Mehahtubbee

Above - The Non-Indian Land Grabber's Land Patent which includes the 2 acres stolen from Mehahtubbee.

The article below was written by me and has now been adapted as more information has come to light. This article IS (c) R. McLellan.  You may use it for PERSONAL use ONLY.  COPYING said material onto another website or inclusion in any book, journal or other periodical is strictly forbidden without express written consent from this author.

Mehahtubbee, a full blood Choctaw Indian as can best be discerned from research, lived in what is now Neshoba County MS. He was born ca 1790, gathered from his age listed in the court case Choctaw Nation vs. The United States, served as Private during the battle of 1812, and his name appears many times as a stop over for travelers through that region in Records of Ft. St. Stephens Trading Post, National Archives Microfilm T500, roll 3.

He had a wife of the Emoklasha Clan, and fathered 12 children with this woman according to further records found within Choctaw Claimants and their Heirs.

Some of the children with this wife are known; a son, Elap Ambi, who traveled with his sister, Mary (who married Benjamin McKelvain, Indian Agent, of Kemper Co. MS), and his mother's sister, one Salla/Sally, to Indian Territory (Present day Oklahoma) in 1838; Lewis Ameahtubbee and Wallace Emiyatubbee who also moved into Indian Territory after the initial removals were over, settling in the Durwood Area, now considered to be the Chickasaw Nation.

A second wife to Emehahtubbee appears to have been a woman of the Sixtowns Clan named Oshtahoba, with whom at least one son is named on the Douglas A. Cooper Rolls of Eastern Choctaws taken in 1854; at which time both Emehahtubbee and Oshtahoba appear to be dead, as one Ah to kowa, Captain of the Sixtowns Clan, believed to have been the brother of Oshtahoba, was named as his guardian and paid the sum of 300.00 for this duty.

Emehahtubbee's residence at the time of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was S. 25, T. 10, R. 11 E which was shared with others of this same clan, that of his wife, if Choctaw tradition prevailed.

He and his family of 12 were disspossessed of their land by the Government, at which time Emehahtubbe came to Indian Territory, according to testimony given by his son Lewis Ameahtubbee located within the Dawes Application Packet for his family, Mississippi Choctaw Enrollment; But upon reaching Indian Territory, decided to return home.

On February 7, 1841, Mr. Garrett Wiggins of Lowndes County and later, Yalobusha County, purchased these two little acres along with land surrounding it.  (If anyone happens to know where Mr. Wiggins' grave is, I'd love to know.)

Wiggins himself never lived on the land but other members of the Wiggins family apparently did so from all indications from census material.

Further depositions recorded concerning The Choctaw Nation vs. The United States court case state that Emehahtubbee gathered a company of men together and moving to the south began causing "not too little trouble" among the non-Indian settlers of MS and LA.

Mehahtubbee's name appears in many of the documents listed as Timmahahtubbe or Mehahtubbee; the changing of the name not uncommon during the later life of a Choctaw... the later name's meaning being rendered, "Provoked to kill."

Where his remains were laid to rest is a mystery this writer can never hope to untangle, but his ancestral legacy continues to grow, now numbering over 683 descendants, of which I, for one, am thankful to be numbered.

Additional Sources: 1831 Armstrong Pre-Removal Roll of Choctaws, 1855/56 Payroll Record for Sugar Loaf County, Choctaw Nation, Choctaw Emmigrants.