|
Biloxi Indian Tribes
Location
Biloxi. Apparently a corruption of their own name Taneks
anya, "first
people," filtered over the tongues of other Indians.
Also
called:
Ananis
Anaxis
Annocchy, early French spellings intended for Taneks
Polu'ksalgi, Creek name. Connections
They belonged to the Siouan
linguistic family.
Location
Their earliest historical
location was on the lower course of Pascagoula River. (See also
Louisiana,
Oklahoma,
and Texas.)
Villages
None are
known except those hearing the name of the tribe, unless
we assume the "Moctobi" or "Capinans" to be a part of them.
These, however, may have been merely synonyms of the tribal name.
History
It is
possible that the Biloxi are the Capitanesses who appear
west of Susquehanna River on early Dutch charts. On the De Crenay map of
1733, a Biloxi town site appears on the right bank of the Alabama River, a
little above the present Clifton in Wilcox County, Ala. This was probably
occupied by the Biloxi during their immigration from the north.
Individuals belonging to the tribe were met by Iberville on his first
expedition to Louisiana in 1699, and in June of the same year his brother
Bienville visited them. In 1700 Iberville found their town abandoned and
does not mention encountering the people themselves, though they may have
been sharing the Pascagoula village at which he made a short stop. A few
years later, Pénicaut says (1702-23), St. Denis persuaded the Biloxi to
abandon their village and settle on a small bayou near New Orleans but by
1722 they had returned a considerable distance toward their old home and
were established on the former terrain of the Acolapissa Indians on Pearl
River. They continued in this neighborhood and close to the Pascagoula
until 1763, when French government east of the Mississippi came to an end.
Soon afterward, although we do not know the exact date, they moved to
Louisiana and settled not far from Marksville. They soon moved farther up
Red River and still later to Bayou Boeuf. Early in the nineteenth century
they sold their lands, and, while part of them remained on the river, a
large body migrated to Texas and settled on Biloxi Bayou, in Angelina
County. All of these afterward left, either to return to Louisiana or to
settle in Oklahoma. A few Biloxi are still living in Rapides Parish, La.,
and there are said to be some in the Choctaw Nation, but the tribe is now
practically extinct. In 1886 the Siouan relationship of their language was
established by Dr. Gatschet of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and a
considerable record of it was obtained by Mr. James O. Dorsey of the same
institution in 1892-93. (See Dorsey and Swanton, 1912.)
Population
On the basis of the imperfect
records available, I have made the following estimates of Biloxi population at
different periods: 420 in 1698, 175 in 1720, 105 in 1805, 65 in 1829, 6-8 in
1908. Mooney (1928) estimated that this tribe, the Pascagoula, and the "Moctobi"
might number 1,000 in 1650.
Connection in which they have become noted
The Biloxi are remark able
(1) as having spoken a Siouan dialect unlike all of their neighbors
with one possible exception;
(2) as the tribe first met by Iberville when
he reached the coast of Louisiana and established the French colony of that name;
(3) as having furnished the names of the
first two capitals of Louisiana, Old and New Biloxi; that of the present
Biloxi, Miss.; and the name of Biloxi Bay.
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
|
|
Pre-Order Family Tree Maker 2012!!!