Greene County

A History of Mississippi from the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French, Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis, by Robert Lowry and William H. McCardle. Jackson, Miss.: R. H. Henry & Co., 1891; pages 478-479.
Material submitted by Hancock County Coordinator, Denise Wells.
Named in honor of Major-General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame, was established December 9th, 1811. This county borders on the Alabama line.

Among its first settlers were Laughlin McCoy and John McRae, both of whom were members of the Constitutional Convention in 1817. The McDuffeys, McCaskill's, McPherson's, McLeod's, Walter Denny, McInnis, Laughlin McKay, the Breland's, Moody's, Smith's, Kittrell's, Avery's and Brewer's.

The first sheriff was Alexander McLean, afterwards judge of the probate court. James Walley was also sheriff and probate judge. Walter Denny, now a highly respected citizen of Moss Point, and largely interested in the mill industry at that place, and the father of W. M. Denny, (member of the Constitutional Convention of 1890, from Jackson county,) was at an early day sheriff of Greene county.

Alexander Fairly, the father of a large family, among whom were Hon. John T. Fairly, who twice represented Covington county in the Legislature; Hon. Archie Fairly, who represented Lawrence county in the Legislature; and Dr. Alexander Fairly, who represented the Senatorial District in which he lives, in the State Senate, and is a leading physician in Covington county; Dr. Peter Fairly, a physician of high character and large experience, now a resident of the city of Jackson and Superintendent of the Blind Institute.

Among the early settlers yet living are the following: Preston Beard, Alexander Avery, Samuel Breland, S. V. McKay, Farqua McLeod, John McInnis, W. P. Avery, E. B. Box, J. J. McInnis, Lemuel Bradford, Josiah Byrd, Asa Breland, William Walley, H. G. Mills, Joseph Dickinson, E. W. Davis, E. M. Denman, James Freeman, J. M. Sewell, H. C. Cochran, William Turner, Sr., B. H. Walley, Willis Mills, James Beard, David Langford, Daniel Brewer, William Cooley, J. C. Breland, William Moody, Lewis Turner, J. S. Turner and William Neal. From the names there appears to be a large element of the Scotch-Irish, who usually make excellent citizens.

The towns in the county are Leakesville, the county site, named for Hon. Walter Leake, former Governor of the State and United States Senator from Mississippi; State Line, in the northeast corner of the county on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The principal streams in the county are Chickasahay and Loaf rivers and Big Creek, all of which have numerous tributaries.

Greene county has 2,975 acres of cleared land; average value as rendered to the assessor, being $3.11 per acre. Total value of cleared lands, including incorporated towns, $21,705.

The population as shown by the census returns of 1890 — whites, 2,923; colored, 945; total, 8,865.

. Senators Representatives
1820 Isaac R. Nicholson Hugh McDonald, _______ Dameron
1821 Isaac R. Nicholson Hugh McDonald
1822 Isaac R. Nicholson John McLeod
1823 Laughlin McKay John McLeod
1825 Laughlin McKay Archibald McManus
1826-'27 John McLeod Archibald McManus
1828-'29 John McLeod Archibald McManus
1830 John McLeod Alex Morrison
1831 Thomas S. Sterling David McRae
1833 John McLeod David McRae
1835 Thomas P. Falconer Allen McCaskill
1836-'37 Hanson Alsbury Joshua Murray
1838-'39 Hanson Alsbury Alexander McCaskill
1840-'41 Hanson Alsbury Isham Moody
1842-'43-'44 A. W. Ramsey W. Moore
1846 A. W. Ramsey

John McInnis
1848-'50-'52 Joseph McAfee John McInnis
1854 ______ Graves H. J. Breeland
1856-'57 S. B Hathorn T. J. Roberts
1858 S. B. Hathorn T. J. Roberts
1859 J. W. Rankin M. H. Winburn
1860-'61 W. J. Rankin M. H. Winburn
1861-'62 W.J. Rankin George Wood
1865-'66-'67 John F. Smith John McInnis
1870-'71 J. H. Seal J. K. McLeod
1872-'73 J. H. Seal S. G. Gaines
1874-'75 J. P. Carter _______ Thompson
1876-'77 J. P. Carter John F. McCormick
1878 J. P. Carter Henry Roberts
1880 J. P. Carter Jesse Byrd
1882 Elliott Henderson K. McInnis
1884 Elliott Henderson J. Kittrell
1886 J. L. Morris Hilliard McInnis
1888 J. L. Morris D. W. McLeod
1890 A. G. Ferguson D. W. McLeod

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