PRENTISS COUNTY
Chapter XLIV, pages 814-816
Prentiss County, which is located in the
northeastern corner of the State, was created at the same time as Alcorn
County (April 15, 1870), during the administration of Governor Alcorn,
and received its name in honor of Sargent Smith Prentiss, the gifted statesman,
jurist and orator. The county has a land surface of 409 square miles. Its
territory was principally taken from that of old Tishomingo County, one
of the numerous counties formed in 1836 from the Chickasaw cession of 1832.
This county lies in the so-called rotten limestone or black prairie belt,
and is bounded on the north by Alcorn County, on the east by Tishomingo
County, on the south by Itawamba and Lee counties and on the west by Union
and Tippah counties. In compliance with the act which created the new county,
Governor Alcorn appointed the following county officers: Board of Supervisors,
John R. Moore, President, J.M. Moore, Alonzo Bowdry, Joseph Rodgers, M.L.
Martin; Henry C. Fields, Sheriff; W.H. Walton, Clerk of the Chancery Court
and of the Board of Supervisors. J.M. Stone became the first State Senator
for the county, and Hugh M. Street, elected Speaker of the House, (1873-1874)
was the first Representative in the lower house of the legislature.
By the year 1850 the region comprising
this county had become thickly settled with an excellent class of emigrants
from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Alabama. Many of the
best settlers of the other counties of the State removed to Prentiss and
like nearly all of the State the population was mainly Anglo-Saxon or British.
The old village of Carrollville, founded in 1834, in what was then Tishomingo
County, was once a thriving trade center for southeastern Tishomingo County.
When the Mobile & Ohio railroad was completed to Baidwyn, two miles
away, the latter town absorbed its business and population. During the
early days before the railroad, all shipments were made to and from Memphis
over 100 miles away by wagon, and later to and from Eastport on the Tennessee
River. With the railroad came a shifting of trade centers, as well as increased
population and wealth.
The act creating the county established
the seat of justice at Booneville, near the center of the county. The census
of 1920 gives it a population of 1,500. It is on the Mobile & Ohio
railroad, is the largest town in the county and the center of an important
and expanding region of orchards and truck farms. As the country about
is rich and fertile, Booneville shares its prosperity. There are no other
large towns in the county, which is chiefly agricultural. The region is
watered by the numerous creeks which form the headwatèrs of the
Tombigbee, flowing south, and by the branches of the Tuscumbia River, flowing
north. The surface of the county is varied, the soil being rich on the
bottoms, good on the uplands and poor on the hills. Large beds of marl
have been uncovered and used for fertilizing purposes. The prairie region
forms a good stock country and the industry, especially the raising of
mules, has assumed large proportions during the past few years.
The census of 1920 places the entire value
of the live stock of Prentiss County at $1,432,000, of which the mules
are assessed at nearly one-half. Dairy cattle and horses follow in importance.
The value of the crops is given at $3,310,000. The progress which Prentiss
County has made as a horticultural section of the State is most noteworthy.
In 1919 there were about 39,000 bearing trees in the county, which produced
as many bushels of fruit. Of the total, the 22,800 peach trees which were
bearing, yielded a crop of 24,000 bushels, and the 13,000 apple trees bore
12,000 bushels.
The population of Prentiss County has shown
a continuous increase since its establishment. In 1870, it was 9,348; 1880,
12,158; 1890, 13,679; 1900, 15,788; 1910, 16,931; 1920, 17,606.
