Jefferson County, Mississippi Genealogical Records Information

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Jefferson County History and Information

Jefferson County Facts

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Jefferson County was originally known as Pickering, the original county of Jefferson (in the southwestern part of the State) was established April 2, 1799, by the following proclamation of Winthrop Sargent, the first territorial governor of Mississippi:

"I do ordain and order by these letters made patent, that all and singular the lands lying and being within the boundaries of -- the Mississippi Territory * * * should constitute two counties—the division of which shall be a line, commencing at the mouth of Fairchild’s Creek, and running direct to the most southern part of Ellicottville; thence easterly along the dividing ridge of the waters of Cole’s and Sandy creeks, so far as the present settlements extend, and thence by a due east line to the territorial boundary—the southern or lower division of which is named, and hereafter to be called Adams, and the northern or upper division, the county of Pickering."

Within its extensive boundaries as thus outlined, were embraced the upper portion of the narrow fringe of white settlements, along the Mississippi, forming a part of the so-called Natchez District, during the 18th century. It received its present name January 11, 1802, in honor of President Thomas Jefferson. The County Seat is Fayette

Jefferson County is bordered by Claiborne County (north), Copiah County (northeast), Lincoln County (southeast), Franklin County (south), Adams County (southwest) and Tensas Parish, Louisiana (west). Cities and Towns include Fayette . Formed as Pickering County and renamed in 1802. Record loss in 1904. The Old courthouse burned in 1990, A majority of records were saved, though some of the "saved" records were later lost.

See Extended History for More information. The Official County Website is located at ?. Jefferson County, Mississippi History Books at Amazon.com

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Jefferson County Court Records

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

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information. Dates following a slash indicate those materials jointly held by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the FHL

Jefferson County Clerk of Circuit Court has Marriage Records from 1805/1869 and Court Records from 1802 and is located at P. O. Box 305, Fayette, Mississippi 39069; Phone: 786-3422, Fax: 786-6000 .
Duties of the Circuit Clerk include Receivin and fileing all law suits, indictments, motions and other related papers in all Civil and Criminal Cases filed in the Circuit or County Courts and issues all process including summons and subpoenas, Draws Jurors and qualifies Juries, Keeps a record of all Judgments and Executions, Issues marriage licenses and keeps records of marriages.

Jefferson County Chancery Court Clerk has Land Records from 1798 and Probate Records from 1805 and is located at P. O. Box 145, Fayette, Mississippi 39069; Phone: 786-3021, Fax: 786-6000.
The Chancery Clerk occupies perhaps the most unique and diverse office in all of Mississippi government. The various duties given the Chancery Clerk by statute, or assumed voluntarily by the individual Clerk, cover a wide range of vitally important functions. Some of the duties and functions of the Chancery Clerk are recording the official minutes. As public recorder, the Clerk handles the recording and storage of several types of documents and maintains various indexes that aid people in researching these records. The primary records are deeds and mortgages relating to real property, but the Clerk also records federal tax liens, Lis Pendens ( notices of pending lawsuits ) and military discharges. The Clerk is in charge of the storage and authorized disposal of older land rolls, tax receipts and many other County records after their active use lifespan. As Clerk of the Chancery Court, the Clerk handles a multitude of tasks such as matters of estates, guardianships, conservatorships, divorces, child custody, adoption, property disputes and other matters of equity.

There are a few online marriage databases which include: Mississippi Marriages 1767-1935; Mississippi Marriages to 1825; Mississippi Marriages 1826-1850 and Mississippi Marriages 1826-1900. Omline Land records include Mississippi Land Records; Land Claims in Mississippi Territory, 1789-1834 and the BLM Land Records which covers the State of Mississippi. May pioneers and settelers bought land from the government instead of individuals. Online court records include Mississippi Court Records, 1799-1835

Click Here to Search Mississippi Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Jefferson County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Jefferson County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Jefferson County, Mississippi Court Books at Amazon.com
Mississippi Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
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Jefferson County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Local county courthouses maintain original tax records, both real and personal. Microfilm copies of the earlier records are found in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History where the collection is extensive, but there are gaps. Although not many, some counties have published selected years of tax rolls.

Below is a list of online resources for Jefferson County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Jefferson County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Jefferson County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Mississippi Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Jefferson County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Jefferson County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Claiborne - Jefferson County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 1017, Port Gibson MS, 39150
Local Mississippi Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Ph. (601) 576-6850, fax (601) 576-6964
Physical Address: 200 North Street, Jackson, MS 39201
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205-0571
Mississippi State Records Center, 929 High Str, Jackson, MS 39201; (601) 354-7688
Mississippi Historical Society, PO Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205-0571
Mississippi Genealogical Society, PO Box 5301, Jackson, MS 39296-5301
Mississippi Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
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Jefferson County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Mississippi Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Jefferson County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Jefferson County Tombstone Transcription Project. The Mississippi Department of Transportation has county maps the show the locations of churches and cemeteries free for viewing or download here.

Below is a list of online resources for Jefferson County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Jefferson County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Mississippi Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Jefferson County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Jefferson County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

Jefferson County, Mississippi Family Books at Amazon.com
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County History

Following LaSalle's trip down the Mississippi River, the Jefferson County area was recognized as being populated by the Natchez Indians. This can be proved by the existing Emerald Mound burial site which is located several miles off the Natchez Trace in present day Jefferson County.

The French built their second settlement at Fort Rosalie (now Natchez) in 1716 and other settlements followed quickly. The growth of the area was slow. Notable land deals like the speculative Mississippi Company's deal led to the financial panic in 1720 known as the bursting of the Mississippi Bubble.

The Natchez Indians grew restless as French settlers began to take over their lands. They attacked Fort Rosalie in 1729 killing many settlers. Following this attack the French retaliated by virtually destroying almost all of the Natchez Indians.

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 after the French and Indian War, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi River except New Orleans. This Mississippi area which included present day Jefferson County became a part of British West Florida and was known as the Natchez District. The northern boundary extended to the mouth of the Yazoo River. This area witnessed a large influx of Anglo-Americans from the Atlantic Seaboard Colonies.

During the American Revolution Spain seized the Natchez District and the remainder of British West Florida. When the American Revolution ended in 1783 Britain transferred the claim to the territory north of the 31 degree latitude to the United States. But, Spain refused to recognize the American claim to West Florida. It was not until 1795 that the Spanish agreed to the 31 degree north boundary. It was not until 1798 that the Spanish actually relinquished control of the Natchez District to the United States. In the meantime, the state of Georgia complicated matters by asserting a claim to the area. Georgia had actually sold land to three companies of eager speculators. Georgia passports were issued to settlers who would travel by land through the Creek Indian territory to the western Mississippi River settlements.

In 1798 the United States Congress created the Mississippi Territory which included all the land between Georgia and the Mississippi River which was located north of the 31 degree latitude and south of a line running due east of the mouth of the Yazoo River. In 1804 this territory was expanded to include the land northward to Tennessee. It 1812 the rest of West Florida was included.

On December 10, 1817 Mississippi was admitted as a state to the United States. The eastern part of the Mississippi Territory became the Alabama Territory.

As early as the year 1768, and again in 1772 and 1780, we find the English and Americans forming settlements within the region then known as a Spanish province. Many of the first American settlers of Jefferson County were from the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland, among whom the names of Green, Moss, Dixon, Harrison, Wood, Magruder, Dunbar, Benoit, Nutt, Nolan, Montgomery, Calvit and Hunt are prominent. They settled along Cole’s Creek, in the region around Petit Gulf, where Rodney now stands, and near the present town of Union Church in the western part. Henry Green lived on the banks of a branch of Cole’s Creek, in the immediate vicinity of the old town of Greenville, the original settlement there being called Greenbay. He came from Virginia with his brother, Thomas Abner Green, and the two were the pioneers of the old family, whose descendants are still numerous in Jefferson County, and are scattered throughout the southwest. Joseph K. and Thomas Marston Green were sons of Thomas Abner Green, Thomas Marston being the second delegate to Congress from the Territory. The old Green mansion near Cole’s Creek is famous for its substantial architecture, but more famous for its having been the home in which Gen. Andrew Jackson was married. Abijah Hunt was the pioneer of the Hunt family. The upper part of old Greenville was called Huntley, after him. He was a merchant there and erected the first gin in the county, to which all the surrounding planters resorted with their cotton. He fell in a duel with George Poindexter in 1811, and as he was a bachelor, his nephew, David Hunt, inherited his stores and gin and subsequently amassed a large fortune.

The first Methodist minister in the county was the Rev. Tobias Gibson, who was sent to the Territory in 1799 as a missionary, and established societies at Washington, Greenville, and on the Bayou Pierre. He died in Warren County in 1804, leaving many descendants. Rev. William Montgomery, a Presbyterian missionary, came to the county in 1802. He became a permanent resident in the Scotch Settlements. Through his missionary efforts, extending over a period of forty years, several churches of his faith were established. The first Baptist missionary that came to the county was David Cooper. He settled near Greenville, and was very successful in his ministrations in this and adjoining counties for more than thirty years. He married the widow of Gen. F.L. Claiborne and later removed to "Soldiers Retreat," near Washington, where he died. The Rev. Abram Cloud was the first Episcopal minister to settle in the county. He lived at Greenville and maintained churches both there and on the Bayou Pierre for a time. He was very active in public affairs, and was a public spirited and useful citizen. He is buried near Greenville.

The first county officers of Pickering County, appointed May 6, 1799, were: Roger Dixon, Richard Harrison, William Thomas, Samuel Gibson, George Wilson Humphreys, and Tobias Brashear, Justices of the Peace and of the Court of Common Pleas; also Mordecai Throckmorton and John Smith, Justices of the Peace; Thomas Green, Treasurer; William Ferguson, Sheriff; Henry Green, Coroner; John Girault, Judge of Probate, Clerk Prothonotary and Register.

The following county officers were appointed in 1802: Cato West, Thomas Catoct, Jacob Stampley, Henry Green, Zachariah Kirkland, John Hopkins, Robert Trimble, James Stewart, Justices of the Peace; John Girault, Clerk; John Brooks, Sheriff. The Chief Justices of the County Courts, down to the year 1813, successively, were Cato West, John Shaw, Edmund Hall, Thos. Fitzpatrick, Joseph Green and Thomas Hinds.

Much of the early emigration to the county came in over the public road known as the Natchez Trace, which ran north from Natchez through Jefferson County, to the distant white settlements on the Cumberland, Tennessee. This public road was infested by bandits in the early years of the last century, notorious among whom was the celebrated Mason and Harp Gang, whose history is elsewhere detailed. One of the most startling occurrences in the early history of Jefferson was the violent death of the bandit Mason, whose gory head was brought to Greenville, and the reward of $2,000, offered by Governor Claiborne for Mason’s capture, dead or alive, was claimed by two strangers. These two men were recognized as members of the notorious gang themselves, and were accused, tried, condemned and hung near Greenville. They were prosecuted by George Poindexter, and the old field near Greenville, where they expiated their crime, still goes by the name of the gallows field.

The cause of education early engaged the attention of citizens of Jefferson County, and a society was incorporated by the General Assembly for the establishment of academies and the diffusion of knowledge. This society was chartered January 8, 1807, and was called the "Franklin Society of Jefferson County." Its members were Cato West, Thomas M. Green, Thos. Fitzpatrick, John Shaw, Daniel Beasley, Charles B. Howell, Wm. Snodgrass, David Snodgrass, Edward Turner, John Hopkins, Henry D. Downs, James S. Rollins, Thomas Calvit, Robert Cox, Henry Green, Felix Hughes, Armstrong Ellis, Jacob Stampley, John Brooks, Thomas Hinds, William Thomas, and Robert McCray. The association did much to further the cause of learning and morality, and established two schools, a male and a female, which flourished for many years. The female school later became a highly successful seminary for young ladies, under the management of Hon. David Ker, and his accomplished wife and daughters. It was located near old Greenville.

The first requisition for troops to aid in the National defense was made by Governor Claiborne upon the Territory of Mississippi in 1806, when the Spaniards, under General Hérrara, marched with twelve hundred men upon the Sabine, entered the territory of the United States, and claimed the river of Anoyo Hondo as the proper boundary between Mexico and the United States. At this time Jefferson County furnished a fine body of cavalry, known as the Jefferson Troop, under the command of Capt. Thomas Hinds, which, with the cavalry company from Adams County, were dispatched to Natchitoches. The troop was in service for eight months at this time with the Federal forces. The same body of men formed part of Gen. F.L. Claiborne’s forces in 1807, sent to oppose the further advance of Aaron Burr down the Mississippi River. Some officers of the Jefferson Troop accompanied Colonel Burr from Claiborne’s camp, at the mouth of Cole’s Creek, to the house of Thomas Calvit, where he surrendered. A detachment of the same troop proceeded to the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, and received the surrender of the prisoners, sixty in number, together with their boats, shot and other munitions.

In the year 1809, the first joint stock banking company of the Territory was established by the General Assembly, styled "the President and Directors, and Company of the Bank of Mississippi." On its first board of directors were three prominent citizens of Jefferson County: Abner Green, Abijah Hunt and Cowles Mead.

In the Constitutional Convention of 1817, Jefferson County was represented by a brilliant quartet of men: Cowles Mead, Cato West, Joseph E. Davis, and H.J. Baich. Colonel West was a native of Fairfax County, Virginia, and came to Jefferson County before territorial days and located at Pickering. He was one of the wealthiest planters of his day and was appointed secretary of the Territory in 1801, when W.C.C. Claiborne was appointed governor, and was for a time acting governor, when Governor Claiborne was sent to New Orleans to receive the Louisiana Purchase from France. Cowles Mead was also secretary of Mississippi Territory, and was acting governor in 1807, when Aaron Burr’s flotilla came down the Mississippi. Governor Mead is given credit for handling the Burr matter with great tact and good judgment. The conference between Mead and Burr took place at the home of Thomas Calvit in Jefferson County. The fine old mansion is still standing.

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