Just before the Civil War, Issaquena County, Mississippi had the highest concentration of slaves in the United States. With the slave population making up 92.5% of the county's total population, Issaquena County was home to some of the largest cotton plantations in the nation. Many of those massive plantations were owned by absentee planters from the Natchez area of Mississippi and other parts of the nation.

On this web site is a collection of valuable information regarding Issaquena County slave research, including the entire 1860 Federal Census slave schedules for Issaquena County and links to other valuable information including the Eustatia plantation ledger. For further research with your slave ancestors, consult these excellent research links below:

AfriGeneas
African American Cemeteries Online
Cyndi's List: African-American
Christine's Genealogy Website
African-American Genealogy on the Web
About.com: African-American Genealogy
Sankofa's African Slave Genealogy
The Freedmen's Bureau Online
Library of Congress: African American Perspectives
Genforum: African American Forum

American Civil War Research Links

The United States Civil War Center
Confederate Regimental History Links
Union Regimental History Links
The American Civil War
American Civil War Homepage

Message Boards, Queries and Mailing Lists for Issaquena County

Rootsweb.com Message Board
Genforum Message Board
Rootsweb.com Mailing List

1907 Issaquena County Profile

Issaquena County was established January 23, 1844, during the first administration of Governor Albert G. Brown. Its name is an Indian word meaning deer river. Its territory was formerly embraced within the limits of Washington county, and its limits were defined as all that part of Washington county south of a line, “commencing on the Mississippi river between townships 13 and 14, and running east, between said townships, to the western boundary of Yazoo county. March 29, 1876, together with Washington county, it contributed to form the county of Sharkey.

Issaquena constitutes one of the later subdivisions of the so-called New Purchase acquired from the Choctaws in 1820. It is a long, narrow county on the western border of the State, in the Mississippi and Yazoo delta, and is bounded on the north by Washington county, on the east by Sharkey and Warren counties, on the south by Warren county and on the west by the Mississippi river. It has a small population composed very largely of negroes and possesses no towns of any size. It has a land surface of 473 square miles. Its wealth lies in its fertile plantations and its extensive and heavily timbered  areas. The county seat is Mayersville, a river town in the northern part of the county, which has a population of 250 souls and was named for David Mayers, an extensive land owner in the county.

Other small towns in the county are Duncansby and Chotard, on the river, and Valley Park, Grace and Booth on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R., which touches the county at its northeastern and southeastern extremities. The Mississippi river washes most of its western boundary, affording excellent and cheap transportation by steamboat. Other waters are Deer creek, on the eastern border; Steele’s Bayou, Lake Lafayette, Moon Lake, Five Mile Lake and Cypress lake. About two thirds of the county is heavily timbered with a heavy growth of cypress, oaks, ash, gum, hackberry, hickory, locust, walnut and sassafras. The soil is a rich alluvial loam and will produce luxuriant crops of cotton, corn, oats, etc., even with improvident and negligent cultivation.

When the soil is properly handled, it will raise from one to two bales of cotton per acre and from forty to eighty bushels of corn. Too much attention has been paid to raising cotton in the past and not enough to the production of corn, oats and meat, for which the region is peculiarly adapted.

The twelth United States census, 1900, yields the following statistics: Number of farms, 1,646; acreage in farms, 90,676; acres improved, 55,052; value of land exclusive of buildings, $1,456,110; value of buildings, $413,870; value of live stock, $334,035, and total value of products not fed, $887,071. The number of manufacturing establishments was 38, capital, $174,390; wages paid, $13,989; cost of materials used, $49,393; and total value of products, $119,363. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county in 1905 was $1,489,928 and in 1906 it was $1,517,410.50 which shows a gain of $27,482.50. The population in 1900 was composed of 622 whites, 9,778 colored, a total of 10,400 and a falling off since 1890 of 1,918.

From:
Mississipi: comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form
By Dunbar Rowland
Southern Historical Publishing 
Atlanta, Georgia
1907

Issaquena County Families

These links are to websites that contain information about Issaquena County families. Any visitor who has a website devoted to an Issaquena County, Mississippi family is invited to submit the link for inclusion on this list. The following links are to various sites on the Internet and are not part of the Issaquena Genealogy and History Project.

The Coulter Family
The Duncan Family
The Birdsong Family
William Stamps Farish Biography

Mississippi Delta History & Humanities Links
Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival
Fatal Flood: A Story of Greed, Power and Race

For Further Research

The Mississippi 1885 Atlas and Gazetteer site contains a listing of all places found in Mississippi during 1885, as well as 1885 maps of each of Mississippi's counties.

The David Rumsey Mississippi Map Collection contains many excellent historical maps of Mississippi from its formation as a territory until the 20th Century. These high-quality maps can be viewed and downloaded in a number of ways. For more than 20,000 historical maps be sure to visit The David Rumsey Map Collection. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials.

Mississippi History and Genealogy Notes blog is an excellent site devoted entirely to research in Mississippi. The site contains, not only current news relating to Mississippi research, but many excellent Missisisippi links as well.

Documenting the American South is an electronic collection sponsored by the Academic Affairs Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. It supplies teachers, students, and researchers at every educational level with a wide array of titles they can use for reference, studying, teaching, and research.

The Mississippi Historical Society's online publication Mississippi History Now is a facinating online magazine devoted entirely to Mississippi History. Be sure to click the Search the Archived Features link for numerous interesting articles devoted entirely to Mississippi history.

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet: US - Mississippi, contains an abundance of excellent links to various Internet sites dealing with Mississippi genealogy and history.

The Online Books Page History: United States (Regional), and the Americas Section, contains links to scores of valuable 19th century and earlier regional histories, biographies and other works.

Making of America, (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.

For Detailed Research

Issaquena County is in the area covered by The Vicksburg Genealogical Society. This society produces the quarterly, Mississippi River Routes. Mississippi River Routes features items of genealogical and historical interest for the Mississippi counties of Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Hinds, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Lincoln, Pike, Sharkey, Warren, Washington, Wilkinson and Yazoo, and the Louisiana parishes of Avoyelles, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union and West Carroll.

Discover Mississippi

Are you planning a research trip to Mississippi? Be sure to visit the links below for excellent detailed visitor information on not only Mississippi, but the immediate Issaquena County area as well.

The Official Mississippi Travel and Tourism Guide
Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau
Greenville/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau