Evelyn Rard,

Before we leave the subject of "Whites in Indian Territory," I want researchers to know about a great resource for studying whites and Choctaws in early Indian Territory. ..“At one point 3,700 [white] settlers lived in Shawneetown, Pecan Point, and Jonesborough,” later the county seat of Miller County AR. ..per SIX MONTHS FROM TENNESSEE, by Skipper Steely, Henington Publishing Co, Wolfe City TX (1982), 184 pp.
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My great friend of many years, Skipper Steely of Paris TX, transcribed old Miller County, Arkansas records found in his family’s papers (1817 to 1830s), i.e., now Southeastern Oklahoma, Southwestern Arkansas, and Northeast Texas. His direct ancestor, Claiborne Wright, arrived March 1816 at Pecan Point on Red River of the Pecan Point District of Mexico (later Sherry’s Prairie, Red River Co TX).
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Claiborne Wright had been good friends of Choctaw Chiefs Pushmataha and Pitchlynn since the Creek War of 1814. ..And yes, a Wright married a Pitchlynn.
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The following article, that Skipper wrote for the HANDBOOK OF TEXAS, does not convey the extent of his original research from primary records, his voluminous endnotes, his wonderful collection of maps, nor how beautifully it is written. ..This book is a must for students of the early history of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.
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WRIGHT, CLAIBORNE (1779?-1829)
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Claiborne Wright, pioneer, probably the son of William and Henrietta (Claiborne)
Wright, was born around January 5, 1779, possibly in Surry County, North Carolina. As
early as 1798 Wright lived briefly in a bend of the Cumberland River. In 1802 Wright
married Elizabeth Travis, and in 1804 they settled on the Cumberland River east of
Carthage, Tennessee. The Wrights had six children, including George W., Travis G.,qv and
Henrietta, who later married Gabriel N. Martin.qv Wright began a mercantile trade service
up and down the Cumberland as far west as Nashville. Later he poled a keelboat back and
forth to Louisville on the Ohio River. Family legend says that in 1811 Wright traveled on
the steamboat New Orleans from Louisville to New Orleans, that he visited a kinsman,
Governor W. C. C. Claiborne, and that he was with Gen. Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, the
governor's brother, in an attack on the Creek Indians in Alabama on December 23, 1813.
In the spring of 1816 Wright sailed on a keelboat named the Pioneer with his family for
the Red River region of what would become southwestern Arkansas. On September 5
they landed at the Wetmore and Mabbit Trading Post at Pecan Point. The Wright party
included five children and six slaves, among them Hardy Wright.qv Claiborne Wright
initially lived near the trading post, but soon moved west to property in present northeast
Red River County, Texas. About 1819 he crossed the river and settled in the
Shawneetown (later Clear Creek) Settlement in Hempstead County, Arkansas Territory.
He served on local juries and in August 1819 was named one of four county magistrates.
Soon after the establishment of Miller County on April 1, 1820, Wright's home was used
as the county seat. He was county coroner from 1821 to 1823. In 1821 Miller County
elected Wright its first member of the Arkansas Territorial Assembly; he was reelected in
1825. He was also Miller County sheriff from 1823 to 1827. His first wife died in 1820,
and in 1823 Wright married Harriett Brown. They had two sons. In 1828 Wright moved
south of the Red River, settling near his first home between Jonesborough and Pecan
Point. In January 1829 Wright sold his six slaves, including Hardy, to his son Travis for
$2,000. Claiborne Wright may have owed money to the Arkansas tate government from
tax collections as a sheriff. On November 17, 1829, legend says that two men started a
fight at a Jonesborough saloon. When J. G. W. Piersonqv tried to break it up, Wright
intervened and was stabbed in the stomach. He died four days later.
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Skipper Steely
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http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/fwr2_print.html
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Patti, prochette@Juno.com