JEFFERSON COUNTY
CHAPTER XLVI, pages 749 - 753
Originally known as Pickering, the original
county of Jefferson (in the southwestern part of the State) was established
April 2, 1799, by the following proclamation of Winthrop Sargent, the first
territorial governor of Mississippi:
"I do ordain and order by these letters
made patent, that all and singular the lands lying and being within the
boundaries of -- the Mississippi Territory * * * should constitute two
counties—the division of which shall be a line, commencing at the mouth
of Fairchild’s Creek, and running direct to the most southern part of Ellicottville;
thence easterly along the dividing ridge of the waters of Cole’s and Sandy
creeks, so far as the present settlements extend, and thence by a due east
line to the territorial boundary—the southern or lower division of which
is named, and hereafter to be called Adams, and the northern or upper division,
the county of Pickering." Within its extensive boundaries as thus outlined,
were embraced the upper portion of the narrow fringe of white settlements,
along the Mississippi, forming a part of the so-called Natchez District,
during the 18th century. The present area of Jefferson is about 507 square
miles, embraced within the following limits: All that region lying between
the southern boundary line of Claiborne County, (q. v.) and the northern
line of Franklin and Adams counties, (q. v.), and west of the Choctaw boundary
line drawn from a point, where the line between townships 9 and 10 intersects
the same, south to a point where it is intersected by the line between
townships 7 and 8, to the Mississippi River.
It received its present name January 11,
1802, in honor of President Thomas Jefferson. As early as the year 1768,
and again in 1772 and 1780, we find the English and Americans forming settlements
within the region then known as a Spanish province. Many of the first American
settlers of Jefferson County were from the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland,
among whom the names of Green, Moss, Dixon, Harrison, Wood, Magruder, Dunbar,
Benoit, Nutt, Nolan, Montgomery, Calvit and Hunt are prominent. They settled
along Cole’s Creek, in the region around Petit Gulf, where Rodney now stands,
and near the present town of Union Church in the western part. Henry Green
lived on the banks of a branch of Cole’s Creek, in the immediate vicinity
of the old town of Greenville, the original settlement there being called
Greenbay. He came from Virginia with his brother, Thomas Abner Green, and
the two were the pioneers of the old family, whose descendants are still
numerous in Jefferson County, and are scattered throughout the southwest.
Joseph K. and Thomas Marston Green were sons of Thomas Abner Green, Thomas
Marston being the second delegate to Congress from the Territory. The old
Green mansion near Cole’s Creek is famous for its substantial architecture,
but more famous for its having been the home in which Gen. Andrew Jackson
was married. Abijah Hunt was the pioneer of the Hunt family. The upper
part of old Greenville was called Huntley, after him. He was a merchant
there and erected the first gin in the county, to which all the surrounding
planters resorted with their cotton. He fell in a duel with George Poindexter
in 1811, and as he was a bachelor, his nephew, David Hunt, inherited his
stores and gin and subsequently amassed a large fortune.
The first Methodist minister in the county
was the Rev. Tobias Gibson, who was sent to the Territory in 1799 as a
missionary, and established societies at Washington, Greenville, and on
the Bayou Pierre. He died in Warren County in 1804, leaving many descendants.
Rev. William Montgomery, a Presbyterian missionary, came to the county
in 1802. He became a permanent resident in the Scotch Settlements. Through
his missionary efforts, extending over a period of forty years, several
churches of his faith were established. The first Baptist missionary that
came to the county was David Cooper. He settled near Greenville, and was
very successful in his ministrations in this and adjoining counties for
more than thirty years. He married the widow of Gen. F.L. Claiborne and
later removed to "Soldiers Retreat," near Washington, where he died. The
Rev. Abram Cloud was the first Episcopal minister to settle in the county.
He lived at Greenville and maintained churches both there and on the Bayou
Pierre for a time. He was very active in public affairs, and was a public
spirited and useful citizen. He is buried near Greenville.
The first county officers of Pickering
County, appointed May 6, 1799, were: Roger Dixon, Richard Harrison, William
Thomas, Samuel Gibson, George Wilson Humphreys, and Tobias Brashear, Justices
of the Peace and of the Court of Common Pleas; also Mordecai Throckmorton
and John Smith, Justices of the Peace; Thomas Green, Treasurer; William
Ferguson, Sheriff; Henry Green, Coroner; John Girault, Judge of Probate,
Clerk Prothonotary and Register.
The following county officers were appointed
in 1802: Cato West, Thomas Catoct, Jacob Stampley, Henry Green, Zachariah
Kirkland, John Hopkins, Robert Trimble, James Stewart, Justices of the
Peace; John Girault, Clerk; John Brooks, Sheriff. The Chief Justices of
the County Courts, down to the year 1813, successively, were Cato West,
John Shaw, Edmund Hall, Thos. Fitzpatrick, Joseph Green and Thomas Hinds.
Much of the early emigration to the county
came in over the public road known as the Natchez Trace, which ran north
from Natchez through Jefferson County, to the distant white settlements
on the Cumberland, Tennessee. This public road was infested by bandits
in the early years of the last century, notorious among whom was the celebrated
Mason and Harp Gang, whose history is elsewhere detailed. One of the most
startling occurrences in the early history of Jefferson was the violent
death of the bandit Mason, whose gory head was brought to Greenville, and
the reward of $2,000, offered by Governor Claiborne for Mason’s capture,
dead or alive, was claimed by two strangers. These two men were recognized
as members of the notorious gang themselves, and were accused, tried, condemned
and hung near Greenville. They were prosecuted by George Poindexter, and
the old field near Greenville, where they expiated their crime, still goes
by the name of the gallows field.
The cause of education early engaged the
attention of citizens of Jefferson County, and a society was incorporated
by the General Assembly for the establishment of academies and the diffusion
of knowledge. This society was chartered January 8, 1807, and was called
the "Franklin Society of Jefferson County." Its members were Cato West,
Thomas M. Green, Thos. Fitzpatrick, John Shaw, Daniel Beasley, Charles
B. Howell, Wm. Snodgrass, David Snodgrass, Edward Turner, John Hopkins,
Henry D. Downs, James S. Rollins, Thomas Calvit, Robert Cox, Henry Green,
Felix Hughes, Armstrong Ellis, Jacob Stampley, John Brooks, Thomas Hinds,
William Thomas, and Robert McCray. The association did much to further
the cause of learning and morality, and established two schools, a male
and a female, which flourished for many years. The female school later
became a highly successful seminary for young ladies, under the management
of Hon. David Ker, and his accomplished wife and daughters. It was located
near old Greenville.
The first requisition for troops to aid
in the National defense was made by Governor Claiborne upon the Territory
of Mississippi in 1806, when the Spaniards, under General Hérrara,
marched with twelve hundred men upon the Sabine, entered the territory
of the United States, and claimed the river of Anoyo Hondo as the proper
boundary between Mexico and the United States. At this time Jefferson County
furnished a fine body of cavalry, known as the Jefferson Troop, under the
command of Capt. Thomas Hinds, which, with the cavalry company from Adams
County, were dispatched to Natchitoches. The troop was in service for eight
months at this time with the Federal forces. The same body of men formed
part of Gen. F.L. Claiborne’s forces in 1807, sent to oppose the further
advance of Aaron Burr down the Mississippi River. Some officers of the
Jefferson Troop accompanied Colonel Burr from Claiborne’s camp, at the
mouth of Cole’s Creek, to the house of Thomas Calvit, where he surrendered.
A detachment of the same troop proceeded to the mouth of the Bayou Pierre,
and received the surrender of the prisoners, sixty in number, together
with their boats, shot and other munitions.
In the year 1809, the first joint stock
banking company of the Territory was established by the General Assembly,
styled "the President and Directors, and Company of the Bank of Mississippi."
On its first board of directors were three prominent citizens of Jefferson
County: Abner Green, Abijah Hunt and Cowles Mead.
In the Constitutional Convention of 1817,
Jefferson County was represented by a brilliant quartet of men: Cowles
Mead, Cato West, Joseph E. Davis, and H.J. Baich. Colonel West was a native
of Fairfax County, Virginia, and came to Jefferson County before territorial
days and located at Pickering. He was one of the wealthiest planters of
his day and was appointed secretary of the Territory in 1801, when W.C.C.
Claiborne was appointed governor, and was for a time acting governor, when
Governor Claiborne was sent to New Orleans to receive the Louisiana Purchase
from France. Cowles Mead was also secretary of Mississippi Territory, and
was acting governor in 1807, when Aaron Burr’s flotilla came down the Mississippi.
Governor Mead is given credit for handling the Burr matter with great tact
and good judgment. The conference between Mead and Burr took place at the
home of Thomas Calvit in Jefferson County. The fine old mansion is still
standing.
Jefferson County is quite irregular in
shape and is bounded on the north by Claiborne county, on the east by Copiah
and Lincoln counties, on the south by Franklin and Adams counties, and
on the west by the Mississippi River. The original county site until 1825,
was at Greenville near the mouth of Cole’s Creek, but no trace of the old
town remains. Greenville was the fourth station from Natchez on the old
Natchez Trace, distant about 28 miles.
Jefferson County presents a varied record
as to population. The Federal census of 1850 gave it at 13,193. The figures
gradually mounted until 1900, when they had reached 21,292. In 1910, the
population was placed at 18,221, and in 1920, at 15,946.
The census figures for 1920 illustrate
the agricultural status of Jefferson County. The value of the farms, with
all their belongings, is placed at $7,270,000, and the crops for 1919 at
$2,800,000. It is in both the cotton and vegetable belts, as well as in
the fruit bearing region of Mississippi. The area of the county set aside
for cotton amounts to 21,000 acres, which produced 5,000 bales in the year
named. Truck farming produced vegetables to the value of $538,000.
