NEWTON COUNTY
Chapter XLIV, pages 797-799
Newton County is situated southeast of
the center of the State, and is a part of the original territory ceded
to the United States by the Choctaws through the treaty of Dancing Rabbit
concluded in 1830. It was established February 25 1836, and was named in
honor of Sir Isaac Newton.
The county has a land area of 568 square
miles. In shape it is a square, containing sixteen townships, and is bounded
on the north by the county of Neshoba, on the east by Lauderdale County,
on the south by Jasper County and on the west by Scott County. it originally
formed the lower half of Neshoba County, townships numbered 5, 6, 7, and
8, of ranges numbered 10, 11, 12, and 13., east of the basis meridian,
being taken from that county to form its area. Besancon’S Annual Register
for Mississippi (1838) gives the following list of county officers for
that year: N. Bright, Sheriff; Geo. W. Parris, Judge of Probate; Wm. Gregg,
Clerk of the Circuit Court; Geo. Armstrong, Clerk of Probate; Mercer M.
Booker, Surveyor; Thos. P. Redwine, Assessor and Collector; Thos. Maulden,
Treasurer; Jessey Henry, Coroner; Dudley H. Thompson, Ranger; Thos. J.
Runnels, Freeman Jones, Benjamin Bright, Roland Williams, Joshua Tatnum,
Members of the Board of Police.
A most interesting and instructive account
of the antiquities of the county will be found in Volume 6, Publications
of the Mississippi Historical Society, by Capt. A.J. Brown, whose valuable
History of Newton County is also very instructive and complete. Speaking
of the old town of Pinkney, he says: “The name Pinkney dates as far back
in the history of Newton County, as any other name in it. It is not known
from what the town derived its name; the probabilities are it was settled
as early as 1837, probably earlier, and was a place of some importance
and trade. Lane & Boyd, merchants of that place, are reported to have
had a stock of goods of $10,000, who issued a fractional currency called
‘shin-plasters,’ and were correspondents of the Decatur bank, and when
the bank failed it naturally carried the business of Lane & Boyd with
it. * * * About twenty years ago Mr. S.D. Daniel commenced a general merchandise
business and sold a large amount of goods and made money. The place has
a good mill site. * * The name of Pinkney gave way to Stamper,” and Stamper
has given way to the little village of Stratton.
This region, long the home of the Choctaw
Indians, received a considerable influx of settlers early in the last century.
By the year 1837 there were in the county 1,506 whites and 426 slaves,
and by 1850 the popu1ation had increased to 4,465; in 1870, to 10,067;
1890, to 16,625; 1920 to 20,727.
The county seat is the old town of Decatur,
located near the center and having a population (1920) of 320. There are
other much larger places than the seat of justice. Newton, located at the
crossing of the Alabama & Vicksburg and Gulf, Mobile & Northern
railroads, southwest of the center of the county, has a population of 1,600.
In the northern part of the county, at the junction of the latter line
with the Meridian & Memphis railroad, is the successor of the old settlement
of Union, now an incorporated town of 1,000 people, while Hickory is another
flourishing town of over 600, on the Alabama & Vicksburg, a short distance
east of Newton. Most of the towns in the county owe their recent growth
to the railroads which have opened up some fine tracts of timber and afforded
the necessary shipping facilities for growth.
The county is well watered by numerous
creeks flowing south from the Chickasawhay River, and as the region is
in the central prairie belt of the State, the soil also is productive.
It is also a good country for the raising of live stock. Its social conditions
are good and along with its material progress good schools and the churches
are rich centers of intellectual and spiritual life.
The figures furnished by the United States
Census Bureau in 1920 value the farm property of Newton County at $7,655,000,
and its crops at more than $3,000,000 for the year 1919. The cereals yielded
$982,000 of this value and the vegetables of all kinds, $453,000, or more
than one-half of the former. Cotton to the amount of more than 5,000 bales
was produced from an area of 25,000 acres.
Newton County is finely adapted to dairying.
The assessed value of its dairy cattle exceeds that of any other live stock
raised within its borders. In 1919, it was placed at $490,000 and as the
dairy products were given as $237,000 for that year, the superiority of
dairy cattle as a source of wealth to the farmers of the county is readily
seen. Mules were valued at $460,000 and horses at $320,000.
