On this day in Alabama history: Abraham Mordecai was born
(Mark Hilton; Historical Marker Database)
Oct. 24, 1755
Abraham Mordecai was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 24, 1755. It is believed he took part in the American Revolution before settling in Georgia and establishing a trading business.
Mordecai was a liaison for the Creek Indians, trading furs, medicinal plants and other items for European goods acquired along the southeastern seaboard. He married a Creek woman and became known among that tribe as Muccose, or Little Chief.
In 1785, Mordecai moved his family to a Creek town on the banks of the Alabama River. He set up a trading business between the Creeks and Choctaws in the area, which is present-day Montgomery.
Mordecai was a founder of the cotton industry around Montgomery. In the 1790s, the federal government encouraged Native Americans to adopt farming and manufacturing as their livelihood. At the government’s urging, Mordecai set up a gin to process and broker cotton grown by Creeks.
Mordecai served in the War of 1812 and was a trail guide for Gen. John Floyd during the Creek War in 1813. He returned to his trading store and worked as a cotton broker until 1836, when the Creeks were driven from their land by the federal government.
Mordecai moved to Dudleyville in Tallapoosa County and opened a store. Some say he built his own coffin or had one built and ate his meals on it. Mordecai lived in Dudleyville until his death.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
