The Choctaw Nation at one time occupied most of Mississipi and part of Alabama. They were a nation of several matriarchal clans. It was against their belief to marry within their own clan, and the children of the clan were more under the control of their matriarchal uncle than their father. The succession of leadership was not always hereditary, although often the nephew {through the Chief's sister, not the wife's} of the preceeding Chief did assume leadership. I have not found a complete listing of all the Clans, but a few of them are: Okla Hannalli (Six towns), Ahi Apet Oklah (potato eaters), Oklafalaya (long people). It is important when doing any kind of genealogical research to consider the clan system, although, after the exposure to the white man, several families of mixed bloods did marry their cousins, often tracing lineage will require careful consideration of where the family lived, and the time frame. I have found several instances of the same name used across multiple generations, and often several times within a generation, so it is useful to remember that even after removal, the Choctaw settled into districts closely related to the clans they originated from in Mississippi.
From what I have read over the years, the matriarchal society is common within most of the american indian nations, and perhaps the white man may wonder why. For me, I find the explanation partly in something my philosophy teacher tried to teach my class over 15 years ago. (Keep in mind, this was before DNA testing.) He used a common statement, made for eons, that you always know who your mother is, but you never truelly know who your father is. While philosophy is not my intent of these pages, I believe that because women were the givers of life, and with the belief system that most of the american indian cultures had in reguards to both a masculine and feminine creator, the matriarchal system makes sense. While duties and roles were clearly defined, women had councils and were as influential as their male counterparts in the american indian society. When a man married, he ended his affiliation with his birth clan, and became part of his wife's clan. That is a profound difference from that of white society in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Cushman, who relates a great respect for the Choctaw, (although I find him a tad bit prejudiced in favor of those who chose Christianity for my taste), relates that it was common practise if the Choctaw could afford to do so, to set aside a certain number of livestock at the birth of a child. These were never sold, and became the property of the child when he or she reached adulthood and married. The Choctaw were also, by all accounts I have read, very successful farmers, with corn being prominant amongst their crops. I have read, that they often sold their excess produce to white settlers, and their mastery of agriculture was far past those of their white counterparts. While "fear" of being attacked in their sleep seems prevalent as one of the reasons the whites in Mississippi wanted the Choctaw removed from thier homes, I wonder how much of it as not also jealousy of not only the volume of land the Choctaw possessed, but their ability to do a better job farming it.
From what I have found, the Choctaw Nation, not individuals, but the Nation itself, never went to war against any of the colonists or settlers, and when it did involve itself in any of the wars of the citizens of the colonies (United States), it always chose to help the colonists, and later the United States. When the Creek massacred some citizens of Mobile, Chief Pushmataha volunteered Choctaw warriors to fight the Creeks. The irony of the fear of being "massacred by indians" is that when a few indian men may have killed a white man here and there, it was considered "savage," but when white men killed indian men, women and children it was considered a victory. From what I have found in my research, the Choctaw people were never enemies of citizens of the United States, it's territories or it's colonies, and yet they were the first to be chosen for removal from their native lands.
The Choctaw people, from various sources, where a kind, fun loving, and peaceful people, who were fierce and magnificent warriors once they went to war. They cherished their children, and had a great deal of respect for the elders of their tribe. Proximity to the white man brought many vices that weakened the nation, gambling and alcohol among them. Early in the 1820's the Chiefs tried to stop whiskey from being brought into the nation with the treaties, yet I find it ironic, that in every negotiation a mention is made as to how money was alloted for whiskey for each indian a day, and more than that, how much whiskey each indian consumed! During the treaty of 1830, an account mentions gambling, prostitutes, alcohol surrounding the treaty area, while the missionaries were denied entrance, because the government felt they would convince the Choctaws not to cede their land to the United States.
The Choctaw had multiple wives, and the practise was not outlawed until the late 1830's. I haven't seen any documentation to verify the fact, but marrying sisters seems to have been common. Chief Pushmataha explained the fact that he had 2 wives when asked by replying that there were more women than there were men, and that it was unfair for a woman to go without a man just to keep to having one wife. Personally, I find this answer a little humerous. The Choctaw didn't keep track of ages, and the white man's preoccupation with it must have been hard to fathom. I read an account that stated since at the time, their was no written language, when the rolls of 1831 were done, marks were made on sticks to represent each household, and they had a system of making additional marks, and tying on smaller sticks to represent older male children, and younger children, and that these were done with great care. When all the sticks were done, they were taken to be counted. Apparently, when some tried this with Col. William Ward to attempt to stay in Mississippi under Article 14, of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, it was less successful.
