Jefferson County, MississippiA Proud Part of the Mississippi GenWeb!
Contact Us:
State Coordinator: Jeff Kemp
County Coordinator: Gerry Westmoreland
Welcome to the Jefferson County Mississippi Genweb site, providing genealogy and history information to researchers.
To share your Jefferson County, Mississippi genealogy or history information, send an email to msghn@outlook.com - we will be happy to include it here.
This site is part of a larger statewide genealogy project called MSGenWeb. The MSGenWeb is itself part of a much larger nationwide project known as the USGenWeb. Please visit these sites for more information around the state or the country.
Jefferson County is located along the Mississippi River in southwest Mississippi. The entire region was covered in a forest of various species of pines, oaks, dogwoods, magnolias, gum, willow, cottonwood, sycamore, elm, cypress, ash, cedar, and other hardwood trees. With rich lands, an abundance of water, plenty of wild game, plentiful timber, and a pleasent climate, the area was ideal for settlement. By 1795 settlers were arriving in large numbers.
The French claimed the area from the time of La Salle's exploration of the Mississippi River until 1763. The English claimed it from 1763 till 1781 and Spain claimed it from 1781 to 1798. In 1785 Georgia claimed it as her western lands, organized the County of Bourbon and sold territory in this region. This was the time that Thomas Cumming, Nicholas Long, Thomas Glasscock, A. Gordon and others bought all of the territory which included the area that is now Jefferson County.
Prior to the coming of the European explorers and settlers, Native American tribes lived in the area. Tribes of the area included the Natchez, the Tensas, the Muskhogean, and the Choctaw. Early settlers lived in fear of Indian uprises - understandably so - the Indian's home lands were under seige.
In 1798, the United States created the Mississippi Territory. The Mississippi governor organized the Natchez District into two counties, Adams and Pickering. Pickering County included the area which later became Claiborne and Jefferson Counties. The name of Pickering County was changed to Jefferson County on 11 January 1802, in honor of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, and sixteen days later was split. The northern portion became Claiborne County while the southern portion remained Jefferson County.
Until 1825, the County Seat was located at Greenville near the mouth of Cole's creek. Today the County Seat is Fayette. There remains nothing of Greenville today.
Jefferson County MSGHN has many records here on our website. Marriage Records, Cemetery listings, tombstone photos, and more. Check out the Menu for links to all of the available data.
Birth Records - The Mississippi Department of Health maintains records of births after November 1, 1912 on file. This was the year Mississippi began keeping official birth records. You can obtain official copies of birth certificates by mail by using this birth record application on their website. If you have to order by internet or phone, or use a credit card, you can use VitalCheck, a third party records company recognized by the Mississippi Dept. of Health. Since there are no official birth records before November 1, 1912 for births prior to that date you will need to determine birth information from census records, bible records, baptismal records, cemetery tombstones, etc.
Death Records - The Mississippi Department of Health maintains births recorded after November 1, 1912 on file. This was the year Mississippi began keeping official death records. You can obtain official copies of death certificates by mail by using this death record application on their website. If you just have to order by internet or phone, or use a credit card, you can use VitalCheck, a third party records company recognized by the Mississippi Dept. of Health. Since there are no official death records...
