ATTALA COUNTY HISTORY AND LOOKUP
County History Books
*None Listed
Attala County, Mississippi: A Genealogical Overview
Located in the geographic center of Mississippi, Attala County is a region of rolling hills and dense forests, bisected by the Big Black River. Established from lands of the Choctaw Nation, its history is deeply rooted in the antebellum cotton kingdom, the turmoil of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and a 20th-century economy based on agriculture, timber, and small manufacturing. The historic Natchez Trace Parkway runs through its western portion, following ancient paths of Native Americans and early pioneers. For genealogists, researching Attala County requires an understanding of Choctaw removal, record loss due to courthouse fires, and the social fabric of the rural Deep South.
I. County Formation and Evolution
Understanding Attala County’s formation from Native American territory and the significant loss of its early records is critical for successful genealogical research.
- 1833: County Formed: Attala County was authorized on December 23, 1833, by an act of the Mississippi Legislature.
- Parent Entity: It was created from territory ceded by the Choctaw Nation in the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. It was not formed from a pre-existing Mississippi county. Research prior to 1833 requires consulting federal records related to the Choctaw Nation, not county records.
- Subsequent County Formations: Attala County’s boundaries were later altered. In 1871, its northern portion was combined with a piece of Carroll County to create Montgomery County. Researchers with ancestors in the northern towns of Attala must check Montgomery County records after this date.
- Name Origin: The county is named for Atala, the fictional Native American heroine in the 1801 French romance of the same name written by François-René de Chateaubriand. The spelling was altered to “Attala.”
- County Seat History: Kosciusko has been the county seat since the county’s formation in 1833. It is named for Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish general who was a hero of the American Revolution.
II. Settlement and Early History
- Early Inhabitants: The region was the historical homeland of the Choctaw people. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek forced the majority of the Choctaw to remove to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) along the “Trail of Tears,” opening the area to widespread American settlement.
- Pioneer Settlement and Economy: Beginning in the early 1830s, settlers, primarily of English, Scottish, and Irish descent, poured into the newly available land from other southern states like the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. The economy was swiftly dominated by cotton cultivation on plantations operated by the labor of enslaved African Americans. After the Civil War, the economy transitioned to a system of sharecropping and tenant farming that defined the lives of the majority of its black and white residents for generations.
III. Genealogical Records and Resources
This section provides practical information for locating ancestral records, with special attention paid to significant record loss.
- Courthouse: Attala County Courthouse, 230 W Washington St, Kosciusko, MS 39090.
- CRITICAL NOTE ON RECORD LOSS: The Attala County courthouse burned in 1858 and again in 1896. These fires destroyed the vast majority of county records, including most deeds, wills, probate, and court records from before 1858. Research in the antebellum period is extremely challenging and requires the use of alternative sources.
- Chancery Clerk: Holds land records (deeds) and probate records (wills, estates) that have survived since the fires.
- Circuit Clerk: Holds court records and marriage records. Marriage records prior to the 1858 fire are lost.
- Vital Records:
- Birth and Death Records: Statewide registration in Mississippi began in November 1912. These records are held by the Mississippi State Department of Health. No county-level civil birth or death records exist before this date. Researchers must rely on church records, family Bibles, newspapers, and cemetery records.
- Marriage Records: Held by the County Circuit Clerk. The surviving records begin after the 1858 courthouse fire.
- Libraries with Genealogy Collections:
- Attala County Library: Located in Kosciusko, this library is part of the Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System and is the best local source for published family histories, local history files, and newspapers on microfilm.
- Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH): Located in Jackson, MDAH is the state’s premier genealogical repository. It holds microfilm copies of all surviving county records, state documents, tax rolls (which can substitute for lost census and land records), newspapers, and private manuscript collections.
- Bordering Jurisdictions:
- Leake County, MS
- Madison County, MS
- Yazoo County, MS
- Holmes County, MS
- Carroll County, MS
- Montgomery County, MS
- Choctaw County, MS
- Winston County, MS