Smith County, Mississippi Genealogical Records Information

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Smith County History and Information

Smith County Facts

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Smith County was the southwestern corner of the large tract of land ceded to the United States by the Choctaw treaty of Dancing Rabbit in 1830. It was established December 23, 1833, and was named in honor of Major David Smith of Hinds County, was born in 1753 in Anson County, NC. Smith served as a private in the battles of King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Euthaw Springs, becoming a hero of the Revolutionary War. He first married in 1776 to Sarah Terry, and later, in 1791 married Obedience Fort. He moved with his family to Mississippi, settling in Hinds County not long after that region was yielded by the Choctaws. His son, Benjamin F. Smith, served as the first representative for Hinds County in the Mississippi Legislature. Major Smith died at Jackson, Mississippi in 1834. Aurelia Smith, his daughter, married Governor Runnels. Its limits were defined as follows by the act which created the county:

“Beginning on the line between ranges 9 and 10 east, at the point at which the line between townships 4 and 5 crosses said line, and from thence south with the said line between ranges 9 and 10 east, to the southern boundary of the Choctaw nation; from thence west, with said southern boundary line, to the western boundary line of said Choctaw nation; from thence north with said western boundary line, to the point at which the line between townships 2 and 3 strikes said western boundary line; from thence west to the line between ranges 5 and 6 east; from thence north with said line between ranges 5 and 6 east, to the line between townships 4 and 5; and from thence to the place of beginning.”

A large influx of settlers from the older parts of the State came to the new county at an early date, and by 1837 there were 1,085 free whites, owning some three hundred slaves. A list of the county officers for the year 1838 follows: Abraham Carr, Sampson Ainsworth, Emanuel A. Durr, Thomas J. Husbands, John Sprinks, members of the Board of Police; James B. Graham, Sheriff, Assessor and Collector; Benjamin Thornton, Clerk of the Circuit and Probate Courts; John Campbell, Judge of Probate; James L. McCaugh, County Surveyor; Abner Lewis, Coroner; Charles C. Horton, Ranger; Reuben Craft, County Treasurer; David Ward, Justice of the Peace, Jesse Rose, Constable.

The original county seat was located at Fairchild, about four miles south of Raleigh, but was soon abandoned. The new county seat was then established and called for Sir Walter Raleigh. There has been four courthouses in Raleigh due to fires. After the first courthouse burned, the Old Floyd Hotel was put to use as a courthouse, only to see the same thing happen to it in 1892. This resulted in the loss of all of the records for Smith County. A new building was erected and again was destroyed by fire in 1912, destroying practically all of the records. The present courthouse was built in 1912.

Smith County is bordered by Scott County (north), Jasper County (east), Jones County (southeast), Covington County (south), Scott County (west) and Rankin County (northwest) . Cities and Towns include Mize, Polkville, Raleigh, Sylvarena, Taylorsville .

See Extended History for More information. The Official County Website is located at http://www.smithcounty.ms.gov/. Smith County, Mississippi History Books at Amazon.com

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Smith 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

Smith County Clerk of Circuit Court has Marriage Records from 1912 and Court Records from 1883 and is located at P. O. Box 517, Raleigh, Mississippi 39153; Phone: 782-4751, Fax: 782-9481 .
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.

Smith County Chancery Court Clerk has Land Records from 1892 and Probate Records from 1892 and is located at P. O. Box 39, Raleigh, Mississippi 39153; Phone: 782-9811, Fax: 782-4002.
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 Smith County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Smith County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Smith 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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Smith County Vital Records

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Click Here to Search Mississippi Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.

   Federal Population Schedules that exist for Mississippi are 1820, 1830 (Partial), 1840, 1850, 1860 (Partial), 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. In 1817 Mississippi became the twentieth state to enter the union; therefore, the first federal population census available is that of 1820.
Variations of this census appear in three printed forms, none of which include slave or miscellaneous information. Enumerations for Pike County are missing in 1830, but the Gillis index used extant tax records to supplement their index. Transcriptions are subject to error; use these reprints simply as a guide to the original records.
   A significant addition to the 1840 census supplies the names and ages of pensioners. Schedules are missing for Hancock, Sunflower, and Washington counties in 1860.
   By 1870, with slavery abolished, all blacks, natives, and Chinese were included, along with information regarding citizenship. With the destruction of the 1890 population schedules, only the schedules enumerating Union veterans are available for Mississippi. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms

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

Smith County Maps & Atlases

   Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Alabama and other states.
   You can view rotating animated maps for Mississippi showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
   You can view rotating animated maps for Mississippi showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries . You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps. The Alabama Department of Transportation has county maps the show the locations of churches, cemeteries, roads, ect... free for viewing or download here

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

Smith County Military Records

Click Here to Search Mississippi Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.

The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.

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

Smith County, Mississippi Military Books at Amazon.com
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Filesi (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, from NARA publication M804.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Mississippi (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
View, Print Copy & Save Original Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 from the State of Mississippi (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Pension applications for service in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served.
Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Mississippi units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier
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Smith County Tax 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 Smith County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Smith County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Smith 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 Smith County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Smith County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Smith County Genealogical Society, P. o. Box 356, Raleigh, MS 39153
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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Smith 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 Smith County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Smith 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 Smith County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Smith 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 Smith County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Smith County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

Smith County, Mississippi Family Books at Amazon.com
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Sites on USGenweb: [ Smith County ] [ Mississippi ] [ Main Page ]
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Mississippi Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
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County History

Smith County Courthouse 1912

Long before the appearance of European explorers and east coast colonial settlers, the land area that would become Mississippi was the home of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and other American Indian tribes. For many centuries, these peoples called this land home. The area that today is known as Smith County was part of the Choctaw Nation's domain, but this would end in 1830 with the “Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.” This was the last treaty between the white man and the Choctaw, and it would be the one that gave up all remaining land in Mississippi.

Some three years later, on December 23, 1833, Smith County was carved out of this land area. It was one of several counties formed at this time from this vast area ceded in the Treaty of 1830. Smith County was named for Major David Smith who served as a Private in the Revolutionary War at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Euthaw Springs.

The county’s outline is almost a quadrangle being 30 miles north and south and 22 miles east and west. The area is about 660 square miles. Neighboring counties are Scott, Jasper, Jones, Covington, Simpson, and Rankin.

Settlers quickly came into the area and made homes in the new land. Migration primarily came from Georgia and Alabama with family roots that went back to Virginia and the Carolinas. The early times were tough. Families had to carve homesteads from wooded lands and grow crops that supplied daily needs and little income to meet other needs. A strong belief in God was a big part of these early settlers’ constitution, and churches and schools, along with the individual settlements, soon dotted the landscape. Many of these early communities, schools, and churches are gone, but their presence and influence remains a part of Smith County history. The first county seat was at Fairfield, four miles south of present day Raleigh. Not long afterward, it was relocated to Raleigh, named for Sir Walter Raleigh. Three county courthouses have burned destroying many of the county historical records. The present courthouse was built in 1912.

Smith County Genealogical Society ... contact Charlotte Webb, Lncwebb@direcway.com
The Smith County Genealogical Society meetings are scheduled for the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 am. The meetings are held at the Raleigh Public Library. Membership dues are $12.00 for 1 person or $18.00 per couple

Newsletters are be published quarterly. Members submission of queries is free, non-members will be charged a small fee based on length of query.
Applications can be requested at the following address:

                                                Smith County Genealogical Society
                                                P. O. Box 356
                                                Raleigh, MS 39153

Smith County Genealogical Society is working on an undated book on the Smith County Cemeteries. The society is interested in such information as Wife of, Child of, Husband of, and so forth. Anyone having this information that would like to see in the book is encourage to send it to society president Charlotte Webb, Lncwebb@direcway.com

SMITH COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY PUBLISH FAMILY HISTORY BOOK

A special hardback bound publication, "Smith County, Mississippi and Its Families, 1833-2003" is now available that is devoted to past and present families, communities, businesses, organizations, schools, and churches. The book is a result of three years work by the Smith County Genealogical Society and contains individual contributions for 580 individual family and military veteran histories as well as writeups for past and present communities, businesses, organizations, churches, and schools.

Charlotte Webb, President of the Smith County Genealogical Society, says the book is an effort to collect and preserve important historical and family information. Each item in the book was contributed by someone with ties to or knowledge of Smith County, and each item is presented in their own words. Many contributions included photographs. This book will prove very valuable to those researching their Smith County roots and connections, or to those who just have an interest in Smith County. Charlotte added that there will undoubtedly be some people who will be disappointed that their histories were not included, but the Society had for two years asked for and solicited contributions for this book.

Copies of the book can be purchased from the Smith County Genealogical Society for 40.00 + $5.00 shipping. Request and payment can be sent to: Smith County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 356, Raleigh, MS 39153. Be sure to indicate that payment is for the "Smith County, Mississippi and Its Families, 1823-2003" publication.

Click HERE to see a list of publications, and ordering information, available through the Smith County Genealogical Society.

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