Chisholm, Jesse

Indian trader, guide, and interpreter Jesse Chisholm (1805?-1868) was born in the Hiawassee region of Tennessee. His father, Ignatius Chisholm, was a merchant and slave trader of Scottish ancestry, who married a Cherokee woman with whom he produced three sons, of which Jesse was the eldest.

After the couple separated, he married Eliza Edwards, the daughter of a trader in Hughes County, Oklahoma, with whom he had several children, including William E. Chisholm. Chisholm traded goods west and south into Plains Indian country, learning a dozen or so languages and establishing small trading posts. He became a busy guide and interpreter in Kansas, Indiana Territory, and Texas, where he remained active for several decades.