One of, if not the biggest, mysteries surrounding the founding of Columbus is who was Thomas Thomas. The earliest history of Columbus was published by Oscar Keeler in 1848.
Last week, I wrote about Keeler and a map with a slightly revised history he published in 1852. In that history he wrote, “In the latter part of the year 1817, Thomas Thomas, a man who had been driven out by the agent as an intruder in the Chickasaw Nation, built a small split log hut on the spot now known as the corner of Main and Franklin (Third Street South) streets, but there were no signs of it ever being occupied by any person till 1819.”
A long unanswered question has been who Thomas Thomas was. Some people, including myself, have even questioned if that was really his name. A few sources after 1860 suggested the house may have been built by Thomas Sampson or Thomas Moore. Research by the late Sam Kaye, Carolyn Kaye, Gary Lancaster and me began turning up a connection to William Cocke, though the name Thomas Thomas also bothered us.
Research into Chickasaw Indian Agency records showed a reason and timeline for the first house at the site of Columbus. On June 27, 1818, Col. Henry Sherburne wrote to the Secretary of War that he had arrived at the Chickasaw Indian Agency to assume his new position of agent and found “the agency house in a deserted state, Col. Cocke (the former agent William Cocke) having taken himself & family about thirty miles off to a place he has or is about to purchase on the Tombigbee.” By 1819 Cocke was living on the Tombigbee bluff about where the Tennessee Williams House stands in present day Columbus, and next to the log house built in 1817.
It was on Sept. 30, 1817, that Capt. Hugh Young, surveyor of the Military Road, reported to Andrew Jackson the location of the road’s Tombigbee ferry crossing. Cocke would have learned of the ferry’s location about that time, if not before. Cocke also knew his position as Chickasaw agent would end in 1818. The timing was perfect for Cocke. His position would soon end and he had inside information on what would soon be a very valuable piece of real estate.
Was the builder of the first house in Columbus Thomas Thomas, an intruder run out of the Chickasaw Nation by William Cocke, or Thomas Cheadle, a former agency carpenter sent by Cocke to build a house and stake a claim for him at a soon-to-be very valuable piece of real estate overlooking the site of the Military Road’s Tombigbee ferry crossing?
A few days after my column on Keeler’s 1852 map and history appeared, so did the real Thomas Thomas. Brad Lieb, the tribal archaeologist for the Chickasaw Nation, had come across the name of a person he thought I would find interesting. The person was either a Chickasaw or a Chickasaw-related person, and his name was Thomas Thomas. It turns out Thomas Thomas was a real person and also fit our thoughts on why the first house was built.
Thomas had received a Chickasaw treaty reservation under the treaty of 1834 at the request of the Commission of Chiefs. That indicates he was probably Chickasaw but may have been a white man who worked for the Chickasaw agency and had a Chickasaw or Choctaw wife.
In 1830, he was living in a Chickasaw community along the old Natchez Trace near present day Houston. The community was not far from the Chickasaw Indian Agency where William Cocke had previously served as agent. It is also interesting that Thomas had been “removed from” his Chickasaw residence as it had probably passed to another Chickasaw who had a prior claim to the land. In turn under Article 6 of the Chickasaw Treaty Thomas later received a section of land on the Yocona River southwest of Oxford.
Maybe the founding of Columbus should read; In the fall of 1817, Thomas Thomas, a Chickasaw who lived near the Chickasaw Agency was sent by the agent, William Cocke, to build a log house where the Military Road’s Tombigbee Ferry was to be located and stake a claim for Cocke who would move there when his term as agent ended in 1818.
Many thanks to Brad Lieb for being on the lookout for and finding Thomas Thomas.
Rufus Ward is a local historian.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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