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Yalobusha County History and Information

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Yalobusha County was established on December 23, 1833, and most of its area lies within the territory acquired from the Choctaw Indians in the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, 1830. The original act defined its boundaries as follows:

“Beginning on the line between townships 21 and 22, at the point at which the line between 8 and 9 east crosses the line between townships 21 and 22, and running from thence north, with the said line between ranges 8 and 9 east, thirty miles; from thence west, to the line between ranges 3 and 4 east, from thence south with said line between ranges 3 and 4 east, to the line between townships 21 and 22, and from thence east to the place of beginning.”

It was originally a large county, containing an area of 25 townships of 900 square miles, but surrendered part of its territory to Calhoun County in 1852, and a large part of its southern area to Grenada, when that county was created in 1870. Its name “Yalobusha” is an Indian word, meaning “tadpole place”, and was suggested by the river of the same name which waters its territory. Emigration was rapid into this region during the ‘30s and early ‘40s, from the older states on the east and north and from the older settled parts of Mississippi. By the year 1837, Yalobusha had attained a population of 4,355 whites, and 4,215 slaves; by the year 1840, there were 12,248 people in the county including slaves, and 17,258 in 1850.

Three of the earliest settlements in the county were at Hendersonville, Sardinia and Preston, all of which are now extinct. Hendersonvifle was four miles south of Coffeeville on the site of an old Indian village. Says Captain Lake, who lived there in 1834: “It was here that Col. T.C. McMacken, the celebrated hotel keeper, in the early history of Mississippi, began his career. The mercantile firms of this town in 1834 were: Martin, Edwards & Co., John H. McKenney, Armour, Lake & Bridges, H. S. & W. Lake and McCain & Co. The physicians were Thomas Vaughn, Robert Malone, and _____ Murkerson. The following citizens were then living at that place: Thomas B. Ives, Murdock Ray, Justice of the Peace; Stephen Smith, blacksmith; Alfred McCaslin, blacksmith, and Joshua Weaver, Constable.” Beaten by Coffeeville in its efforts to become the county seat, the town rapidly decayed. Sardinia, on the Craig plantation near the Yocona River one mile north of the present church of Sardinia, was once a place of about 150 people. Here lived in the early days, the Bradfords, Kuykendalls, Bensons, Craigs, Carringtons, Reeds, and Dr. Moore. The town had become dead by 1856, owing to the rivalry of the towns along the railroad. Preston was located near Scobey, and about fourteen miles north of Grenada. Settled in 1835, it once had about 250 people and was incorporated in 1840. Here lived the Simmons family, the Harpers, Bridgers, Townes, Calhouns, Doctors Sutton, Payne, Neville, and the Rev. Hayward; Duke & Co., and Evans & Co. were mercantile firms. When the station of Garner sprang up on the railroad in 1858, most of Preston’s population moved there. A few of the earliest settlers of Oakland, a pleasant little town in the western portion of the county, besides those above mentioned were William W. Mitchell, Green D. Moore, Grief Johnson, Stewart Pipkin, Charles J.F. Wharton, Rev. Wm. A. Bryan, John Lemons, Wm. Metcalf, Dr. W.B. Rowland, Dempsey H. Hicks, William Winter, Robert Edsington. Some of the early county officers were: David Mabray and James H. Barfield, Sheriffs; Matthew Clinton and John W. McLemore, Judges of the Probate Court; Davidson M. Rayburn, Clerk of the Probate Court; Robert C. Malone and Murdoch Ray, County Treasurers; Virgil A. Stewart, Thos. B. Ives, Wm. B. Wilbourn, Robert Edrington, Allen Walker, James Minter, George Thompson, and L.R. Stuart were all early members of the legislature for Yalobusha County.

The county seat was located at Coffeeville, March 27, 1834 and the place received its name in honor of Gen. John Coffee. The first county court was held the same year, presided over by Judge Matthew Clinton. Yalobusha county, Mississippi, is a dual county seat county. The First Judicial District is located in Coffeeville. The Second Judicial District is located in Water Valley. The southern half of the county, i. e. Coffeeville, Oakland, Tillatoba, etc., came from the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek; Water Valley and the northern section of the county came from the Treaty of Pontotoc. The First Judicial District was from the Choctaw session of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The Second Judicial District came from the Chickasaw session.

Yalobusha County is bordered by Lafayette County (northeast), Calhoun County (east), Grenada County (south), Tallahatchie County (west) and Panola County (northwest) . Cities and Towns include Coffeeville, Oakland, Tillatoba, Water Valley .

See Extended History for More information. The Official County Website is located at ?.

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Yalobusha County Court Records

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Yalobusha County Census Records

Yalobusha County Maps & Atlases

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Yalobusha County Genealogical Addresses

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Extended History

Yalobusha is a native American word meaning "tadpole place," and before the county which bears that name was formed, it was the home of both Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes.

In 1816, General Andrew Jackson ordered the surveying of the Choctaw-Chickasaw Line. The line as surveyed then cut almost a perfect diagonal across the area making up the present day Yalobusha County.

The Choctaws ceded their Mississippi lands to the United States in 1830 through the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Two years later, the Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Pontotoc ceding their lands to the United States.

In 1833, the Mississippi Legislature authorized the formation of 17 counties, including Yalobusha, on what had been Indian land.

Yalobusha County was officially organized and its first officials elected February 21, 1834. The first Board of Police held its first meeting at Hendersonville, then the largest settlement in the county.

Hendersonville was a settlement established in 1798 by John Henderson, a Presbyterian missionary who was one of the first white men to settle in the county. Other early settlements were Elliot, Chocchuma, Tuscohoma, Pittsburg, Talahoma, Plummerville, Preston, Pharsalia, Sardinia, and Washington.

At its first meeting the Board of Police solicited donations of land for a county seat, and at its second meeting, the Board selected a site and named it Coffeeville. The new town was named in honor of General John Coffee, who represented the United States in the treaties with both the Choctaws and the Chickasaws. The next Board meeting was held in the new town, and in 1837 the first courthouse in Coffeeville was built.

Later that same year, one of the early settlers in the northeastern part of the county, G.B. Ragsdale, established a stagecoach stand near what is now Water Valley. In 1848 the town of Oakland was chartered.

Yalobusha County had a population of 12,248 in its first census, taken in 1840. In 1844, a post office was opened at Ragsdale's Stand. Three years later, the post office and stagecoach stand were moved to land owned by William Carr, and the name of the post office was changed to Water Valley.

One prominent early Yalobusha County landowner was Representative James K. Polk, later President Polk, who purchased a plantation south of Coffeeville in 1835. After Polk's death, his wife managed the plantation successfully for several years.

In 1850, the county's population was 17,258. In 1852, Calhoun County was formed, and a tier of townships on the eastern border of Yalobusha County were taken to form part of the new county.

The Illinois Central Railroad built a branch line from Jackson, Tennessee to Grenada, passing through Water Valley and Coffeeville, in the late 1850s. ICRR officials wanted to set up shops in Coffeeville, but could not obtain the property they wanted. Residents of the fledging town of Water Valley offered to donate the needed land to the railroad; therefore, the shops were located there, and Water Valley quickly became the largest at that time had a population of 300.

In 1860, the county's population was 16,952. Water Valley had become a thriving community with two hotels and several churches. The first church built in Water Valley was the Presbyterian Church built in 1843. Two years later, the First Methodist Church was organized, and in 1860 the First Baptist Church of Water Valley was organized.

With the completion of the railroad from New Orleans to the Ohio River, and because the ICRR's shops were located there, Water Valley was an important railroad community at the outset of the Civil War. In 1862, Union troops captured Water Valley, and it remained in their control until the war ended.

After the war, the railroad shops were built at Water Valley, bringing a large influx of new residents to the town. In 1867, Yalobusha County's first manufacturing industry, Yacona Mills was the largest manufacturer of twine anywhere in the world.

The Reconstruction Legislature in Mississippi created a number of new counties. Grenada County was formed in 1870 and included nearly two tiers of townships which had formerly been the southern part of Yalobusha County.

In March, 1873, Yalobusha County was divided into two judicial districts, and Water Valley was named the county seat of the second judicial district. Because the town overlapped the Yalobusha-Lafayette County line, the legislature gave Yalobusha a two-mile strip of land from the southern portion of Lafayette County.

The town of Tillatoba was chartered in 1873. In 1880, Yalobusha County's population was 15,649.

In 1889, Coffeeville's second courthouse burned. It had been built in 1840 at a cost of $25,000. A new courthouse, also costing $25,000, was built in 1890. That year, the county population was 16,629.

Famed railroad engineer J. L. "Casey" Jones moved from Jackson, Tennessee to Water Valley in 1893. In 1896, four years before his death in a train wreck which brought him fame, Jones moved back to Jackson.

A new courthouse was built in Water Valley in 1896, and 16 years later, it burned. The second judicial district offices were moved to the Water Valley City Hall, but within a month, it too burned. The courthouse was restored after the fire, and a third floor was added but never completed.

Yalobusha County's population peaked in 1910, with that year's census showing a population of 21,519. By 1920, the population had fallen to 18,738, and it continued to decline steadily for the next 50 years.

Between 1926-1928, Yalobusha County suffered two tremendous economic setbacks. In April, 1926, Yacona Twine Mill, which had employed approximately 450 people, burned. The next year, the ICRR began moving its railroad shops from Water Valley to Paducah, Kentucky. By the end of 1928, these shops, which had at one time employed over 800 people in Water Valley, were gone.

In 1931, the first Watermelon Carnival was held in Water Valley. The carnival was a great success, drawing 20,000 visitors to Water Valley. For the next nine years, the Watermelon Carnival was an annual event bringing national recognition to Water Valley, which was proclaimed the "Watermelon Capitol of the World" in 1932. However, the Watermelon Carnival was suspended at the beginning of World War II, and another one was not held until 1980. Since this time it has been an annual event the first Saturday in August.

There was little industry in Yalobusha County after the war, and in 1950, the county's population was down to 15,191. In the early 1950s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on two flood control reservoirs in and around Yalobusha County, much to the distress of county farmers who lost thousands of acres of fertile bottom land. However, Enid Lake and Grenada Lake, both completed in 1955, have become popular recreation spots for local people and for visitors from throughout the nation.

Yalobusha County's population was 12,502 in 1960, and in 1970, it bottomed out at 11,915. The 1980 census shows that the county gained over 1,200 new residents since 1970, giving it a population of 13,183.

Sine the 1960s, Yalobusha County has been successful in attracting new industries to boost its economic growth. Today, its two largest industrial employers have a combined total of well over 2,000 employees, and several other local industries provide hundreds of additional jobs for county residents.

Yalobusha County History and Information

Yalobusha County Court Records

See Also Mississippi Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Yalobusha County Vital Records

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Yalobusha County Census Records

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Yalobusha County Maps & Atlases

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Yalobusha County Military Records

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Yalobusha County Tax Records

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Yalobusha County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Mississippi Genealogical Addresses

Yalobusha County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Mississippi

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History