Biography:

Teacher, linguist, Indian colonization agent. Born– January 14, 1837,  Yorkville, Pickens Co. Parents– Percival Pickens and Jane Owen Halbert. Education– Union University, Murfreesboro, Tenn., A.M., 1856. Participated with State Troops of Texas in campaigns against Kiowa and Comanche; served as a private in the 6th Texas Cavalry, Confederate States Army. Taught in various schools and colleges, 1866-1899; said to have taught members of Choctaw tribe for twenty years. Worked as colonization agent for the removal of Mississippi Choctaw Indians to the west of the Mississippi River, 1900-1903. Later, literary historian and archaeologist in Montgomery. Died May 9, 1916.

Source:

Marquis who’s who online.

Publication(s):

Joint Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Montgomery, Ala.; White, Woodruff, & Fowler, 1895.

Joint_Editor:

A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language. Washington, D.C.; Government Printing Office, 1915.