Texas Conference Archivist Dr. Ted Campbell will offer a presentation titled “What Happened to the Native Peoples of Southeast Texas?” Tuesday, September 17 at 2 p.m. at Tyrrell Historical Library

About the Presentation

W. T. Block’s History of Jefferson County, Texas (1976) faced up to the critical question: Why did the earliest settlers to Jefferson County not report seeing or interacting with native peoples as early Texas settlers did in other places? What happened to the native people of this region?

Dr. Campbell says his research on the Atakapa Ishāk people of Texas and Louisiana has led him to some conclusions in response to this question. He will offer a historical account based on his studies of Atakapa Ishāk language texts, archeological reports, accounts from French, Spanish, Mexican, and American sources, and documented genealogies of Atakapa Ishāk descendants.