look at a little bit earlier than the last "three inherited" Chiefs. Notice the parenthesis. Because later on, yeah, there is voting, but there is some evidence it required consensus before 1830, and, the same elite families, have ties to the Choctaw leadership for the next 70 years after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. (TDRC). 

Choctaw histories will give three districts, and they will give sometimes a fourth that became "extinct." The Western District, associated with Apuckshunnubbee who gives the 2nd district his name when the Choctaws emigrated to what is now Oklahoma. The district was known as the Okla Falaya. This was once the largest district in Mississippi, and the village locations given in Swanson, Bernard Roman's map by H.S. Halbert never got to this district. 

Two of the early traders among the Choctaw were Thomas James, and his (I assume not close) kinsman Benjamin James. Thomas James was ran out of the Choctaw Nation to Cumberland during the American Revolution by the Spanish, with John Turnbull, James Cole, Phillip Mulkey, Thomas Hines and others in 1783. Their lands were declared forfeit by the Spanish. Well, we know John Turnbull returned, and was a successful early trader in the nation, fathering a family of Choctaw and Chickasaw children. It is presumed he also is the father of Susanna Vaughn, the wife of Zadoc Brashears. James Cole, who likely is associated with the Cole's that lived in the Cole's creek Spanish settlement, is presumed to be the father of Robert Cole, and likely two sisters, the wife of Cornelius McCurtain and the wife of John Nelson. It is probable he is not the father of Greenwood Leflore's grandmother. 

Thomas James is a curious man. He remained in Tennessee, and his heirs filed a claim on his Spanish land grant. This was on the Bayou Pierre for 500 acres in 1777. Thomas also has an additional 400 acres on the Mississippi. Benjamin James, in his will gives his youngest ((Choctaw) son, Benjamin James Jr land in the Eastern and Western Districts.   

Item I give and bequeath to my son Benjamin two young negroes one by the name of Tom and the other by the name of Polly children of Mary which he is not to possess till the first day of October 1805. I give the said negroes to him and his heirs forever. Also I give my son Benjamin one negroe man by the name of Tom which is now in the Indian Country. Also one horse bridle and saddle which said horse he has now in possession but not to be at his disposal till he comes of age which will be the first day of October 1805. Also I give my son Benjamin all that tract of land I purchased of John and William Scott which sais tract is situate and lying on the Tombigba River a little below the falls of said river, I give the said tract of land to him and his heirs forever. Also i give my son Benjamin all that tract of land situate and lying on the Big Black Creed a branch of the Massesipa River containing 600 acres. I give it to him and his heirs forever.

What is curious about this is the area, Big Black Creek, may be the Big Black River. Another item giving credence to this is found on  Thomas James present in the account given in Israel Putnam, Pioneer, Ranger and -Major General 1718-1790,  p 219-220, William Farrand Livingston, 1905, New York, London : G. P. Putnam's son 

"Having left Natchez Wednesday afternoon, April 28th, they advanced by boat nearly fifty miles to the mouth of the Bayou Pierre. They went up this tributary seventeen miles to the Forks, and there they marked a tree '' for commencing our Loca- tion." Then they returned down the Bayou Pierre and proceeded up the Mississippi, the same day, nine miles, to the Great Gulf,where Thomas James, an Indian trader, had settled. Three miles above was the Big Black River; and on Thursday, after the explorers had rowed past that stream,two of their number, Israel Putnam and Thaddeus Lyman, set off by land, with a Choctaw Indian as guide, for the Walnut Hills, between fifty and sixty miles distant,which formed a portion of the great bluff bounding the valley of the Mississippi on the East. The rest of the party made their way to the same hills by water,and on their arrival there, Saturday evening, the 8th, met " the gentlemen who came by Land " from whom they learned that the route was through a flat country and cypress swamps, that the cane brakes were so thick it was not possible to examine the land from the path. After reaching the high grounds ofthe Yazoo, Israel Putnam and his companion, who had made their way thither across the country while the other men went around by boat, wished to make a further reconnoisance overland, but the threatening attitude of their Choctaw guide prevented them from carrying out all their plans. The Indian was unable to state his reasons in words, for he was as ignorant of the Eng- lish languageas the men whom he had been guiding were of the Choctaw speech. His gesticulations and other efforts to make his meaning known proved unintelligible.Later, through Trader James as interpreter, he explained that he had met twochiefs on the Yazoo River who forbade his conducting any of the party over the proposed route to the Big Black River."

Thomas James was not a stranger to Franchimastubbee, the prominent chief in the Western District from at least 1785 to around 1802. This letter to him, written from Cumberland on behalf of the United States is found in Spain in the Mississippi, Vol 4, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the year 1946, Laurence Kinnaird.  

OLD FRIEND : This is to inform you that I am still living , and that I desire greatly to see you , so that we might take each other by the hand , smoke , eat , and drink together . The Great Commander Washington has sent to tell you to come to see your brothers in these parts , and he has sent Foster , Robertson , and Smith with letters . They will inform you at what time I expect you ; love them and do not permit them to be ill - treated in your country by any person . I know that the Spaniards will try to make you believe that all these are falsehoods , but you can tell them that I have told it to you and that you have known me since the time when you and I were young ; and that now we are old , and you have never heard me tell a lie . I therefore hope that you will not listen to their words but that you will invite several of my old friends , as far as you can , telling them there will be plenty of beef and corn to eat , and goods to carry to their houses . THOMAS JAMES . June 9 , 1792 .

Franchimastubbe with Taboca were two of the most influential, at least by records, associated with the Western District. Turner Brashears, a distant cousin of Zadock Brashears was very close to Franchimastubbe, leading most historians, and researchers, believing his first wife was a daughter or niece of the Chief. Although letters appear to be grooming Taboca's son as the successor, the role actually fell to Apuckshunnubbee. We know from a letter also found in Kinnaird, brought by Turner Brashears (and thereby likely written by him) that Payahoma (a deriviation of Hopaii Homa) wanted his son to get the medal. Given Turner's relationship with the Choctaws, it is likely that in this case the interpretation is correct, Apuckshunnubbee is likely the  son of Payahoma. But why did he succeed Franchiamastubbee. The most likely answer is he is one of the nephews. 

This all ties into a few key families that are within the elite class during the time between 1800 and removal. If one looks at the Mississippi Territory papers, the Vaughn's are mentioned a few times, but after that they seem to become a bit more obscure. I suspect because though they likely had a maternal familial relationship to Franchimastubbee, they weren't so close to Apuckshunnubbee, who showed his preferential treatment in 1820 to two Choctaws. Molly McDonald and Wesley Trahern. Unlike the Vaughn's who had had trouble with the government, Molly and Wesley Trahern were unobjectionable. 

Molly was by 1820 the mother of a young adult who went by Alexander Hamilton, and James L. McDonald, a teenager sent away for schooling, who lived with Thompson McKinney and became the first Choctaw lawyer. Molly's sister, name unknown was married to the son of John Jones Sr., a white man who lived in the Eastern district. This sister would be the mother of Robert M. Jones. Another sister married Middleton Mackey, and was the mother of his eldest children. Either this sister, or Sophia Folsom had a relationship with John McKee and had a son, Alexander McKee.  We don't know the name of her McDonald husband, but we do know the name of her last spouse, a Rhodes whose estate includes the land Molly was granted in the 1820, 1 square mile located Southeast of Jackson. A few miles away is present day Trahan Creek, the square mile allotment given to Wesley Trahern. 

Wesley Trahern's mother-in-law was a sister to the Vaughn's.  His father-in-law was Zadoc Brashears. Wesley was a Virginian who came to the territory before 1808. His elder brother, James Trahern, my ancestor, was involved in trade and lent him $5000 dollars. I suspect that Wesley traded with James' firm in Virginia. The Vaughn's are the namesakes for some of the landmark creeks and trails in the area, and I suspect this was the Eastern most boundary of the district.

So I suspect both of these individuals (note, the family continued to benefit in 1830) had a familial relationship to at least Apuckshunnubbee if not both Apuckshunnubbee and Franchiamastubbee. I also suspect, based on the limited amount of traders around when Molly and her sisters were born, she is the daughter of Thomas James, mainly because most of the others have families that can be accounted for, and neither family claims a relationship with anyone other than those mentioned, and the descendants of Peggy, my ancestor, who was their half sister, and those of Delilah her full sister. 

Eventually the family relations of Apuckshunnubbee would not have as much influence in the politics, but they would remain involved in prominent roles. 

So if the Vaughan's location, west of the Pearl River was the southeast boundary, I suspect the southwest boundary was somewhere between Bayou Pierre and the Big Black, at least by the mid 1780's. Northwest boundary likely followed the Yazoo river north to the Yalobusha river, where we find the largest group of known Chakihuma who were recognized among the Choctaw and Chickasaw in the treaties. I am not entirely clear where the boundary ended in the Northeast. Where the division between the Western and Eastern District occcurred. I know the Chickasaw occupied the northern part of the state but if I had to take a guess, I would guess the Pearl River was likely the separation between the Eastern and Western districts.  

 The prominent elite of this district included many more families. The Perrys, Fraziers, Coles, McCurtains, Turnbulls, Leflores to name a few. I will go into them a bit further later on. Next, however, I will probably take a look at the 1784 treaty with the Spanish which named prominent Mingos and headman in the villages throughout the nation.