AMITE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI CHOICES

The first county court, composed of five Justices of the Quorum, and having jurisdiction over general county business, roads, and the trial of slaves, held its first session in the autumn of 1809. Micajah Davis was the Chief Justice, Thomas Batchelor was the first clerk, and David Lea, the first sheriff. The first Circuit Court of the county was held in the county the same year (1809) by Hon. Francis Xavier Martin, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Amite County was represented in the Constitutional Convention of 1817 by Henry Hanna, Thomas Batchelor, John Burton, Thomas Torrance, Angus Wilkinson and William Lattimore.

In 1812, Ludwick Hall published the Republican at Liberty; subsequently, the Liberty Advocate and Piney Woods Planter, both weeklies, were published here.

The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railway runs along its extreme western border, and one short branch known as the Liberty-White R.R. extends from South McComb to Liberty. Extensions of these lines will naturally follow in the near future, and the interior of the county will then have the transportation facilities it has so long lacked. While agriculture forms the chief source of its wealth, yet manufactures flourish to some extent and the following statistics, derived from the last census returns for 1900 will be found of interest.

The white population for 1900 was 8,400, colored 12,308, total of 20,708, an increase over 1890 of 2,510. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county in 1905 was $3,478.046, and in 1906, it was $4,647,305, which shows an increase of $1,169,259 during the year. The agricultural interest of the county have increased at least 25 per cent, in the last five years, while the population is estimated now at fully 25,000.