The Poarch Band of Creeks of today is derived from a portion of the historic Creek Confederacy, specifically a settlement of "half-bloods" of the "Friendly Creeks." The "Friendly Creeks" refers to those who sided with the U.S. in the Creek War of 1813-14 and, subsequent conflicts in the Removal period of the 1830's. In the later 18th century, a community of "half-bloods" developed on the Tensaw River, near its junction with the Alabama River, in what is now southwestern Alabama. The area was outside of the main areas of settlement of the Creek Nation, though within the boundaries of the Nation. Located close to Mobile and the Spanish settlement of Pensacola, the area provided an opportunity for trade and agriculture and stock-raising enterprises. The area thus attracted half-bloods from the Upper Creek towns to the north. Many of these people initially developed holdings both on the Tensaw and in the Upper Creek towns they were from.
The term "half-bloods" refers to a class of people which developed within the Creek Nation in the 18th and 19th centuries who were widely acquainted with, and influenced by, white culture. Unlike other elements in the Nation, they aggressively sought non-traditional economic means, e.g., developing plantations. This class was increasingly influential within the Nation during the later 19th century and included such famous historical figures as Alexander McGillivray and William McIntosh. The half-bloods were the descendants of marriages between Creeks and whites resident within the nation. These whites, termed "Indian countrymen," were usually traders resident in the Creek towns. The half-bloods were by no means highly assimilated to white culture nor automatically on the side of the whites. Many sided with the elements most hostile to the advance of the whites into Creek territory, and some were even prophets in the traditionalist movement which led to the desperate "Red Stick" rebellion of 1814. U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, writing of such people in the town from which Sam Moniac and other ancestors of the Poarch Creeks came, remarked that they had "lost their language [i.e., English] speak Creek, and have adopted the customs and manners of the Creeks" (Grant 1980). Hawkins further reported that they practiced polygamy and that the Creek custom of matrilineal inheritance held among them. Thus when Alexander McGillivray's half-blood nephew, testified in 1854 that a husband had no control of his wife's property and that it was inherited by an uncle, nephew or other maternal relative (Chancery Court of Mobile 1851).
Initially probably just an area of holdings of some of the Upper Creek half-bloods, the Creeks in the Alabama-Tensaw River area came, by 1800, to form a community, distinct both from the whites settled in the area and from the Upper Creek towns, with which they still retained relations. References from this period indicate it clearly was considered to be a part of the Creek Nation. Hawkins wrote in 1816 that the half-bloods, because of conflicts with the Creek leadership due to their changes from traditional ways, had applied for and after several years "obtained from the Convention of the nation leave to settle on (sic) Alabama near the white settlements of Indian lands." Hawkins further referred to them as being "in possession of lands assigned them by their chiefs..."(Grant 1980). Thus the settlement was formed under the authority of the Creek Nation. Peggy Summerlin, a half-blood resident on the Tensaw, said that she had "fled from the half breed settlement in the Creek territory on the Alabama..." in 1813 as a result of the Red Sticks' destruction of Fort Mims in that area (Lackey 1977). An estimated 60 families were resident in the settlement, which was near an area of white settlement. A white man who had lived in the area, Samuel Edmonds, testified that in the early 1800's there were "many Indians living in the said neighborhood," referring to the Alabama-Tensaw community, but only three white families (Chancery Court of Mobile 1851).
A good idea of the settlement pattern of the Alabama-Tensaw community can be gained from the claims filed by its members after the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson. The Tensaw area was among the areas ceded to the U.S. under that treaty for Friendly Creeks to acquire individual title to lands was implemented under an 1817 law which provided that they could select sections of land which included their "improvements" and provided for granting fee simple title to their children if they had continued to occupy them. Of 39 claims made under the act, 27 were filed by Indians from this community (U.S. Congress 1832-61). The lands selected ranged along and on either side of the Alabama River over a distance of about 15 miles, roughly between Fort Mims and Claiborne, near the town of Mt. Pleasant. Also within this area were the lands of William Weatherford, Sam Moniac, Sr., Lynn McGhee, and Semoice, which were not included in these claims. Sam Moniac, Sr. did not file for lands, apparently because he sought separate compensation for his very large holdings. He was eventually successful in receiving some compensation by means of Congressional legislation.
A number of others failed to get title to their lands under the 1817 law, for a variety of reasons. These included Lynn McGhee and Semoice (either McGhee's brother or his brother-in-law), who had been settled on contiguous lands, Susan Marlow (wife of Sam Moniac, Jr.) and Samuel Smith. These people petitioned Congress in the 1830's for relief, which was granted by several acts. Smith, McGhee and Semoice were, by an 1836 act, granted rights to select as a reserve under the Fort Jackson treaty a section of land (640 acres). An act the following year allowed them to select the lands in several tracts rather than a single section. Unlike lands gained under the 1817 act, however, no provision was made for gaining fee simple title to these lands (U.S. Congress 1789-1812).
Initially drawn from a variety of Upper Creek towns, the particular half-blood families of the Alabama-Tensaw community became highly intermarried. Half-bloods of this era more often than not married either other half-bloods or other Creeks. Among the more renowned families was that of William Weatherford, the famous leader who sided with the Red Sticks. William was first married to Polly Moniac, sister of Sam Moniac, Sr., who was married to William's sister Elizabeth Weatherford. Weatherford later married Mary Stiggins, another half-blood. Sam Moniac's son, Sam, Jr., married Susan Marlow, daughter of another half-blood. Another son, Dixon, married a Bailey, also a half-blood. William Weatherford's mother was Sehoy McGillivray, sister of Alexander McGillivray. Sehoy was also married to David Tate, whose descendants included the Tarvins and Dreisbachs. Sam Moniac, Sr.'s father had two wives, producing a second Moniac family which included the famous David Moniac.
The resulting web of kinship relations is too complex to describe completely. Some further relationships include the Colbert family, cousins of Sam Moniac through his mother Polly Colbert. These were also related to Alexander McGillivray, as apparently was Lynn McGhee, whose descendants are prominent in the current Poarch Band. Married into these families in a variety of ways were the Sizemores, Baileys, Hollingers, Durants, and Marlows, all half-blood lines.
While a few community members removed to Indian Territory during the Creek Removal of the 1830's, most remained in the Tensaw area, which had been part of the State of Alabama since 1819. Baldwin and Monroe Counties were formed in that area. A trickle of community members emigrated voluntarily to Indian Territory over the balance of the century, and some contact with relatives in Indian Territory was maintained by others.
Among reported leaders within the Alabama-Tensaw community was William Weatherford, who reluctantly sided with the Red Sticks and led their forces. He was evidently quite influential both before and after the war. Woodard (1859) states that "He was no chief, but had much influence with the Indians." Sam Moniac, Sr., one of the wealthiest of the half-bloods, led several units of Friendly Creek half-blood warriors in the campaign against the Red Sticks. Dixon Bailey similarly led a unit of Friendly Creeks. Documents concerning efforts to gain compensation for damages suffered during the war, and gain clear land title after the Ft. Jackson treaty provide evidence of a number of communal efforts to influence white institutions to provide relief. Besides efforts directed at the Federal government in the decade after the Ft. Jackson treaty, the community petitioned the Alabama General Assembly in 1832 to memorialize Congress for restitution for property losses suffered as a result of siding with the U.S. in 1814. Signers included Lynn McGhee, Semoice, William Hollinger, Lachlin Durant, George Stiggins, John Weatherford, David Moniac and eight others (General Assembly of Alabama 1832).
ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW INDIAN SETTLEMENTS AT HEAD OF PERDIDO AND NEARBY AREAS
Sometime between 1830 and 1850, most probably after 1840, a portion of the half-bloods living in the Alabama-Tensaw area moved inland about 15 to 20 miles east and settled on lands along the upper course of the Little River and lands immediately south and east of it. Settlement was principally in township 3 north, range 6 east (T3N, R6E) and sections immediately south and west of it. The settlements eventually evolved, during the course of the 19th century, into the geographically concentrated, closely intermarried, kinship-based communities which form the base of the contemporary Poarch Band of Creeks. During the course of the 19th century, these settlements came to form a socially segregated community, discriminated against as Indian by whites in the area. They gradually became separate from the half-blood community on the river, which did not survive until the turn of the century.
The area in which these families settled was one of heavy forest, with almost no previous settlers. A branch of the Federal Road from Montgomery to Stockton ran through it. The road ran from northeast to southwest, passing through the lands where one family, Jack and Polly Rolin, later settled and hence less than a mile from the northermost of one of the two Lynn McGhee grant tracts, in T3N, R6E. Running southwest, the road then passed through the Head of Perdido area in township 2 north, range 5 east, running about two miles west of the second McGhee grant area (La Tourette 1835). The latter area is the location of the most important Poarch Creek settlement today. The only settlement prior to the 1840's appears to have been stage stops, one in the area of the Polly Rolin lands. The area remained a remote, underpopulated area until close to the end of the 19th century. Transportation was limited, with no water routes.
The reasons for the move are unclear, although the families that moved were much poorer than their relatives near the river, and they may have been unable to obtain lands there. Lynn McGhee, and perhaps others, may have been familiar with the area through stock-raising or hunting. McGhee was as much a stockman as farmer, and stock running in the open woods was a major economic activity in the Tensaw settlement. It was a major economic activity in the river area throughout the 19th century, and open range existed in the Poarch area as late as the 1920's. Livestock was as important a source of revenue as farming before 1880 (Jones 1881) and hunting in the extensive forest was an important source of support until the 1890's.
The largest concentration of Indian families when the area was first settled was in or near T3N, R6E, the more northerly of the sections discussed here. Records of land acquistion by Indian families show purchase in 1854 of lands in T3N, R6E by William Gibson and Sidney Lomax, and in T3N, R5E, a few miles west, just across Little River, by Alex Hollinger (General Land Office 1854).
After Lynn McGhee's death in 1849, his heirs, Richard, Nancy, Peggy and Jack (another son, William was deceased) selected under the 1837 legislation 79.94 acres of land in section 15 of T3N, R6E. They also selected 239.97 acres in the Head of Perdido area, in T2N, R5E, about 10 miles southwest of the first area. The latter was by far the earliest formal acquistion of land title in that section. The balance of the 640 acres the family was entitled to was not taken up. Other families, shownon the 1850 census, also settled in the area but did not seek to acquire title to land for some years, i.e., lived on public land. This practice evidently remained common in this largely unsettled region, most of which was public lands, until the 1880's, when the growth of timbering brought increased settlement and large scale acquisition of public lands by the timber companies. Polly Rolin's testimony in 1893, when she homesteaded land, indicated she had probably settled on the land in the 1840's. Her land was immediately adjacent to the northern McGhee tract, an area later known as "Red Hill." Even those who legally selected land were settled there some years earlier. Besides Polly Rolin, discussed above, McGhee, Hollinger and Lomax are on the 1850 census, i.e., before they purchased their land in 1854. The exact dates of settlement are uncertain. The 1830 census shows many of thee families apparently reseident next to Indian families known to have remained on the Alabama River. Thus in 1830 lynn McGhee is next to, and probably resident on, Margaret Tate's plantation. The 1840 census for this area is alphabetical, preventing any inferences on specific locations of households.
Discussion of locations in this and succeeding sections of this report are based on inference from relative location of households on the census schedules, i.e., consecutive or near consecutive household numbering. These were compared with locations known from land and other records, later testimony such as homestead applications, and other data. In most cases, consistent paterns over long periods of time were evident, corresponding to historically know settlements. Comparison with other documents indicates that the listtings of households on the census were generally incomplete, i.e., some family members or households were not enumerated. It was not determined how many "missing" families were due to census error and how many were due to residence elsewhere. Only Baldwin, Monroe and Escambia County census schedules were checked, and in some cases, not all portions of these schedules.
No specific place-name is known for the general area, which is now in northwest Escambia County, where the half-blood families from the Tensaw-Alabama River area settled. The area where most of the families initially settled, to the north (in T3N, R6E), is known now, loosely, as the "Huxford" area. Within this, the specific areas of the Rolin and McGhee land was known in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries as "Red Hill," with post offices known as Local and Steadham nearby. "Head of Perdido" has been consistently applied to the T3N, R5E area, including the southern of the two Lynn McGhee land grants but not limited to the immediate land.
The 1850 Federal census for Baldwin County indicates a settlement of Indian families which is evidently in the T3N, R6E area. Shown in the area are Jefferson Hollinger, A. Mc. Weatherford, Richard McGhee (son of Lynn), Nancy McGhee (daugher of Lynn), Peggy McGhee (daughter of Lynn), Matilda Moniac Lomax (niece of Sam Moniac, Jr.) and husband Sidney Lomax (an Indian countryman), Jack McGhee (son of Lynn), and Peggy Moniac Gibson (niece of Sam Moniac, Jr.) and husband William D. "Bart" Gibson. About 50 people are represented in these households. Some important families, indicated by other evidence to have been in the area were not shown on the schedules, i.e., those of Sam Moniac, Jr., Rolly Rolin, and William Colbert.
William McGhee, Lynn's son, was elsewhere in Baldwin County, at Montgomery Hill, and thus apparently never lived inland. As far as could be determined from the censuses, no one was initially resident on the Head of Perdido lands although later Indian testimony indicates some were.
Major concentrations of half-blood families remained along the river, as noted, in Baldwin and Monroe County just to their north. In close proximity in Baldwin County were Edward Steadham, Wm. Sizemore, Mary Sizemore, Amelia Stiggins, Elisha Tarvin, J.D. Dreisbach, Margaret Tate, and several Earles. In Monroe County were William Hollinger, Charles and John Weatherford, and several Hathcocks and Taylors. These were all in the same general area, though less concentrated, with more non-Indians, than those in Baldwin County.
The Indian families settled inland were very poor and for the most part remained so throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century. These families were far poorer than those remaining on the river. Thus in the river area William Sizemore is shown, on the 1850 census, with 1357 acres under cultivation, property worth $4736, and with 47 slaves, Margaret Tate is shown with 350 acres, $4800 in property and 22 slaves. Most of the half-bloods on the river are shown as slaveholders with property holdings above $1000. In contrast, inland, Jefferson Hollinger had 15 acres under cultivation (no slaves, no valuation listed), Richard McGhee (son of Lynn) had 25 acres, no slaves, no valuation, and the others similary. Even these figures for the McGhees are higher than in the 1890's, when their homestead papers indicated usually less than 10 cultivated acres. Lynn McGhee's estate in 1849 was valued at $300, with no land holdings indicated.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY CREEK SETTLEMENTS AND ECONOMIC PATTERNS FROM 1860 TO 1910
The following section discusses the basic information concerning the settlements of Creeks in what is now northwestern Escambia County, up to around 1910. The description here focuses on what is known from land, census and other documentary records, and relates the changes to changes in the economic forces and other influences from the surrounding non-Indian society. A separate analysis follows, examining in detail the intermarriage patterns and identification of the group in these decades, which are crucial ones in which the community becomes more tightly interwoven and distinguished from surrounding Indian descendants and non-Indian families. Subsequent sections will also describe in nore detail churches, education and other aspects of the local Creek society in these decades.
The 1860 Federal census for Baldwin County reflects the continuation of the localized settlement of Indian families which was established before 1850. There are some additional families listed and two settlements are indicated by the clusters of households listed on the census. In general, the same families appear to be resident near each other and the composition is similar, with some additons. Thus Sam Moniac, Jr., not shown in 1850, is shown somewhere near his nieces, Polly Rolin and Matilda Lomax. The overall character is of small hamlets of the half-blood Indians, part of the population closely related families, e.g., the children and grandchildren of Lynn McGhee, the rest with some kin relationship but not as closely related, e.g., Hollinger, Horsford and Moniac. The first cluster of households on the census, with Polly Rolin and Jack McGhee, is tentatively identified as corresponding to the northern McGhee grant plus the neighboring lands known from later documents to have been occupied by the Rolins. The second cluster may correspond with the Head of Perdido McGhee grant.
Households listed in sequence in what appears to be township 3N range 6E were those of Sidney Lomax, Claiborne Hosford, Jack McGhee (son of Lynn), Frances and Richard Coon (believed to be Rolin), Jack and Polly Coon (believed to be Rolin). This cluster is very similar to one appearing in 1850. The Coons are identified as Rolin on the basis of correspondence of names, ages and family relationships to Rolin on later documents (e.g., the 1866 state census) plus their statements to Guion Miller in 1906 that "Coon" was their Indian name (indicating it as a family name). A few listings away are David and Catherine Moniac, Simon Hadley and William Colber, Jr.
Another cluster of Indian households, a few household numbers on the census from the "first, consisted of Peggy McGhee and William Adams (her son), Sam Moniac, Jr. (including a Jefferson Hollinger, 15 and Wesley Dewires, 11 in his household), R. L. Taylor (a close relative of William Colbert), Nancy McGhee (Lynn's daughter) with her daughter Mary Steadham and several small Steadham children (John V. Steadham was not listed), Carmen, John F., and Richard McGhee and other children of Lynn McGhee's son Richard, listed in one household, and W. P. Hathcock and another Hathcock, a Bordan, a Dewire and a Taylor, all in one household. Clase to them were several Hadley's.
Missing from the census of this area, but shown on the Conecuh County schedules, a few house apart, are William Colbert, Sr. and his family and William D. (Bart) Gibson. It was not determined how far this area was from the two clusters. It may have been close to T3N, R6E, since the Conecuh County line is only a few miles from there. Colbert's son, married to Sam Moniac's niece, is one addition to the T3N, R6E area in 1860. He is the founder of one of the main Poarch family lines.
The occupations of the Creek families in this area were all farmer or day laborer (meaning farm worker but not a farm owner), except William Adams, who was a blacksmith. Most remained poor. The only Creek individuals who had any significant property were Samuel Moniac, Jr., with $350 real and $1650 personal property and Nancy McGhee (mother-in-law of John V. Steadham) with $1200 real and $500 personal property. Few non-Indians in the area had any wealth either, with the exceptons of Gilbert Cruit $2100 real and $8600 personal property and a railroad contractor with $11,000 in "personal property." A railroad agent as well as some railroad laborers are listed elsewhere in the immediate area, suggesting that they were part of the 1861 extension of the railroad line through the Williams Station area.
Clusters of Indian households near the river are still quite evident. One in Baldwin County has Tunstall, Padget, Stiggins, Sizemore, Moniac, Miles, Tarvin, Steadham and Earle. Most of these had substantial or very large property interests. Close together in Monroe County, probably near Little River and near the "Huxford" area were Charles Weatherford, the adult children of John Semoice, George Sizemore, a Hathcock and a Freeman family.
There were two state censuses, one in 1855 and one in 1866, both of limited value. They do indicate a few individuals in these areas who do not show on the 1850 and 1860 Federal censuses. In particular, the 1855 census shows Sam Moniac, Jr. in the same general section as the Coons (Rrolins) and two of Lynn McGhee's children, Jack and Nancy. This indicates he may have moved to the T3N, R6E area before 1860. The 1866 census shows additional Rolins not shown on the Federal censuses, but shown in other, later, records.
A number of men from the local Indian settlements served in the Confederate Army. The most prominent of these in terms of the Poarch group's history may be Richard McGhee, son of Richard McGhee, who later played a leadership role in a timber trespass suit (after 1900) and the formation of a Sunday school at Head of Perdido in 1891. McGhee, wounded in the war, evidently received a pension the rest of his life. Among the others from the local Indian families who served were Richard Rolin, Lynn McGhee (a grandson of the original Lynn), James L. McGhee, William W. Adams, William M. Deas, William Gibson, William Colbert, John Hinson and Adam Hollinger. There were a few troop movements through the area during the war, mostly towards the last year or two. There is some reflection of this in oral history. One Union movement was along the rail line through Williams Station.
The decades immediately after the Civil War brought a number of important changes in the social organization of the Creek community as well as the changes in the forces affecting them. Between about 1870 and 1890, some of the Indian families, which had increased greatly in size, became very closely intermarried with each other, so that a distinct group emerged. This group, which became the Poarch Band, was distinguished from whites and the other descendants of Creeks in the area and in later years discriminated against by them. The settlements continued to be very tightly clustered geographically and became more strongly based on the network of close kinship times built up by the intermarriage between local family lines. Two new Indian settlements were formed during this period. In this same period, organized churches and the first public schools were introduced. There was also the beginning of economic changes, with the growth of lumbering and the building of several railroad lines.