WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORY AND LOOKUP

County History Books

*None Listed

Washington County, Mississippi: A Genealogical Overview

Located in the heart of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, Washington County is a region defined by its rich alluvial soil and the dominant presence of the Mississippi River, which forms its entire western border. Established during the great antebellum expansion into the Deep South, the county quickly became a center of the cotton kingdom, built upon a large-scale plantation economy. Its history is one of agricultural wealth, devastating floods, significant Civil War actions, and profound social change, making it a rich and complex area for genealogical research.

I. County Formation and Evolution

Tracing ancestral records in Washington County requires a clear understanding of its significant boundary changes and, critically, the catastrophic loss of its early courthouse records.

  • 1827: County Formed: Washington County was officially established on January 29, 1827.
  • Parent Counties: It was created from portions of Yazoo County and Warren County. This territory was previously the homeland of the Choctaw Nation and was opened to settlement following the Treaty of Doak’s Stand in 1820.
  • Subsequent Formations: The original Washington County was immense. Its territory was later partitioned to create all or parts of numerous other Delta counties, including: Bolivar (1836), Sunflower (1844), Issaquena (1844), Leflore (1871), Sharkey (1876), and Humphreys (1918). Researchers with early roots in these “child” counties must begin their search in the surviving records of the parent, Washington County.
  • Name Origin: The county was named in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States.
  • County Seat History: The county seat has moved several times, a fact complicated by the shifting course of the Mississippi River and by war.
    • Princeton (c. 1833-1846): The first significant county seat was the bustling river port of Princeton. The entire town was gradually destroyed by the changing course of the Mississippi River, eventually collapsing into the water.
    • Greenville (1846-Present): The county seat was moved to the more stable location of Greenville. The Greenville courthouse and most of its records were burned by Union troops in 1863 during the Civil War. A replacement courthouse also burned in 1886. This loss of nearly all pre-1886 records is the single greatest challenge for Washington County genealogy.

II. Settlement and Early History

  • Early Inhabitants: For centuries prior to European settlement, the region was inhabited by the Choctaw people.
  • Antebellum Settlement and Economy: Following the Choctaw land cessions, settlers, primarily from the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and other parts of the upper South, flooded into the fertile Delta. They established large cotton plantations worked by a vast population of enslaved African Americans. The economy was almost entirely dependent on cotton, and wealth was concentrated in the hands of a small planter class. The Mississippi River served as the primary commercial artery, connecting the county’s plantations to markets in New Orleans and beyond.
  • Post-Civil War and 20th Century: After the Civil War, the plantation economy was replaced by systems of sharecropping and tenant farming. The county remained a major cotton producer. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 devastated Greenville and the surrounding area, leading to significant social upheaval and a massive federal response in the form of improved levee systems.

III. Genealogical Records and Resources

Research in Washington County is defined by working around the significant record loss caused by the courthouse fires.

  • County Courthouse: The Washington County Courthouse is located at 900 Washington Ave, Greenville, MS 38701.
    • Record Loss: Researchers must assume that most standard county records (marriages, wills, probate, early court cases) prior to 1886 do not exist.
    • Land Records: While deeds were also burned, many were re-recorded from private copies after the fires, making the land record collection more complete than other record sets.
  • Vital Records:
    • Birth and Death Records: Statewide registration of births and deaths in Mississippi began in November 1912. Records are available from the Mississippi State Department of Health.
    • Marriage Records: County-level marriage records begin around 1886. For marriages prior to this, researchers must rely on alternative sources like church records, family Bibles, and newspaper announcements.
  • Libraries with Genealogy Collections:
    • William L. Percy Memorial Library: The main library in Greenville has an excellent local history and genealogy department. It is the best starting point for research, holding resources that can substitute for lost courthouse records, such as microfilmed newspapers, census records, city directories, published family histories, and manuscript collections.
    • Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH): Located in Jackson, MDAH is the state’s premier genealogical repository. It holds state-level records, tax rolls (which can act as a partial census substitute), Confederate pension records, and an extensive collection of Mississippi newspapers on microfilm.
  • Bordering Jurisdictions:
    • Mississippi: Bolivar County & Sunflower County (north); Humphreys County & Sharkey County (east); Issaquena County (south).
    • Arkansas: (across the Mississippi River to the west) Chicot County & Desha County.

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