JASPER COUNTY
CHAPTER XLVI, pages 748 - 749
This county, which is situated southeast
of the central part of Mississippi, was created December 13, 1833, and
was named for Sergeant Jasper of Fort Moultrie (South Carolina) fame. It
was carved from the territory just north of the old Mount Dexter treaty
line, acquired from the Choctaws in 1830, and was originally occupied by
the Six Town tribe of that nation.
Soon after the removal of the Choctaws
from the region it was rapidly settled by a thriving class of emigrants
from the older states and the other parts of Mississippi. Garlandville
is said to be the oldest town in Jasper County. It was settled early in
1833, and about this time John H. Ward opened a tavern in a small house
owned by John Garland, a half-breed. He presented the house to the landlord’s
wife, who reciprocated by naming the town in his honor. Many wealthy planters
resided in the neighborhood, who did their business in the town. Among
the early settlers were the families of Watts, Brown, Hodge, Williams,
Dellahay, Beard, Cowan, Layerly, Hamlet and Harris. The town raised two
fine companies at the outbreak of the War for Southern Independence. The
result of the conflict was so disastrous to the surrounding slave owners,
and most of the business of the flourishing old town having moved to the
railroad, little is left to r& mind one of its former glory.
The county has a land surface of 667 square
miles and the county seat is the little town of Paulding, named for John
Paulding, who assisted in the capture of Major Andre during the war of
the Revolution. In the early days, it was an inland town of some note,
but it has not grown in size. There are no large settlements within the
borders of the county, the little railroad towns of Bay Springs, Heidelberg,
Vosburg, Stringer, and Montrose; and Garlandville and Vernon off the railroads,
are among the more important ones. The Eastern Clarion, among the old newspapers
in the State and now published in Jackson under the name of the Clarion
Ledger, was issued as a weekly at Paulding in the early thirties.
The principal water courses of the county
are Tallahoma and Nuakfuppa creeks and their tributaries, and the numerous
small streams in the eastern part of the county which empty into the Chickasawhay
River. The New Orleans & North Eastern railroad cuts across the southeastern
corner of the county and the new line of the Gulf, Mobile and Northern
railroad traverses its western border from north to south. It is a land
of beautiful prairies, located in the central prairie belt of the State,
and its interests are almost exclusively agricultural. The surface of the
land is level in the valleys, undulating or hilly elsewhere.
Jasper County has not grown rapidly, but
steadily in population, the only actual decrease from decade to decade
being from 1860 to 1870, or during the war period. Its population in 1850
was 6,184; in 1920, 18,508.
The census statistics for the latter year
indicate that the farm property of Jasper County was valued at $6,149,000,
and its crops for 1919 at $2,446,000. Its live stock was assessed at $1,429,000,
of which the dairy cattle were valued at $366,000. The farmers realized
$134,000 from their dairy products and $168,000 from the sale of their
chickens and eggs.
