In "History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natachez Indians," H.B. Cushman says: "Those of the SAME clan were never allowed to intermarry". In other words, marriage outside the clan was the law. "A Choctaw regarded marrying a girl of his own clan with the same horror as the white man did to marry his own sister; and equally so did the Choctaw girl," Cushman writes.(p. 87) Also when the couple married, the woman's family adopted the man into her own. It was the female's line that was perpetuated through her uncles and brothers. Rusty Lang

Well, Rusty, you forced me to see who was right, O'Beirne, or Cushman. My gut feeling was that Cushman was probably correct, considering his life was practically spent researching the tribe. I checked Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic and got this, page 77 "Choctaw Marriage customs also underwent considerable legal modifications at this time. A law in 1835 provided for a brief marriage ceremony consisting of a mutual admission of intention before a captain or preacher; and in 1849 all couples living together had to conform to this custom. In 1836 the most fundemental of all the primitive taboos was abolished, when it was made lawful to marry within the iksa. Polygamy still existed as late as 1845, but it was not approved and it was made illegal in 1849." she cites: Folsom, Digest of Choctaw Law pp 486, 498. I (and O'Beirne) stand corrected. Nalora