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For links, names and addresses of Issaquena County area libraries, local government offices, area newspapers, state government divisions, and the research information those entities offer, be sure to consult the Issaquena Genealogy and History Project Researchers' Directory.
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Issaquena County Slave Research 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
American Civil War Research Links The United States Civil War Center
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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:
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THE ISSAQUENA GENEALOGY AND HISTORY PROJECT |