John McLish - Chickasaw Commissioner
John McLish was the son of a white interpreter for the Chickasaw Nation and a Chickasaw mother.
He was born in the "old" Chickasaw Nation and died in 1838 in the Chickasaw District of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. He was in charge of the distribution of Chickasaw annuities prior to removal.
In 1826 he became the secretary of the Chickasaw Nation, a position he held until his death. His meticulous records were used as proof of fraud against some of the agents who moved the Chickasaws to Indian Territory.
He was one of the Chickasaws who visited present day Oklahoma to survey the Indian lands offered to the tribe in exchange for the homelands. John was one of the five commissioners appointed and authorized to make an agreement with the Choctaw Nation for the Chickasaw people to settle in the western half of the Choctaw lands in Indian Territory.
