Rowland's History of Monroe County, Mississippi

Source:  Rowland, Dunbar, ed.  Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of 
Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in 
Cyclopedic Form.  3 vols.  Atlanta:  Southern Historical Publishing 
Association, 1907.

From:  Volume 2, pp. 273-276

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  Monroe County ws originally embraced within the Chickasaw Indian 
territory, and, by the treaty of Chickasaw Council House, concluded 
September 20, 1816, that nation ceded to the United States 408,000 acres 
on their eastern or Creek frontier.  This large tract lay upon the 
eastern tributaries of the upper Tombigbee river and comprised the 
original "county of Monroe."  The Creek claims to these lands were 
surrendered by the treaty of Fort Jackson.  It was attached to the state 
of Alabama until the winter of 1820, when the boundary was determined by 
actual survey, and on February 9, 1821, the legislature of Mississippi 
recognized it as within the limits of the State and approved a law 
entitled, "An act to form a county east of the Tombigby river, and for 
other purposes," which defined its limits as follows:  "All the tract of 
country lying on the east side of the Tombigbee river . . . beginning on 
the east side of said river, where the eastern boundary line of the 
State crosses the same; thence northwardly with said boundary line, to 
the Chickasaw boundary; thence with said boundary line westwardly to the 
Tombigbee river; thence with the meanders of said river to the beginning."  
The act of February 9, 1836, which organized the Chickasaw cession of 1832 
into counties, extended the limits of Monroe and defined them as follows:  
"Beginning at the point one mile due north of the point where the line 
between townships 11 and 12 intersects the eastern boundary line of the 
State, and running thence due west to the line between ranges 5 and 6 east; 
thence south with the said range line, to the northern boundary of 
Oktibbeha county; and thence due east to the mouth of the Buttahatchy 
river; thence according to the present boundaries between the said county 
of Monroe and the county of Lowndes, to the eastern boundary line of the 
State, and thence along the said eastern boundary line to the beginning."  
For the final modification of the boundary line between Lowndes and Clay, 
see those counties.  The county has a land surface of 762 square miles.  
Since that time Monroe county has formed pat of the State of Mississippi, 
though it was separated from the older counties in the southern part, and 
from the counties in the western part, erected out of the "New Purchase," 
by the remaining territory of the Choctaws.  It was conncted with them by 
a public road through the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations long known as the 
Natchez Trace (q.v.)  Lowndes county and a part of Clay county were 
embraced within the old county of Monroe.  It received its name from 
President James Monroe, and as now constituted, is bounded on the north 
by Lee and Itawamba counties, on the east by Alabama, on the south by 
Clay and Lowndes counties and on the west by Clay and Chickasaw counties.  
A list of the civil officers of the county for 1821, the year of its 
organization, discloses the names of the following pioneers:  Gideon 
Lincicum, Chief Justice of the Quorum, and Wiley Harbin, Ezekiel Nash, 
Stephen Harman, Frederick Weaver, Associate Justices; Bartlett Sims, 
Sheriff; Silas Brown, Assessor and Collector; Hezekiah Lincicum, Coroner; 
John G. Faulks, Treasurer and Ranger; Nathaniel Morgan, George Dilworth, 
Silas McBee, Thos. Sampson, Andrew Haynes, John H. Morris, David Shannon, 
John Halbot, Robert Earington, Jacob Laughridge, Justices of the Peace; 
James Draper, Robert Pickens, James Dillingham, Isaac Dyche, John Bibb, 
John H. Hayes, John Brighton, Benj. Morgan, William M. Kincaid, 
Constables; William S. Moon, Surveyor; S. Hawkins, Judge of Probate; 
Nathaniel Harbin, Clerk.  Additional county officers for the years 
1822-1827 inclusive, and excluding the names of officers given for the 
year 1821, are Robert I. Haden, Thomas Sampson, William Dowsing, George 
Higgason, Judges of Probate; John Kirk, Nathan L. Morgan, Associate 
Justices; John Dexter, Assessor and Collector; James T. Burdine, Abram 
P. Gideon, Samuel B. Morgan, Constables; Samuel Ragsdale, Sheriff; Matthew 
Anderson, Geo. Dilworth, Coroners; Matthew Sims, Ranger; Willis A. Farris, 
Notary Public; William Downing, Ovid P. Brown, John H. Hand, Presidents of 
Columbus; William Standifer, James White, Collin McKinney, John Mullin, 
Alanson Nash, Wm. Coates, Wm. Cook, John Price, John Thompson, Eli Runnels, 
James Gray, Benjamin Land, Matthew Gibbs, Jeremiah Riggin, John McKinny, 
Richard Dilworth, Wm. Dowsing, Stephen Harman, Richard Halley, Jacob 
Bruton, Peter R. McClanahan, J. S. Cravens, Jesse McKenny, Edmond J. 
Bailey, George Good, Reuben Menifee, Stewart Pipkins, Robert D. Haden, 
John Fisher, William E. Willis, Robert B. Pickens, John T. Neal, Justices 
of the Peace.

  Its early county seat was at Hamilton (q.v.) in the southern part of the 
county, one mile east of the Tombigbee river.  The present town of 
Hamilton lies three miles to the northeast.  Later, in 1830, the seat was 
moved to Athens,  little north of Aberdeen on the eastern side of the 
Tombigbee, where it remained until 1849.  Cotton Gin Port (see separate 
title), was another old settlement on the Tombigbee about 13 miles north 
of Aberdeen.  The present county seat is the thriving town of Aberdeen, 
which contains about 5,000 inhabitants and is a manufacturing town of 
considerable importance and the center of a thriving trade.  It is on 
the Tombigbee river and has three railroads, the Mobile & Ohio, the 
Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham, and the Illinois Central.  It is 
adjacent to the iron and coal of Alabama, has a fine water power and is 
surrounded with forests of valuable wood and should continue to develop 
in many lines.  Amory is a growing town of 1,211 (census of 1900) people 
in the northern part of the county, on the line of the K. C. M. & B. R. R., 
and, next to Aberdeen, is the most important town.  Some of the smaller 
settlements besides those previously mentioned are Gattman, Smithville, 
Prairie, Rees Store, Quincy and Sykes.  The three railroads above 
mentioned give the region excellent transportation facilities in all 
directions.  The attractions of this favored region of the State were 
early recognized, and a strong tide of emigration set in, composed for 
the most part of hardy pioneers of the best stock from the older states.  
It has long been regarded as one of the wealthiest and most inviting 
sections of the Commonwealth, noted for its fertile farms and thriving 
manufactures.  The principal streams in the county are the Tombigbee 
river and its numerous tributaries, the most important of which is the 
Buttahatchie river on the southeastern border.  The region is partly 
level and partly undulating with rich black prairie, and fine black sand 
soils, and a clay subsoil.  Abundant crops of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, 
field peas, sorghum and grasses are grown, and all the fruits, large and 
small, and vegetables do well.  It is an excellent stock region and many 
fine grades of live stock are being bred here.  The county contains 
forests of poplar, cedar, hickory, ash, cypress, gum, wild-cherry, maple, 
walnut, beech, pine and oak, which supply ample material for its wood-
working industries.

  The following statistics, farm, manufacturing and population, from the 
United States census, 1900, will show the recent developments of the 
county:  Number of farms 4,854, acreage in farms 372,738, acres improved 
187,404, value of land exclusive of buildings $3,013,680, value of 
buildings $848,950, value of live stock $877,675, total value of products 
not fed $2,009,066.  The number of manufacturing establishments 91, 
capital invested $711,161, wages paid $126,485, cost of materials $322,254, 
total value of products $665,990.  The population in 1900 was whites 
12,555, colored 18,661, a total of 31,216 and 486 more than in 1890.  The 
estimated population in 906 was 35,000.  Artesian water has been found in 
various parts of the county.  The public highways are being worked under 
contract.  Improved and unimproved lands have doubled in value in the last 
five years.  The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in 
Monroe county in 1905 was $3,878,271 and in 1906 it was $4,322,575, which 
shows an increase during the year of $444,304.