Patron Past Stories

PATRON + History of “Indian towns in Coosa County” written around 1877

[This transcription is from a book written ca. 1870 and includes many places of “Indian towns in Coosa County” and names of people who lived near them. Warning: It has been transcribed exactly as written in 1870s and includes language that would not be used today]

There were many “Indian Towns in Coosa County, Alabama.” A few are included below with information about events of interest that took place in them according to Rev. George E. Brewer (1832-1932) of Alabama in his book, History of Coosa County, Alabama.

Weoka Creek, Alabama

the river

  • Wewoka Town was on Wewoka Creek, fifteen miles above Wetumpka, Alabama. No incidents of interest are known in connection with it.
  • Alabama Town was in the Knight and Whetstone neighborhood, west of Buyckville. At this town, Joel Spigener and his family attended a Green Corn Dance.
  • Kialigee Town was near Kialigee Creek, not far from where the road between Wetumpka and Alexander City runs. This town was burned by the war party during the war of 1813 and 1814, because those living there were friendly toward the whites.
  • Thottolulgau, or Fish Pond Town, was a few miles north of Nixburg, not far from where Mr. Tuck lived. It has been stated elsewhere that Colonel Willett and McGillivray were honored on their visit here with a national Indian dance in 1790. This town gave name to Fish Pond Church, one of the first organized in Coosa County, and that maintained its organization for a number of years. It sided with the anti-missionaries in the split.

Fish Pond Primitive Baptist Church

Fish Pond Primitive Baptist Church

  • Opillowan, or Swamp Town, was on Swamp Creek, twenty miles from the Coosa River. No incidents of interest connected with this town are known.
  • Pochusowan Town was on Hatchett Creek.

Hatchett Creek

Hatchett creek

  • There was a town near Rockford, less than a mile west where a noted chief, Redmouth, lived at the time and after the organization of the county. His name is preserved in that of Redmouth branch. T. J. Pennington lived on the site of the town. Redmouth was an intelligent, wealthy, and friendly Indian, whose Indian name was Choak-Chart-Hadjo. His will is the first on record in the book of wills for Coosa County, made March 6th, 1834.
  • Pumpkin Town was near where Weogufka Creek enters Hatchett. This was the town of which the white man, Clark was nicknamed chief.
  • Salonoby Town was in the neighborhood east of Nixburg, and gave name to the Salonoby Creek.
  • Weogufka Town was on the creek of the same name, in what was the Lindsey plantation, near where Weogufka Church stood.
  • There was a town 12 miles north of west from Rockford near the Fixico Mining Company’s location. Some signs are still to be seen. A mining company business there took its name from Konip Fixico, a chief.
  • There are signs of a town 6 miles west of Rockford, near where Jacob Bently lived, from which some bullets, burnt corn well preserved, and other relics were taken.
  • On the place owned by John Ward, on Jacks Creek, there were indications of a town, from which relics were taken in 1886 and since, exposed by the washings of the creek in the great flood of 1886. Some of these belonging evidently to English soldiers, indicating a date corresponding to the war with the Yamessees, when they were driven from South Carolina as far west as Alabama.

There were a few whites scattered in different parts of the county, living among the Indians before the organization of the county, but the names and locations of but few are known.

Greenberry Clark lived at Pumpkin Town, living and dressing like the Indians. He was nicknamed by the whites after they came in, as the Chief of Pumpkin Town. He afterwards became a constable among the whites.

Alexander and John Logan, brothers, lived among them, probably in the neighborhood of Hatchett Creek, above Rockford, Eli, Jessee, and Adam Harrell were in the Oakchoy neighborhood, above Nixburg. Eli had been a Barbe business man. Kirk Gray and a Mr. Hobdy were out southeast of Nixburg. Solomon Robbins, William. H. Weaver, and Larkin Cleveland with his sons, Joseph, Benjamin, Robert, David, and Harvey, were at Nixburg or near it before or about the time of the organization of the county. James Lindsey was in the Hanover neighborhood.

Archibald Bowling and William A. Wilson were m Marble Valley. Washington Campbell and William Lovelady were near where Eclectic now stands. Albert and Robert Armstrong, Joel Spigener, and Thomas and James Wall were near Buyckville at the time of the county’s organization. W. H. Ray and Nancy Kennedy were just below Rockford at an early day. The Chapmans, Goodgames and Lauderdales were about Sockapatoy quite early.

John Underwood was a blacksmith among the Indians, and had his shop near where the Turnpike crossed Hatchett Creek. Jack McNeily was also one among the Indians in the neighborhood of Shelton Creek, on the road from Rockford to Syllacogga. (sic) Mr Kibbler had a store near the Coosa and Talladega line, not far from A. B. Nicholson’s place above Goodwater.

SOURCE

History of Coosa County by George Evans Brewer

Books by Alabama Author Donna R. Causey

Alabama Footprints Confrontation is a collection of lost and forgotten stories that reveals why and how the confrontation between the Native American population and settlers developed into the Creek-Indian War as well as stories of the bravery and heroism of participants from both sides.

Some stores include:

  1. Tecumseh Causes Earthquake
  2. Terrified Settlers Abandon Farms
  3. Survivor Stories From Fort Mims Massacre
  4. Hillabee Massacre
  5. Threat of Starvation Men Turn To Mutiny
  6. Red Eagle After The War

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67 comments

  1. Fascinating. Thanks.

  2. I love canoeing and fishing on that creek….:)

  3. I’ve canoed this creek from it’s most northern reaches all the way through the rapids to the Coosa River/Lake Jordan…..its a overlooked gem, wild & scenic.

  4. Fascinating. I have lived in Coosa County my whole life and love learning about times and things around my Beautiful Coosa County.

    1. Thank you for your comment. There are so many wonderful bits of information around our state that we miss and I’m trying to bring this out on http://www.alabamapioneers.com

      1. Donna Gm, my name is Lois Michael, my family and I are coming to Coosa County on August 22, 2018 with the hope of doing some family research on the Mitchell’s, Jackson’s, Kelly/Kelley and related other family members. We are Black descendants of the aforementioned sirnames. Where should we look when we come?

        Thank you for any suggestions you may offer.

        Regards,
        Lois D Michael

        1. I’m sorry, but we no longer have the time to provide personal assistance in genealogy. You could try the Alabama Department of Archives and History. http://archives.state.al.us/ I believe they have a list of researchers who can help you.

    2. Hey this is Wesley wright. I also live in Coosa County my whole life . Can you emaile information that you might know about weogulfka if you know anything about the history of this area . My email is [email protected] …. Thanks

  5. The Solomon Robbins mentioned in Brewer’s book is my ancestor. My Mitchell, Robbins, and Bice lines all came from Coosa Co., AL. I have Brewer’s book.

  6. My Harris, Wilbanks, Thornell, Gilliland, Rushing and Mitchell (Ft. Toulouse)

    1. Might your Gillilands include Hugh Gilliland?

    2. My 3rd great grandfather and grandmother lived in Coosa and Elmore County. So far, I have found many Wilbank’s buried in Bethel Cemetery. I found a Harris that married a Wilbanks. Ada ZILLA b. 1892 – 1992 married Julius Ethyl Harris 1889-1927. Her fa. John Thomas Wilbanks 1870-1950 w. Clara Grace Monk or Moon. Zila’s siblings;
      Joseph D. 1892-1972, John Thomas 1896-1917. 1/2 Ben Moon 1913-2000.

      My 3rd gr grandfather Gideon married Sarah “Jane” Varner. My 2nd gr grandfather David Varner Willbanks 1831 – 1916 ( buried at Bethel, Equality, Coosa, ALABAMA
      Ended up in Oklahoma and Texas. Dave was married 4 times. His wife, Caroline Williams is my grandmother. Their 3 children were born in Alabama. Elizabeth died as an infant, my gr grandfather Robert (Bob) Wesley Wilbanks 1870 -1916, and Frederick William d. 1953.

      Robert Wesley is the father of my grandfather who raised me from infancy. I am trying to locate Robert’s first wife, Dee Tyler. She died when my Grandaddy was 7 in Texas. I don’t know what her given name is, they just called her Dee. Not sure how they spelled Tyler. They left Alabama around 1899 to 1901. She died when she got to Texas and is buried in Titus County Texas. No marked grave, no death certificate. I am digging deep into Coosa and Elmore Counties in hopes of finding a Tyler on the census roles. I sometimes wonder if they pronounced it incorrectly and how to spell it. .I have a picture of her, Robert and their two boys. Herman Wesley is my grandaddy 1894 – 1983. And Elmer b. 1896 or 1897. He died about the same time his mother, Dee Tyler died.
      I would like to post the picture somewhere, tel the story, in hopes someone has heard the story of them leaving Alabama by boat near the Mississippi. I am sure family took the picture.

      Do you have a tree I could access through Ancestry.com. I just became a member.

      My brother and I are planning to visit the town’s and graveyards of the Wilbanks families. There are so many generations of relatives with so many offspring. Do you know,ifmthey have annual family reunions? I would love to comnect somehow to the lineage of Gideon and Jane Wilbanks.

      Carla Wentworth
      [email protected]
      Wilbanks.mcmillan.wentworth

  7. A lot of my Salter relatives are buried at Fishpond Primitive Church and Old Shiloh cemeteries.

  8. A lot of my Salter relatives are buried at Fishpond Primitive Church and Old Shiloh cemeteries.

  9. David Livingston…

  10. A buddy and I floated Hatchett Creek in the early seventies. It was a beautiful creek to travel down, even if the water was so low that we had to walk and drag our canoe for half the journey. And no, we never heard any banjo music. LOL.

  11. Solomon Robbins is my husband’s 4th great grandfather. Prior to being named Nixburg, the town was called Robbinsville. It’s been told by family that Solomon was a liaison for the federal government to the Indians.

    1. Solomon Robbins, Sr. was a brother to my 3 times great grandfather, whose name was Daniel Arter Robbins.

      1. I made an error in above comment. Daniel Arter Robbins was my 2x great grandfather. His daughter, Emeline Robbins Mitchell, was my great grandmother.

  12. No place is more beautiful than Coosa county!

  13. I have relatives on Granddaddy Forbus’ side of the family buried at the Primitive Baptist Church on Fishpond Rd.

    1. Hey this is Wesley . My wife is kinned to the forbus in Sylacauga Alabama. Her mom was Betty forbus her uncle is Eddie forbus and a other named Buddy forbus. Are you kinned to them . Email me at [email protected] …….. Thanks

  14. Steve Waters, here’s some Coosa County History for you.

    1. Are you related to the group that traveled from Ireland to America and built Presbyterian churches where they settled? The Carmichaels,Thompsons, Lesley’s, Spears. I have noticed a lot of youngs mixed in with this group.

  15. Kathy Clem Vickery Randy Vickery

  16. My family lived on Weoka Creek for hundreds of years…some still do. Some call it Cardwell Creek. My family is also buried at Primitive Church.

  17. What’s the year? 2015. Sorry, for a moment I thought we were back in the 1700s when people still thought that native Americans were Indians. Are they from India? No? Okay, we’ll just further disrespect them by proceeding to call them Indians anyway. That’s after we pass on widespread disease, take all their land, and rape their women. After that, we will give them a sliver of their land back, justify it with casinos, and write an article about their history listing names of respected chieftains and STILL call them Indians. I hope that no one of Native American descent ever has to read this misinformed poorly written disrespectful article.

    1. The writer of this piece wrote a disclaimer as she was quoting text from a time that the use of Native American was not in place. I would dispute that native American is correct as well since I too am a native American my roots were just Scots/Irish I wait for a time when we are all just people maybe of different heritage but American people! Race relations can never move forward until this time comes! Verbal history of my grandmothers family was that they were of Black Dutch descent..not black or dutch just Aboriginal and European! It seems everyone needs some sort of label though out history!

      1. My grandmother on My Dad’s side always said she was black dutch which I never knew what that meant Now I know. She also said she was Irish. Because her maiden name was Mclain but years later after I was grown up one of her cousins did a ancestry thing and they were from Scotland. So she was evidently American Native and Scot which makes since I guess. I always thought she was from Holland and dark and Irish. I think the person who wrote these things the way he did was from the 1890 or so and that would be why he spoke that way. but I am glad to know what that meant. My step grandfather was a Braden and he said he was part Cherokee. I think lots of us go back to the Native Americans. I am proud.

        1. My grandmother lived in Hanover- Cora Rayfield Camp – she said that she was ” Black Dutch” , but explained that it meant that the person had dark hair and was fair skinned”. I don’t know.

          1. I was told they were called Black Dutch because they were Deutsch (German) and their religion required them to wear plain black clothing.

      2. My grandmother was from Coosa County. She and her family called themselves Black Dutch and Indians. They were not offended by those names. They were proud to be called Black Dutch and Indians. Perhaps it is our generation that has made an issue over the use of those terms and created “race relations”. May be if my generation stopped making a issue of it the hatred would go away. My grandmother’s Coosa County family ties were Liveoak, Teel /Teal and Calloway / Callaway Perhaps some of you are my cousins.

    1. If you click on Turkey Town it will tell of my ancestor

  18. Are these books in AL. libraries?

    1. Yes, in some libraries and at the Archives. There are some copies online at Amazon http://amzn.to/1UBu4Nj

  19. My brother , sisters and I use to swim in Hatchett Creek when we were small , the water was cold as ice in the heat of summer. Beautiful place.

  20. Stan AndStacey Clopton

  21. I am very interested in reading more about Shelton Creek. My 3rd great grandfather’s (Stephen Shelton) , brother was James “Fox” Shelton who owned the Shelton Inn in the early days on Shelton Creek. Does anyone have information on the actual Shelton Inn and/or Fox Shelton (owner of it).

    Would greatly appreciate sharing information on the Shelton’s in Coosa on Shelton Creek area.

  22. Donna, thank you for posting these interesting stories. I especially appreciate them because I live so far away from AL/MS, but that’s where my ancestors lived.

    1. Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed them.

  23. Thank-you, Mrs. Causey, for your hard work and generosity in sharing your knowledge. I find your articles to be fascinating. Perhaps, one day, I will have the time to dig deeper into the history of Coosa County – there are so many unanswered questions for me but your work makes things easier for everyone with an interest in local history. The comments to this article was interesting as I had never heard of black Dutch before. Like so many others – I was told I had Native American in my background but my DNA test with Ancestry.com proved that to be totally untrue – not even a trace of Native American. W

  24. Thank-you, Mrs. Causey, for your hard work and generosity in sharing your knowledge. I find your articles to be fascinating. Perhaps, one day, I will have the time to dig deeper into the history of Coosa County – there are so many unanswered questions for me but your work makes things easier for everyone with an interest in local history. The comments to this article was interesting as I had never heard of black Dutch before. Like so many others – I was told I had Native American in my background but my DNA test with Ancestry.com proved that to be totally untrue – not even a trace of Native American. W

  25. Thank-you, Mrs. Causey, for your hard work and generosity in sharing your knowledge. I find your articles to be fascinating. Perhaps, one day, I will have the time to dig deeper into the history of Coosa County – there are so many unanswered questions for me but your work makes things easier for everyone with an interest in local history. The comments to this article was interesting as I had never heard of black Dutch before. Like so many others – I was told I had Native American in my background but my DNA test with Ancestry.com proved that to be totally untrue – not even a trace of Native American. W

  26. Sorry, my computer is extremely sensitive and it posted before I finished. As I was saying – what was odd about my DNA test was that my Father and his relatives looked Native American as they all had the jet black hair, their noses were like many Native Americans, they had dark complexions, etc. My DNA test did show my DNA to be 30% Irish which caused me to research the Black Irish. Supposedly, there was an old ancient trade route from Spain and the Iberian vicinity that may explain the Black Irish. I just wondered if that ancient trade route could’ve made it as far as Holland. ???? Fascinating!!! Even more, fascinating – I was helping my son with his homework recently and found that the original inhabitants of England were known as the Iberians. Well, my comment is far off this subject but I hope it may help some of the commentators who may have questions about their black Irish, black Dutch heritage.

  27. Very interesting. I’ve got to read some of her books.

  28. any info on a name mentioned in this article, Washington Campbell, Eclectic, AL? How can I trace that name? Thanks

  29. Great read,use to swim in hatchet creek.

  30. […] Source: History of “Indian towns in Coosa County” written around 1877 | Alabama Pioneers […]

  31. I would like to read sounds interesting. Who is the author? Is it published by the Alabama Pioneers?

  32. Is the correct name of the creek “Weoka” or “Wewoka”? I have been looking for this creek for years! I had ancestors living on their banks.

  33. Thank you, Donna, for once again a fascinating article. In reply to one who was supposedly insulted and chose to “Leave a Reply”, won’t it be wonderful when we can forget being personally insulted when reading articles about those who lived long, long ago? We were not there, and we should simply read it as “history”. BTW, I also supposedly have some “Native American”, and I do not care whether you call me Native American, Irish, English, Swedish, Iberian, etc….I’m American and I’m living in 2016 doing the best I can. Keep the history coming!

  34. Would ❤️ to know if there is a list of graves (marked and especially unmarked) at Fishpond Church’s cemetery! I am looking for an ancestor.

    1. Lori Adams my husband and I were there a few years ago with Salter relatives. Graves are marked at Fishpond

    2. Sharon Salter Pruett There are a few that aren’t. I am looking for the actual interment roster.

  35. I have several Salter relatives buried at Fishpond!

  36. Lori Adams, I looked on Find A Grave and here is a list of graves at Fishpond Church. I hope this helps you. Posting the link to Find A Grave below your comment

  37. I have family from Dollar Alabama. My understanding is it was flooded when they created the new dam. Some of them (Hardy Family) are buried the Hatchet Creek cemetery. Just wondering where I can get more info on Dollar?

    Thanks.