ISSAQUENA COUNTY
CHAPTER XLVI, pages 741 - 743
This is one of the central river counties
of Mississippi, and was established January 23, 1844, during the first
administration of Gov. Albert G. Brown. Its name is derived from a combination
of two Indian words: issa, meaning deer, and okhina, the poetic name of
river (water road). Its territory was formerly embraced within the limits
of Washington County, but on March 29, 1876, together with Washington,
it contributed to form Sharkey County.
Issaquena constitutes one of the later
subdivisions of the New Purchase, acquired from the Choctaws in 1820. It
is a long narrow county situated in the Mississippi and Yazoo delta, and
is bounded on the north by Washington and Sharkey counties, on the east
by Sharkey and Warren, on the south by Warren and on the west by the Mississippi
River. It has a population of 7,618, of which number nearly 7,000 are negroes,
and contains no large towns.
The county, embracing some of the most
fertile region of the State, has a land area of 406 square miles. Mayersville,
the seat of justice, is a river town of 150 people in the northern part
of the county, and was named for David Mayers, an extensive land owner.
Duncansby and Chotard, on the river may also be mentioned as other towns.
The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroad cuts across the northeastern
and southeastern corners of the county, but the inhabitants still largely
depend for transportation on the Mississippi River steamboats.
The value of the farm property listed in
Issaquena County is given at $8,695,000, and that of its crops for 1919
at $2,134,000. Its area of cotton culture is placed at 23,000 acres, producing
in that year 7,000 bales. The chief wealth of the county in live stock,
estimated at $824,000, is in mules, which are valued at $405,000. Issaquena
is, as originally constituted, among the old counties of the State, and
though it has all the natural resources necessary for agricultural development,
its population has increased only from 4,478 in 1850 to 7,618 in 1920.
However, with the passing of some of its negro labor to the north, white
people from the thickly settled upland regions are looking for future homes
in that locality.
