It is more likely that they may have been of Chickasaw heritage. Monroe County was carved from and surrounded by Chickasaw Territory. The Chickasaw were the most "civilized" and Western-oriented of all the Indian tribes. They intermarried frequently with the white people and adopted their ways, including raising cotton and having slaves. They lived in log cabins even before white men moved there. When they decided to move to Oklahoma (in 1837-38 -- later than the Cherokee and Choctaw, who were forced earlier to move -- and by their own free choice due to the bad influences of the whites who were devastating their culture), many of the white spouses moved with them, although many died along the way when government-promised supplies were not provided along the "Trail of Tears".) Gerry Parchman