Mardisville, also known as Jumpers Spring, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Talladega County, Alabama Talladega County (pronounced Talla-dig-a) is a County (United States), county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama."ACES Winston County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpa ...

, United States.

History

The community was originally called Jumpers Spring, purportedly named after a local

Creek Indian The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southe ...

who lived in the area. The Creek had long controlled this territory as its indigenous inhabitants. After the United States enforced

Indian Removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

in the 1830s of most of the Creek people to west of the Mississippi River in

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, the United States

General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

opened here in 1834 to sell land. It operated in Mardisville until 1842. The community was renamed Mardisville in honor of

Samuel Wright Mardis Samuel Wright Mardis (June 12, 1800 – November 14, 1836) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama. He was born on June 12, 1800, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He received academic training, ...

, who served as the land agent until his death. At one point, the community was home to a sixteen-room tavern, wood shop, tailor shop, general store, cake shop, bakery, and several churches. It was a trading center for a rural area devoted to cotton plantations. A post office called Mardisville was established in 1833, and operated until 1881.

Notable people

* Joab Lawler, U.S. Representative from 1835 to 1838 *

Micah Taul Micah Taul (May 14, 1785 – May 27, 1850) was an American pioneer, planter, lawyer, and politician. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives for Kentucky. In 1826 he moved to Winchester, Tennessee, where he practiced law ...

, U.S. Representative from Kentucky from 1815 to 1817. Moved to Mardisville. Grandfather of

Taul Bradford Taul Bradford (January 20, 1835 – October 28, 1883) was an attorney and politician from Talladega, Alabama, who served both in the State House and one term as U.S. Representative following the American Civil War. During the war, he ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Talladega County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama {{TalladegaCountyAL-geo-stub