COPIAH COUNTY
Chapter XLV, pages 712-714
This county is located in the southwestern
part of the State, has a land surface of 769 square miles, and is bounded
north by Hinds County, east by Simpson and a portion of Lawrence, south
by Lawrence and Lincoln and west by Jefferson and Claiborne counties.
The New Purchase acquired from the Choctaw
Indians, October 18, 1820, had been erected into the large county of Hinds,
and on January 21, 1823, it was deemed wise to create out of its extensive
area the counties of Copiah and Yazoo. The original act defines the limits
of Copiah as follows: "Beginning on the eastern boundary line of Claiborne
County, where the southern boundary line of township three strikes the
same; thence east along said line to the Choctaw boundary line; thence
southwardly with the same to the northern boundary of Covington County;
thence westwardly along the old Choctaw boundary line to the southwest
corner of the same; thence northwardly with the old Choctaw boundary to
the beginning." One year later Simpson County was formed from that portion
of Copiah lying east of the Pearl River, and April 7, 1870, it surrendered
a strip of its southern territory to Lincoln County. The name Copiah is
an Indian word, signifying "calling panther."
An interesting roll of pioneer settlers
of Copiah County will be found in the following list of county officers
for the year 1823 and the years 1824-1827 inclusive: Year 1823, Barnabas
Allen, Judge of Probate, (resigned); John Coon, Associate Justice, (did
not accept); Lewis Parker, John Sandifer, Associate Justices; Robert Middleton,
Wm. Thompson, James B. Satturfield, Duncan McLaurin (removed), Robert C.
Blount, Wm. N. Miller, Wm. S. Byrd, Justices of the Peace; John Coon, Assessor
and Collector (February 13); John Coon, Sheriff (April 29); Reading Sessums,
Coroner; Jacob Haley, Ranger; John Watts, County Treasurer; John H. Wilson,
Sheriff (August 18); John Rhymes, Coroner (August 18); John McLeod, County
Surveyor; Years 1824-1827, John Welch, John Ellis, Seth Granberry, Associate
Justices; Thomas Kellar, Resin W. Irwin, Judges of Probate; John E. Watts,
County treasurer; A.B. Ross, Ranger and Assessor and Collector; William
Barnes, Notary Public; Abram Harper, Seth Cosley, James Ainsworth, Geo.
Phillips, Elisha Greenlee, James Harrell, John Lott, Francis Tillman, Wm.
S. Little, John Ellis, Jno. Pritchard, John Ricketts, Jos. Brown, John
H. Wilson, Daniel McLaurin, Wm. F. Noble, Micajah Henry, Benjamin Thomas,
Absolom Hanger, Wyley B. Cassety, Stephen Pace, Wm. N. Miller, David Smith,
Zebadiah Guess, Baylus Richmond, Angus Ray, Elijah Wallace, S.D. Tillman
and H.D.C. Lawrence, Justices of the Peace. Until the formation of Simpson
County, Coar’s Springs, five miles east of Hazlehurst, was the temporary
seat of justice, with Barnabas Allen as judge of the first Orphans’ and
probate court. During the '30s it was a prosperous watering place, and
the Coars, Weiches and Howells were prominent families of the place. The
historic old town of Gallatin next became the county seat 1824-1872. Among
its early residents were "Uncle Billy" Cook, Morris Cook and E.R. Brower,
Circuit Clerks; John Coar, Tom Holliday, John C. Wade and Wm. Haley, Sheriffs;
Doctors Adams and Bush, and Albert Gallatin Brown, Judge E.G. Peyton, L.B.
and Merry Harris, Judge H.B. Mayes, Judge "Jack" Millsaps, Judge Thos.
A. Willis and Col. Ben King. The town is now almost obliterated. Georgetown
is another old settlement, now extinct, but prominent in the early part
of the nineteenth century. Here lived the Catchingses, Aliens, Harpers,
Brileys, Brints and Chandlers.
The present county seat is the thriving
town of Hazlehurst, which contains a population of 1,762 people and is
located near the center of the county on the line of the Illinois Central
railway. The town is near the southern part of the fertile fruit belt,
which extends north to Holmes County, and is an important shipping point
for fruits, vegetables, wool, hides and lumber. Other important towns in
the county are Crystal Springs, containing a population of 1,395 inhabitants,
and long noted as the center of the largest fruit and vegetable growing
interests in the State. The truck farms within a radius of six or seven
miles of this town are among the most extensive in the State and show what
can be accomplished on the fertile soils of Mississippi by methods of intensive
farming. The town of Wesson, named for Col. J.M. Wesson, is situated near
the southern border of the county. Here were located the Wesson Cotton
and Woolen Mills, founded in 1871, which for many years were very successful
and were at the basis of the town’s growth, which in 1900 had a population
of 3,000 and in 1910 of 2,000. The towns of Beauregard, Gailman and Martinsville
are prosperous little settlements. All of these cities and villages are
located on the line of the Illinois Central railway which traverses the
county from north to south giving them excellent shipping facilities.
Georgetown in the eastern part of the county
is a prosperous place on the New Orleans & Great Northern line. The
important streams of the county are the Pearl River, which washes its eastern
boundary and is navigable for about six months in the year; Foster’s Creek;
Brushy Creek; Bayou Pierre; Copiah Creek and Bahala Creek. The general
surface of the county is level and undulating, with some hilly sections,
especially adapted to the raising of vegetables.
Copiah County is the truck garden of the
State, and many of its 4,000 husbandmen of both races are engaged in supplying
not only Mississippi, but many of the northern markets with vegetabies.
Of her crops, valued altogether at $5,751,000, nearly one-half, or $2,808,000,
represents the wealth grown from her truck gardens and farms. Live stock
also flourishes in the county. It is valued at $2,484,000, mules, horses
and dairy cattle being especially favored.
