The Land and People Before Windsor

The Land and People Before Windsor. . , Before Windsor existed, the Natchez people and their ancestors inhabited this land. Their presence is still evident in the numerous human made mounds that surround the area. These monumental earthworks, built as early as 6,000 BC, are a constant reminder of these early civilizations., From 700-1200 AD, mound centers spread throughout the region due to the emergence of corn agriculture. These centers usually consisted of three to four flat-topped dirt mounds surrounding a central plaza. Most people lived at family farmsteads throughout the area while the mounds served as gathering places where religious and civil structures stood., Approximately one-half mile to the northeast of the ruins is Windsor Mounds, which was occupied until 1600 AD. Early European settlers commonly built cemeteries on Native American mounds due to their elevated position and protection from floods. Atop one of the Windsor Mounds is a family cemetery created by Catherine Freeland Daniell's father, Thomas Freeland. The earliest marked grave belongs to his father, Frisby Freeland (1747-1819), Cultures Collide , European colonization in the early 1700s significantly altered the landscape of Native American homelands. French intrusion led to warfare ending in the dispersal of Natchez people from the local area in 1730. The Choctaw also laid claim to the region by the mid-1700s, and they entered into treaties with the French, British, and ultimately the Spanish who came to control the region in 1779 Eager to promote settlement in the area, Spain conveyed land grants to American settlers who began arriving in the 1780s. Shortly after the Mississippi Territory was created in 1798, the Freeland and Daniell families arrived from Maryland, ready to take advantage of available land and to stake their fortune in the emerging cotton industry that funded the extravagant creation of Windsor.