Jefferson Davis County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,321. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Prentiss. The county is named after Mississippi

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

. The county was carved out of Covington and Lawrence counties in March 1906. Governor James K. Vardaman signed the bill creating the county on May 9, 1906.

History

The genesis of the county occurred on March 31, 1906, when a Mississippi state legislative act authorized the new country's boundaries. The residents of western Covington County and eastern Lawrence County had frequently complained of the rivers and streams impeding the route to their respective county seats. Jefferson Davis County was the state's 77th county. A 1906 special referendum determined that the county seat would be Prentiss, named for either famed Mississippi lawmaker and orator Seargent Smith Prentiss, or wealthy landowner Prentiss Webb Berry. The settlement was originally named Blountville after early settler William Blount. In 1933, the county was the first in Mississippi to issue a prohibition on alcohol after the repeal of the

Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) to the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and ratified by the requisite number of sta ...

. Round dancing in the community hall was banned in 1938. In 1935, notorious bank robber Raymond Hamilton, known to hide out in the county's wilderness, was involved in a hostage situation after robbing Prentiss' Bank of Blountville, but escaped in Memphis.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water.

Major highways

* U.S. Route 84 * Mississippi Highway 13 * Mississippi Highway 35 * Mississippi Highway 42 *

Mississippi Highway 43 Mississippi Highway 43 (MS 43) is a state highway in Mississippi that generally runs north–south in three segments: the first from US 90 near Bay St. Louis to MS 13 south of Columbia, resuming at MS 13 in southern Jefferson Davis Co ...

Adjacent counties

* Simpson County (north) * Covington County (east) * Lamar County (southeast) * Marion County (south) * Lawrence County (west)

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 11,321 people, 4,713 households, and 3,003 families residing in the county.

Communities

Towns

* Bassfield * Prentiss (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Carson * Oak Vale (partly in Lawrence County)

Ghost town

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

Politics

Typical of a majority-black county in Mississippi, Jefferson Davis leans Democratic and last voted Republican in 1984.

Historic sites

Jefferson Davis County Courthouse in Prentiss is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Education

All residents are zoned to the Jefferson Davis County School District. The county is in the zone of Pearl River Community College.

References

External links

Jefferson Davis County Website
*
Mississippi Courthouses – Jefferson Davis County
* {{coord, 31.56, -89.82, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MS_source:UScensus1990 Mississippi counties 1906 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1906 Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Mississippi