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| George Buster Singleton |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Our times sure have changed” was
originally published in the April 25, 2002 edition of The Monroe Journal in
Monroeville, Ala.)
During the past months, much has been said and written and
presented through the aid of television about sex, marriage and free love among
the youth of our country.
Hardly a day passes that the boob tubes are not full with
the pros and cons of the above.
There may be some who might agree or encourage this type of
behavior. Then, there are those who condemn these practices completely. I won’t
attempt to get involved, other than I think that personal discipline and early
family training are the great deciding factors as to the path a person takes.
A few days back, I was looking through some old papers and
various information pertaining to the marital habits of the early Indians of
this area. While viewing some of these writings, I decided that we, in our
modern times, could learn from some of these ancient practices.
So, let me take you back in time a few hundred years and
take a good look at some of the laws that these people abided by when
pertaining to the practices of free love, marriage and adultery.
Contrary to our beliefs of today, the laws of the local
tribes was not to be taken lightly. Punishment was not spared by the tribal
leaders, and usually the breakers of the tribal laws thought twice before
committing the same act twice if they survived the first time.
The act of marriage was quite simple. The Indian warrior would
send his sister or some other female relative to contact a female relative of
the bride-to-be. The marriage was discussed and an arrangement was decided
upon. Then presents were exchanged.
Always the groom-to-be had to give presents greater in value
than those given by the family of the bride. Then, the groom-to-be had to prove
himself. First, he had to build a dwelling of a sorts for himself and his
bride-to-be. He had to then plant a crop and harvest it. To further prove his
ability as a provider, he had to go on a long hunt by himself. The game he
killed had to be given to the future bride’s family and the leaders of the
tribe.
They decided then, after viewing his crop and the building
of his house and the amount of the wild game he brought in, whether he was
capable of supporting a wife and family. If they decided in his favor, he was
allowed to continue with the plans for marriage.
If he failed to satisfy the tribal leaders as to their
expectations, he had to start all over again. He had to start another house,
plant another crop and go again on another long hunt. If this practice was the
rule of today, I don’t imagine there would be as many marriages as there are.
Once the marriage vows were taken, the young bride-groom had
to walk the straight and narrow. Adultery was a serious violation of the tribal
laws.
Should this occur, the family of the bride decided the fate
of the guilty. They gathered together and decided on a course to purse. One
half of the family went to the house of the bride and one half went to the
residence of the guilty warrior.
The guilty was bound and beaten with long poles until he or
she was unconscious. Then they chopped the ears off the guilty one, and
sometimes even their noses. They did this with knives whose blades had been
made rough and saw like.
If the woman was guilty, her hair was chopped off and
carried in triumph to the center of the village and put on display for all to
see. If the offender should escape, the nearest relative was punished in their
place in the same fashion. (I can imagine I would have kept a close eye on my
relatives had I lived during this time in history.) Murder was punishable by
death; if the guilty escaped punishment, the next of kin would receive the
death penalty.
To some of us in our modern society, these laws seem very
harsh and cruel. But during this time in history when the great Indian nations
were at the peak of their civilizations, murder and crime were almost unheard
of. Can we say the same about our society of today?
Have our laws and lifestyles progressed from that of the
early Indian? As parents, do we sit with our children and teach them the way
they should go? Do we hear their problems and offer solutions? Do we sit in
council and look out for the elderly and disabled of our communities? Are we
concerned about the direction in which our nation is going?
I believe that the time is at hand; we must become concerned
about our future. In closing, let us look a bit on the brighter side.
When the white man
discovered this country,
Indians were running
it. No taxes or debt.
Women did all the
work.
White man thought he
could improve on a system like that…
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of
79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born on Dec.
14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School, served in the
Korean War, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County in June
1964 (some sources say 1961) and served as the administrator of the Monroeville
National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s column “Somewhere
in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of
articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. Some of
his earlier columns also appeared under the heading of “Monroe County History:
Did You Know?” He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column
above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through
the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville.
Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship
purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)
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