Post by Diane Merkel on Oct 28, 2007 15:37:28 GMT -6
A gentleman from Arkansas is trying to identify a school that is said to have operated from 1895 until 1947 and may have been in the vicinity of Bruce Creek. He has been told that the school was maintained by Indians for Indian students in the area. He would also appreciate information about any Indian "ceremonial grounds" around Bruce Creek that were used until the late 1920s.
I have received the following pieces of information:
I knew of the Knox Hill school but the Poplar Head school was news to me. If you know more about either school, please reply to this message.
Diane
HD#5
I have received the following pieces of information:
- There was a school called Knox Academy I believe in what was called Knox Hill. A John Newton was teacher and I think his wife was Mary Esther. They moved to Camp Walton and the little place on 98 was named Mary Esther.
- The school was called “Poplar Head” but it was not an Indian school. It was for white children. The school was torn down and some of the lumber used to build a barn still standing just south of the Eucheeanna School house. The old school house sat near where the sand pits are on McKinnon Bridge Road. There was a trail that went through the woods from the school house to Walton Bridge Road close to where “Little Cas Campbell’s” father, “Big Cas” had a saw & grist mill. The mill was called the McCollum Mill and had located on Panther Creek until the dam washed out and relocated. The mill was ran by Malachi Rushing until just before his death in 1932. Malachi was grandfather of John’s wife Bessie Mae Rushing Adkison. John said that the Indians had been drove out a good while before he returned Florida around the age of 12. Malachi’s mother was said to be a full-blooded Creek Indain. There are two family stories about Baron Dekalb Washington Rushing’s (Malachi’s father) wife, Sirena. When Baron Dekalb was a young boy hunting in the woods one day, he heard the cry of a child. The girl was about eleven years old and was thought to be Creek Indian. His parents raised her and called her Sirena. The other story is that Serena was a Creek Indian left with the Rushing family because the girl's parents were being marched to Oklahoma and did not think Serena would survive. Hence, they left her with Baron Dekalb's a family, who agreeably in Christian spirit raised and cared for her. One family history suggests she was born in Tallapoosa Town, Coosa, Co., AL. Tallapoosa Town (most likely a Creek Indian village) was a part of the Creek Indian Territory. Coosa Co. Family history suggests Serena was born circa 1828.
I knew of the Knox Hill school but the Poplar Head school was news to me. If you know more about either school, please reply to this message.
Diane
HD#5