THE COUNTIES OF MISSISSIPPI
CHAPTER XLIV, pages 673-677
The counties of Mississippi have repeatedly
figured in the course of the narrative part of this history, as well as
in the various topical chapters. But the story of their development as
a whole, and the details pertaining to the separate organizations of today,
have not been set forth as a complete outline. As there is a constant demand
for some ready information as to locality and formation, a short, succinct
history of each county is included with this history of the State. An entire
volume would be required to properly present the history of Mississippi
counties. Limited space prevents more extended treatment. Extensive county
histories are being prepared by the State Department of Archives and History
as a future contribution to State history.
HISTORICAL DIVISION
The counties of Mississippi now number
eighty-two and may be grouped according to the historical order of their
formation from the Natchez District, the early Choctaw Indian cessions,
the District of Mobile, and the later cessions from the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
COUNTIES OF THE OLD NATCHEZ DISTRICT
The Natchez District, containing the principal
white population of the new Territory of Mississippi, was first divided
into the counties of Adams and Pickering, April 2, 1799, and the dividing
line was nearly the same as the present boundary between Adams and Jefferson.
From the area contained in the Natchez District were subsequently erected
the counties of Wilkinson, Claiborne, Amite, Franklin and Warren, named
in the order of their creation, being seven counties in all.
COUNTIES OF FIRST CHOCTAW CESSION
By the Treaty of Mount Dexter, concluded
November 16, 1805, the Choctaws ceded to the United States an extensive
area in the southern portion of the Territory, between the Amite and Tombigbee
rivers, comprising 5,987,000 acres, and lying north of the thirty-first
parallel of latitude. From this area, roughly speaking, were formed by
the year 1826, beginning with the county of Wayne, which was established
December 21, 1809, the counties of Wayne, Greene, Marion, Lawrence, Pike,
Covington, Perry and Jones, and the new counties of Lincoln, Lamar, and
Forrest, established 1870, 1904, and 1906, or a total of eleven counties.
DISTRICT OF MOBILE COUNTIES
The Gulf portion of the State, comprising
the counties of Hancock, Harrison, Pearl River, Jackson and George, was
formerly embraced in the District of Mobile, and was not annexed to the
Territory of Mississippi until May 14, 1812, when the legislature promptly
organized the new acquisition into the counties of Hancock and Jackson,
May 14, 1812. These counties were divided in 1841 to form Harrison, and
in 1890 Hancock was again divided to form Pearl River County, and Harrison
to form George. While these counties are younger, in point of establishment,
than those of the Natchez District, they were settled by the whites at
an even earlier date. George and Stone counties were from this same section.
COUNTY DIVISION OF FIRST CHICKASAW CESSION
September 20, 1816, the Chickasaw Indians
ceded to the United States, by the Treaty of Chickasaw Council House, 408,000
acres, lying upon the eastern tributaries of the upper Tombigbee River.
This area was erected into the large county of Monroe, February 9, 1821,
and nine years later, January 30, 1830, the southern part was taken to
form the county of Lowndes. After the Choctaw cession of 1830 and the Chickasaw
cession of 1832, the limits of these two counties were considerably extended,
so as to include a part of those cessions west of the Tombigbee.
THE NEW PURCHASE ERECTED INTO COUNTIES
By the Treaty of Doak’s Stand, October
20, 1820, the Choctaws ceded to the United States an extensive scope of
country, long known as "The New Purchase," north of the Mount Dexter treaty
line, and bounded on the north by the present northern boundary line of
Holmes County, and a line running northwesterly, from the Yazoo River,
on the western boundary of Holmes County, to a point one mile below the
mouth of the Arkansas River, on the Mississippi; and on the east by a line
running a little west of north, from the eastern boundary of Simpson County,
to the northern boundary of Holmes County. In this cession was included
a total of 5,447,267 acres. All this area was first erected into the county
of Hinds, February 12, 1821. Later it was subdivided to form the counties
of Yazoo and Copiah in 1823, Simpson (1824), Washington (1827), Madison
and Rankin (1828), Holmes (1833), Issaquena (1844), and Sharkey (1876).
Humphries, the youngest county in Mississippi, was formed in 1918, from
parts of Holmes, Sharkey, Sunflower, Washington and Yazoo, and is therefore
a product of the Choctaw lands.
COUNTIES FORMED FROM REMAINING CHOCTAW
LANDS
The remaining lands of the Choctaws in
the middle portion of the State were finally ceded by the Treaty of Dancing
Rabbit Creek, concluded September 27, 1830. This large area of land was
erected into eighteen large counties by the act of December 23, 1833, to
wit: Noxubee, Kemper, Lauderdale, Clarke, Oktibbeha, Winston, Choctaw,
Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Carroll, Jasper, Neshoba, Smith, Scott, Leake,
Attala, Bolivar and Coahoma counties were not erected until the organization
of the last Chickasaw cession into counties, in 1836, though most of their
area lies within this Choctaw territorial group. Newton was also established
in 1836, from the lower half of Neshoba county. No new counties were formed
from this area until 1844, when Sunflower County was established, and finally,
during the years 1870-1877, the counties of Grenada, Webster, Leflore and
Quitman were created.
REMAINDER OF CHICKASAW LANDS FORMED
INTO COUNTIES
The Treaty of Pontotoc, October 20, 1832,
finally extinguished the title of the Chickasaws to all their lands east
of the Mississippi. This immense territory, comprising the entire northern
portion of the State, was divided into twelve counties February 9, 1836,
when the following counties were formed: Tishomingo, Itawamba, Tippah,
Pontotoc, Chickasaw, Marshall, Lafayette, De Soto, Panola, Tunica, Coahoma
and Bolivar, though the last two should be properly grouped with the Choctaw
cession of 1830. Calhoun County was formed in 1852, and it was not until
1866, when Lee County was created, that this area was further subdivided
into counties. Benton, Union, Alcorn and Prentiss counties were established
in 1870, Clay in 1871, and Tate in 1873.
It thus appears that all the territory
of Mississippi was not organized into counties until the year 1836, when
the last Indian cession was divided by the legislature. It will be noted
also, that the earliest county organization obtained along the Mississippi
River in the southwestern part of the State, and that the northern section
of the State was the last to be settled and organized into counties.
Having thus outlined the division of the
historical districts and Indian cessions into the counties of the State,
these political bodies will be taken up alphabetically.
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