The Choctaw County Historical and Genealogical Society held its first meeting of the year, in the conference room of the Choctaw County Library, on Monday, September 23, with Rufus Ward, of Columbus, as the guest speaker.
Billy Ganann opened the meeting with a welcome to all attendees and announcements concerning some proposed events. Ganann also pointed out that the Society meets on the fourth Monday of each month from September to May. The Society will try to organize a ‘Traveling Trunk’ with historical Choctaw County artifacts and memorabilia and will begin planning for a Black History Month event in February.
Ward describes himself as ‘an armchair historian’ whose interests in Mississippi go back for hundreds of years, dealing with the early Native-American cultures including the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. A former attorney, Ward now writes a weekly column for The Columbus Dispatch dealing with historical subjects.
Ward stated that about 20 years ago he began collecting very old newspapers and magazines and was amazed at what he found about Mississippi and the area. An example is an attack by the Choctaw and French against a Chickasaw and British settlement near present-day Tupelo, a battle which was reported in a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspaper and a British news magazine.
Ward spoke about the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes who became quite cultured, and some became very wealthy. By the 1800s many of the indigenous people lived in homes very similar to European colonists, and the lifestyles of the two groups were quite similar. In addition, Ward spoke generally about historical events in antebellum Mississippi and before.
Ward has also authored The Tombigbee River Steamboats, Columbus Chronicles, and others.
