The Henshaw family moved to the wild country of DeSoto County, Mississippi with the departure of the Chickasaws in 1836. They farmed the rich land, hunted the rivers and streams, and struggled against slave robbers and outlaws. They were aided by their fast friend Push-pun-tubby, a member of the Chickasaw nation who had remained behind after the migration of his people to Oklahoma. Push was a wise man in many ways. He took young Herndon Henshaw under his wing, becoming to him a special friend, mentor, and spiritual guide in many sojourns into the wilderness. Almost as soon as he became an adolescent, Hern fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a neighboring family, friends of the Henshaws since older days in Limestone County, Alabama, from which they all had come to Mississippi. The couple had a beautiful courtship before they were separated by circumstances they failed to control, until it seemed unlikely they would ever meet again.