From: Helen Cook Austin To: Readers of the Austin List   The message I sent to you yesterday about the Stewart Austin, Choctaw, whose wife was Hortense Thompson had a serious error.   I wish I could get an answer to the email that I sent to the submitter of a FamilyTree on Ancestry.com that linked Stewart to Josiah Austin of Smith Co, MS.  Her handle on the private email of Ancestry.com is ZMATTO ?   Anybody know who this is?   After studying the more than 30 pages of documents that I have for Stewart Austin born ca 1881 in the Choctaw Nation of Coffadeliah, Neshoba Co, MS I realize that it is highly unlikely that Stewart is a descendant of the line of William Austin of Craven Co, SC.  Certainly not a legal one.   After a lengthy testimony to the DAWES COMMISSION interrogators in 1901, a conclusion was reached that Stewart was definitely a full blood Choctaw Indian.  He not only looked like one, he spoke fluent Choctaw language and could barely speak English. His wife was also a full blood Cherokee.   Stewart said he had lived all of his life in the same place, Coffadeliah, Neshoba Co, MS. This is in the North Central part of the state, and I think it is near the present day town of Philadelphia, MS and the SilverMoon Casino on the Choctaw Reservation.   Not only that, Stewart only knows that the name of his father was Austin, no other name and that his father died when he was three years old.  His mother "Seale" (probably her surname)b abt 1836 died in 1896 only five years before the testimony.   Stewart had a brother named John Long. He lives with Ed Henson.  I studied some of the 1900, 1880, 1870 census of Neshoba Co, and see that the surnames of Seale, Long and Stewart are common.  The community was very sparsely settled.  One record had his residence as Seale, MS.   I am starting to wonder if his surname was Stewart instead of Austin?   This is very interesting research.  I am sorry that I jumped ahead with a presumption of someone else's undocumented research.  Forgive my faux pas.   I will try to do better. It will take me a while to get this ready for you to hear more about at the June Meeting.   Vernon and I are driving to Houston, TX to see my family soon, and I might drive by Neshoba County for a look-see at their records.  After all, the casinos are inexpensive places to stay overnight and they are certainly entertaining.