SIMPSON COUNTY
Chapter XLIV, pages 822-824
Simpson County lies in the south central
part of the State, and was organized January 23, 1824, and named in honor
of Judge Josiah Simpson. It was part of the Choctaw cession of 1820, termed
the New Purchase, and subsequently formed the eastern part of the county
of Copiah (erected in 1823). It has a present area of 575 square miles.
It is bounded on the north by Rankin and Smith counties; on the east the
old Choctaw Indian line of 1820 divides it from Smith County; on the south
the Choctaw boundary line of 1805 divides it from Lawrence, Jefferson Davis
and Covington counties, and on the west is Copiah County, the Pearl River
forming the dividing line. As early as 1837 it had a free white population
of 2,329, slaves 891, a majority of these early settlers coming from the
older portions of the State on the west and south.
The following is a list of the county officers
for the year 1824, the year the county was created: Duncan McLaurin, Judge
of Probate; Wm. Morris, Peter Stubbs, Neal McNair, Richard Nall, James
B. Satturfield, Associate Justices; Laughlin McLaurin, Jacob Carr, James
Briggs, John C. Halford, Justices of the Peace; Richard Sparks, Sheriff;
Neal McNair, Assessor and Collector; Daniel McCaskill, Coroner; Eli Nichols,
Surveyor; John C. McFarland, Treasurer; Daniel L. Ferrington, Notary Public;
Gideon Royal, Ranger; other county officers in 1825, 1826 and 1827 were
John Briggs, Joseph R. Plummer, John Campbell, Absalom Harper, James Welch,
Joseph Carr, Justices of the Peace; John R. Hubert, Associate Justice;
William B. Easterling, Treasurer and Surveyor; M. McDuffee, Ranger.
The first courts of the county were held
at the house of William Gibson, and in 1827 the village of Westville was
made the seat of justice. Not many years ago, the county seat was moved
to Mendenhall. It was returned to Westville in the fall of 1905, but an
election in the following year decided the contest for Mendenhall. What
is left of Westville is several miles east of Pinola an incorporated village
and station on the Gulf & Ship Island railroad. The present county
seat of Mendenhall is a town of about 700 people conveniently located at
the junction of the main line of the Gulf & Ship Island railroad, which
passes diagonally through the county, and the branch, which runs to Mendenhall
from Columbia. The latter accommodates the southern and central sections
of Simpson County, the two lines placing the county seat in connection
with the most thickly settled sections and facilitating the movements and
distribution of the timber and lumber products of the region. Magee, in
the southeastern part of the county, a town also of about 700 people, is
a flourishing lumber and market center. Braxton, Maddox and Weathersby
are minor towns. The sanitarium for the cure of tuberculosis is located
in this county and has attracted much attention.
Though a “piney woods” country, the lands
are fairly ferti1e, those on the three forks of Silver Creek being reputed
among the best in east Mississippi. Stock can range without much care the
entire year, feeding on the native grasses and switch cane. The chief products
of the county are corn, cotton, and all varieties of fruits and vegetables
common to the latitude. Strong River flows through the center of the county
from northeast to southwest, Pearl River is the western boundary, and the
numerous tributaries of these two streams afford excellent water power.
Many ñne mill sites are to be found on the streams and creeks. The
Gulf & Ship Island railroad traverses the county from northwest to
southeast, and the Columbia branch of the Gulf & Ship Island railroad,
extending from the southern border of Lamar County to Mendenhall, provide
it with good shipping facilities.
The county has materially increased in
population since the advent of its railroads. The increase during the forty
years from 1850 to 1890 is indicated by a comparison of the figures representing
the former year, 4,734, with those for the latter, 10,635. >From 1900 to
1920, there was about the same proportional increase, 12,800, and 18,109,
respectively.
The 23 industrial establishments of Simpson
County, chiefly connected with her lumbering, employed nearly 1,300 hands
in 1919, paid over $1,000,000 in wages to them, and put out products to
the value of $3,000,000. Agriculturally speaking, the farms and all their
properties (including live stock) were valued at $3,226,OO0 in Simpson
County; while its crops, also for 1919, were valued at $2,770,000. The
cereals and vegetables formed nearly one-half of this wealth. More than
6,000 bales of cotton were raised from about 24,000 acres. Further, the
live stock of the county had an estimated value of $1,203,000.
