Meridian will celebrate its 160th birthday next week (Feb. 10, 1860).

It was when I portrayed early Meridian settler, Mrs. Nancy McLemore, at St Patrick Elementary School last year, I realized once again that Meridian was meant to be. She and her husband, Richard McLemore, today recognized as Meridian’s earliest settlers, arrived in 1834 with four small children in tow and one on the way. It was apparent that the young couple was endowed with faith, hope and perhaps a stubborn streak.

The stubborn streak was needed just to survive because the little piece of land was just a place crisscrossed with stumpy, muddy Indian trails. The couple brought every item they owned, which was tied to wagons pulled by oxen. The list probably included feather beds and bed clothing, a bedstead or two, a few chairs, a small kitchen table, a few pots and pans but most importantly was the spinning wheel and cards to pull seeds from the cotton balls used to make homespun clothing.

For the Choctaws who lived in the area at the time, the McLemore family seemed well off. But that wasn’t the reason the native Indians, who lived then in what was known as the Western Frontier, were friendly. No, the reason was that their late, great Chief Pushmataha had always encouraged good relations with the white settlers, whom arrived in large numbers after his death. The reason for the influx of settlers was the signing of Dancing Rabbit Treaty in 1830 that opened Choctaw land to large numbers of new people. The earliest settlers arrived from Georgia, the Carolina’s and Virginia.

The revered, great chief was described in this way by author, W. B. Morrison. “In personal appearance he was every inch a chief. He was of the purest Indian blood, six feet, two inches tall and robust in proportion to his height, with form and features finely modeled. His deportment was calm and dignified. The Indians sometimes called him the ‘Panther’s Claw.’ He was by nature a leader among men, and that not alone in his own tribe. No Indian of his day was so highly respected by white men as was Pushmataha. He possessed wonderful powers as an orator. Gen. Sam Dale, the famous Indian fighter, who witnessed Pushmataha appeal against Shawnee Chief Tucumseh, declared him to be the greatest orator he ever heard. The Indian’s picturesque word for Pushmataha flow of language was the ‘waterfall.’’

The McLemore’s had settled on original Choctaw land. One would conclude perhaps there might have been inhospitable relationships, to say the least. But no, the chief was in awe of the ways of the white man. He wanted to learn and for his people to benefit. For example, the spinning wheel was an item Pushmataha probably would have liked to have for his village.

The McLemore’s built their first log cabin on the corner of what is now known as 18th Avenue and 11th Street and later a larger one on 5th Street and 31st Avenue. Both were made out of hewn logs and wooden pegs. Whereas Pushmataha’s village was located on Lost Horse Creek, just off what is now known as Lizelia Road in the northeast area of Lauderdale County.

Both Mrs. McLemore and Chief Pushmataha died before Meridian was founded but I feel their spirits live on. When we, Meridian citizens of today, celebrate our birthday next week, please remember those who came before us and share their stories with your children and grandchildren.

Anne B. McKee is a Mississippi historian, writer and storyteller. She is listed on the Mississippi Humanities Speakers Bureau and Mississippi Arts Commission’s Performing Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters. See her web site: www.annemckeestoryteller.com.