COVINGTON COUNTY
Chapter XLV, pages 715-716
Covington County is situated in the south
central part of the State and was established January 5, 1819, a short
time after Mississippi became a State, from the counties of Lawrence and
Wayne. Its name was given in honor of Gen. Leonard Covington. It is bounded
on the west by Jefferson Davis (formerly Lawrence) County. The old Choctaw
boundary forms its northern line and separates it from Simpson and Smith
counties. The county of Jones bounds it on the east and the counties of
Forrest and Lamar on the south. It now contains an area of 410 square miles.
The county seat is located at Collins. The original act defined its boundaries
as follows: "Beginning on the eastern boundary of the eighteenth range
line where it intersects the southern boundary line of Lawrence County;
thence north along the said range line to its intersection with the dividing
ridge between the waters of Leaf and Pearl rivers; thence along the summit
of said ridge to its intersection with the Choctaw boundary line; thence
easterly along that line to the eastern boundary of the tenth range line;
thence south along the said range line to its intersection with the northern
boundary of Greene County; thence west along the said line to the corner
of the said county of Greene; thence along the fifth parallel township
line to where the same intersects the eighteenth range line." In 1825 the
dividing line between Covington and Lawrence was declared to be:
"Beginning on the eastern boundary of the
18th range line, where it now intersects the northern boundary of the 5th
township line; thence due west four miles; thence due north to Simpson
County line." In 1826 all that part of Covington lying east of the center
of range 14 was taken to form part of the county of Jones. In 1906 a part
of Covington was taken to form Jefferson Davis County. The following is
a list of the county officers during the year 1819, when the county was
first organized: John Shipp, John Snow, Thomas Colbert, Isaac Boles, Joseph
McAfee, Justices of the Quorum; John B. Low, John C. Thomas, Uriah Flowers,
Abb. L. Hattin, Duncan Thompson, Justices of the Peace; Gowen Harris, Assessor
and Collector; William Bud, Sheriff; Stephen Shelton, Coroner; Norwell
Robertson, Sr., County Treasurer; Norwell Robertson, Jun. Ranger; John
Graves, Sr., County Surveyor; Archibald McPherson, Joshua Terril, Richard
Flowers, Wm. Ducksworth, Constables.
Some of the other towns in the county are
Ora, Seminary, Pickering, Sanford, and Mount Olive, all on the line of
the Gulf and Ship Island railroad, which crosses the entire county diagonally.
The county is watered by quite a number of creeks. The general surface
of the region is undulating and there are extensive areas of valuable long
leaf or yellow pine on the uplands, and oaks, hickory, ash, beech, magnolia,
etc., along the creek bottoms. The soil is that common to the long leaf
pine region and is rather thin and sandy except in the bottoms, which are
very fertile. It produces cotton, corn, oats, potatoes, sugar cane, sorphum,
ground peas, field peas, and a great variety of vegetables and fruits.
The county, though a very old one, developed slowly. Since the advent of
the railroads it has been much more prosperous and many new settlers have
located within its borders, one result being the exploitation of its forests.
Keeping in mind the changes of its area
because of the formation of counties from its original territory, the Federal
census figures, which run back to 1850 indicate a slow increase in the
population of Covington County. The showing is as follows: 1850, 3,338;
1870, 4,753; 1890, 8,290; 1910, 16,909; 1920, 14,869.
The general status of Covington as an agricultural
county (which it is, preeminently) is illustrated by the census figures
for the 1920 Federal enumeration. These indicate that the total value of
its farm property—lands, buildings, implements, machinery and live stock—was
$5,850,000; the value of its crops, $2,691,000.
