Tokshish, Mississippi
Historic trading post and post office on the Natchez Trace.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Tokshish, Mississippi · see source
Tokshish, also known as McIntoshville, was a historic location in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. It began as an 18th-century trading post run by John McIntosh for trade with the Chickasaw people and became a landmark on the Natchez Trace.
Around 1801 it became the second official U.S. post office in present-day Mississippi (Natchez being the first). A traveler in April 1803 reported a horse grist mill, large well-fenced and cultivated fields, and abundance of horses, cows, and hogs, with corn and provisions in great plenty. The placename is derivative of the name McIntosh.
Quick Facts
- Alternate name
- McIntoshville
- County
- Pontotoc County, Mississippi
- Operator of trading post
- John McIntosh
- Post office established
- Around 1801
- Post office rank
- Second official U.S. post office in present-day Mississippi
- Distance from chickasaw agency
- About 9 mi northwest
Facts from the source article.
Background
John McIntosh ran the original 18th-century trading post for exchange with the Chickasaw people. After his death around 1803, his wife—who had been the widow of James Colbert—continued running the tavern. The original McIntosh's son had a tavern mentioned in journals of travelers on the road between 1797 and 1803. In April 1803 a traveler recorded: 'On the trace through the Chickasaw nation in the neighbourhood of M'Intosh's ... observed a horse grist mill, large fields well fenced and cultivated, abundance of horses, cows, and hogs, corn and provision in great plenty, and here we bought from the Indians the best cured and sweet bacon we found on the road.
There are a great many white people in this neighbourhood, among whom the agent acts as magistrate, according to the laws of the United States.' Mississippi judge George Etheridge claimed that William Colbert lived at Tokshish. There was a Chickasaw school at Tokshish before removal. According to historian Dawson Phelps, 'The name does not appear on maps published after the late 1830s or after the settlement of the former Chickasaw lands was well under way.'
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Tokshish, Mississippi (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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