ENSLAVER-Jones
Jones, Robert
McDonald— Choctaw, was born October 1, 1808. He was described as “a
half-breed Creek” by one writer (1). Another writer noted that Jones “stands
alone, and is not connected with the other families” (2). Be was listed as a
Choctaw while attending the
Choctaw
Academy
in 1829-1830 (3). In 1831, he lived in LeFlore’s district probably in the
Yazoo
valley. His household then consisted of one person, a male over 16. He was
allowed 960 acres by the 1830 treaty, which noted that he did not then reside in
the Choctaw Nation. He moved west in 1832, signed the 1837 treaty, and became a
partner in the trading firm of Berthelet, Heald & Company of Doaksville (4).
In 1838 he lived on
Blue
River
(5). He eventually amassed great wealth, including five plantations, one of
4000 acres. He first lived at Skullyville, then moved from there to Boggy Depot
from there he went to
Lake
West
on
Red River
, and finally to Rose Hill, near Doaksville (6).
In 1847 he and his wife, Susan, owned 145 slaves, 60 horses, 700 cattle, 175
sheep, 400 hogs, and 6 wagons. He raised 1200 bushels of wheat, 250 bales
of cotton, 700 bushels of potatoes, 1000 bushels of oats, and 7400 bushels of
corn that year. He signed the 1834 and 1861 treaties and died at Rose Hill on
February 22, 1873. His first wife was Judith Walker, whom he married January 6,
1831. He married Susan (Colbert) McLish, daughter of Chickasaw Chief George
Colbert, on November 8, 1838. She died in 1860 at the age of 50. In 1861 he
married Elizabeth Earls. He was the father of Robert Fulton (1832), Hiram
(1834). Ellen (1836), George W. (1840—1845), Frances (1842), Mary Elizabeth
(1861; married George G. Randall), Robert Jefferson (1863), Henry Earls (1864—
1864), James McDonald (1866—1866), and
Franklin
(1867—1867) (7).
(l) IOU Draper. Choctaw Application for Enrollment Case 5757 notes that
George Durant’s mother was Martha James of
Blue
County
, who was related to Robert Jones. Martha was a cousin to Bacey James (born
1828).
(2) Reid letter, 1834,
Box
12
, Indian Correspondence, OHS.
(3) Kidwell, 226; “
Choctaw
Academy
”, 472.
(4) Foreman, THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES, 53.
(5) Ibid., 47.
(6)
NATCHEZ
TRACE TRAVELER, 11:48—49. The 1847 Chickasaw census shows Susan Jones as a
quarter white, head of a household that consisted of one male under 18, one
female under 16, and one female over 16.

Source: WHO WAS WHO AMONG THE • SOUTHERN INDIANS a genealogical notebook,
1698-1907
by Don Martini ©1998. Don Martini Falkner, Ms.