Where was James Adair's Trading House?
Who? James Adair? Well, BE (Before Elvis - as most reckon time hereabouts) James Adair could arguably have been the areas' most distinguished occupant. He wrote the seminal work concerning southeast US Indians: The History of the American Indian 1775 London "History". He also served as an English trader to the Chickasaw twice in 1744 - 1750 and 1759 - 1766, trader to other southeast tribes, a noted historian, and diplomat who supported, if not incited, the Choctaw Civil War 1747 - 1750. A brief biography may be found in Paper 1 The Chickasaw Village Sources.
For those interested in the Chickasaw and southeast tribes, you may buy a paperback of James Adair's "History", read the book online and/or you can download a pdf file to read offline or print from here. In addition to a wonderful history, personal stories and cultural anthropology, Mr. Adair proposed that the American Indians were in fact … descendants of the Jews (beginning page 15 "History"). Before you contort your face into puzzles of disbelief, consider Mr. Adair had taken a scholarly and lengthy approach to the subject. In fact, Adair's Jewish origin analyses occupy half of "History". He made comparative biblical, custom, and language arguments and provided personal observations. "History" not only makes interesting reading, but also gives further depth and insight into the customs and beliefs of the southeast Indians, particularly the Chickasaw.
James Adair did not reside with the Chickasaw during the French/Chickasaw Wars of 1736 and 1739, see Paper 1 The Decades and the Villages - 1730 - 1740. However, he did reside with them after 1744 during several of the lesser French engagements/raids. He also saw first hand the impact of the French bounty for Chickasaw scalps policy, wherein the French offered trade goods estimated to be equivalent to four or five years of deer hide hunting per scalp. Among the Indian enemies of the Chickasaw, the French scalp bounty was popular. Adair recorded seeing Iroquois (from what is now upper and western New York state and Quebec and Ontario provinces of Canada) in the Chickasaw old fields attempting to harvest a scalp. Moreover the French archives (see Paper1 References Mississippi Provincial Archives, French Dominion Volumes I-III) record that other Indians tried to collect the bounty while offering split scalps of the recently deceased and exhumed scalps. Bienville began the scalp for bounty in the early 1700s (see Paper 1 The Decades and The Villages- 1700-1710) and the policy ended with French removal in 1763. The French bounty and raids were so oppressive that several tribal factions left the Chickasaw (see Paper 1 The Decades and the Villages- 1720 - 1730, 1740 - 1750 and 1750 - 1760. That the Chickasaw survived and protected their homeland from the French and their allies for almost sixty years is a remarkable story in individual and tribal perseverance.
Given James Adair's stature a guess as to where he lived among the Chickasaw is warranted. Adair gives us a hint… on page 357 of "History", "In the year 1748, the French … came to my trading house first, as I lived in the frontier." The frontier meant any area outside the protection of the Chickasaw villages. Therefore, Adair does not live in Old Town 1740-1772, see Paper 1 Figure 10. What would Adair's trading house have looked like? How large was it? Hints follow in "History" where Adair states that the Chickasaw living with him sleep around the exterior and there is a door which the French tried to entice him to open. I am of the opinion that the trading house was much larger than a Chickasaw house (Writer's Note: winter houses were 20 - 30 feet diameter) as he had not only people living with him, but also at least two dogs and room for trade goods and hides. Another location clue is there are other trading houses nearby. So Adair's trading house would have been a place of ready access, yet remote from the Chickasaw villages, but close enough for their support given the history of French or French sponsored raids. One can imagine that hides were cured and packed there and trade goods were visible in a fashion. Such a grouping of trading houses would have had quite the midden of Indian pottery and European trade goods. (Note: On page 357 "History"Adair states his trading house was visited first of the traders. Given the year 1748 this incident may well be a reaction by the eastern Choctaws to Adair's role in the Choctaw civil war.)
In my youth I was fortunate to meet several key men of Tupelo. One of them was Paul Hurt who was former Interim President and VP of Peoples Bank. Mr. Hurt grew up on Jackson Street in Tupelo, and the family farm included areas now east and west of the current Natchez Trace Parkway. This land was located in the Chickasaw Old Fields, see Paper 1 Figure 2. In my youth Mr. Hurt showed me a collection of Indian and European trade goods that he had picked up in their fields. Sometime in the late 1960s and early 1970s I visited what was left of the farm and environs. Wildwood subdivision north of Jackson Street and north of the Horse Trail had begun construction. A few older houses near Jackson Street had been built prior to the subdivision. At one house east of Robindale Drive in the yard and drainage ditches I observed an impressive mass of Indian pottery, unlike any I had witnessed anywhere in the Old Fields, outside of historic Chickasaw Villages. On closer inspection there were animal bones and a few trade bead types consistent with Adair's occupation, see Paper 2 Glass Bead Chronology- Dating Table 7. Someone of significance lived there. This location is 1 ½ miles due south of the Chickasaw Villages of 1740 - 1772. I should state that my observations of the Old Fields did not include subdivisions like Bristow Acres which was constructed before my interest in the Chickasaw.
I believe the Robindale Drive site represents a choice location for James Adair's trading house. Portions of this site remain for those who endeavor to preserve the past.
Given the above, doesn't James Adair deserve local acknowledgement?
Why not a statue? Or at the very least a plaque?
Regards from Tupelo,
Steve Cook
March 01, 2021 (or 44 AE)