Clarke County, Mississippi

Clarke County
Clarke County
County
	Clarke County courthouse and Confederate monument in Quitman
	Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
	Mississippi's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 32°02′N 88°41′W / 32.04°N 88.69°W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
Founded	December 23, 1833
Seat	Quitman
Largest city	Quitman
Area
• Total	694 sq mi (1,800 km2)
• Land	692 sq mi (1,790 km2)
• Water	2.0 sq mi (5 km2) 0.3%
Population (2020)
• Total	15,615
• Density	23/sq mi (8.7/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	3rd
Website	"Visit Clarke County".

Clarke County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,615.^[2] Its county seat is Quitman.^[3] Clarke County is named for Joshua G. Clarke,^[4] the first Mississippi state chancellor and judge.

The county is part of the Meridian, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Before white men first arrived, the Choctaw Indians inhabited the land that would later be known as the Clarke County, Mississippi. Clarke County is only a portion of what was known as Okla Hannali or Six Town District of the Choctaws. Okla Hannali or Six Towns District existed at the time of the Dancing Rabbit Treaty in 1830.^[5]

David Gage, who came to the area in about 1820, was a Presbyterian minister. Traveling with him was Moses Jewel and Miss Skinner, who were both teachers. He settled at a place called Eewennans in the Choctaw Nation. David Gage, Moses Jewel, and Miss Skinner came to the territory for the purpose of educating the Indians some domestic habits.^[6]

At the beginning of 1832, settlers began to appear in what was known as the “New Purchase”. One of the first families to arrive was Jehu and Sarah Pagaus Evans, who arrived in February 1832, and settled east of Buckatunna Swamp. By the fall of 1832, the “New Purchase” began to fill up quickly with arrivals. Among the early settlers were George Evans, Richard Wagster, Henry Hailes, Alex Hailes, Michael McCarty, James Bankston, Calvin M. Ludlow, John Williford, William Williford, James Risher, J. A. Fontain, John Gunn, Robert Fleming, John Fleming, Hiram Fleming, Norman Martin, Stephen Grice, Thomas F. Hicks, Alex McLendon, Roland B. Crosby, Cameron Grayson, Jesse C. Mott, David Neely, David B. Thompson, Dabney Edwards, Jacob Slack, John Johnston, Alex Trotter, Richard N. Hough, Robert McLaughlin, L. D. Phillips, Samuel Lee, Jesse Sumrall, Jeremiah Crane, Howell Sumrall, William Goleman, Thomas Goleman, Samuel K. Lewis and Thomas Watts.^[7]

The county was founded in 1833. Quitman, named for General John A. Quitman.^[4]^[7]

After the organization of Clarke County, the first school was built close to the old Tennessee Trace. Mr. Hennessy was the teacher and he came from Kinsale, Ireland. Religious services were held in the pioneer families’ home and on days of good weather, outside. The first actual church built was Cedar Creek Church, a Methodist church, and Elim Baptist Church followed in the 1840s.

In the Spring of 1834, Joel Nail, a quadroon Indian, began moving the Choctaw Indians to Muskalresha, an old town in Neshoba County, Mississippi. These journeys continued through 1838 for all that would go. Some of the Choctaw Indians returned to their homes in Clarke County after arriving at Muskalresha.^[6]

In the 1830s there were no postal routes in Clarke County. However, there was a stagecoach line from Columbus, Mississippi to Winchester, Wayne County, Mississippi. The settlers of Clarke County would have to travel to Winchester, 25 miles away to receive their mail.^[6]

Ten black people were lynched in Clarke County, as documented in The Hanging Bridge by Jason Morgan Ward.^[8]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 694 square miles (1,800 km²), of which 692 square miles (1,790 km²) is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²) (0.3%) is water.^[9] The Chickasawhay River flows north to south through the eastern portion of the county; it eventually meets the Pascagoula River.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1840	2,986		—
1850	5,477		83.4%
1860	10,771		96.7%
1870	7,505		−30.3%
1880	15,021		100.1%
1890	15,826		5.4%
1900	17,741		12.1%
1910	21,630		21.9%
1920	17,927		−17.1%
1930	19,679		9.8%
1940	20,596		4.7%
1950	19,362		−6.0%
1960	16,493		−14.8%
1970	15,049		−8.8%
1980	16,945		12.6%
1990	17,313		2.2%
2000	17,955		3.7%
2010	16,732		−6.8%
2020	15,615		−6.7%
2023 (est.)	15,228	^[10]	−2.5%
U.S. Decennial Census^[11] 1790-1960^[12] 1900-1990^[13] 1990-2000^[14] 2010-2013^[15]

Clarke County by race as of 2020^[16]
Race	Num.	Perc.
White	9,950	63.72%
Black or African American	5,103	32.68%
Native American	16	0.1%
Asian	8	0.05%
Pacific Islander	6	0.04%
Other/Mixed	400	2.56%
Hispanic or Latino	132	0.85%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 15,615 people, 6,237 households, and 4,397 families residing in the county.

Ancestry/Ethnicity

As of 2017 the largest self-identified ancestry groups/ethnic groups in Clarke County, Mississippi were:^[17]^[18]

Largest ancestries (2017)	Percent
English	22.37%
"American"	10.6%
Irish	7.04%
German	2.65%
Dutch	1.4%
Scots-Irish	1.3%
Scottish	1.1%
French (except Basque)	0.6%

^[17]

Communities

Cities

Quitman (county seat)

Towns

Census-designated place

De Soto

Unincorporated communities

Ghost town

Gin

Politics

United States presidential election results for Clarke County, Mississippi^[19]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	5,417	64.97%	2,838	34.04%	83	1.00%
2016	5,137	65.94%	2,585	33.18%	69	0.89%
2012	5,049	61.18%	3,111	37.70%	93	1.13%
2008	5,229	62.27%	3,121	37.17%	47	0.56%
2004	5,068	67.51%	2,402	32.00%	37	0.49%
2000	4,503	65.08%	2,368	34.22%	48	0.69%
1996	3,470	56.04%	2,337	37.74%	385	6.22%
1992	4,207	60.67%	2,259	32.58%	468	6.75%
1988	4,522	63.71%	2,576	36.29%	0	0.00%
1984	4,551	66.61%	2,262	33.11%	19	0.28%
1980	3,303	49.14%	3,303	49.14%	115	1.71%
1976	2,935	48.96%	2,816	46.97%	244	4.07%
1972	4,561	81.56%	954	17.06%	77	1.38%
1968	298	5.53%	878	16.29%	4,214	78.18%
1964	3,591	93.42%	253	6.58%	0	0.00%
1960	586	17.71%	1,244	37.61%	1,478	44.68%
1956	500	20.77%	1,763	73.24%	144	5.98%
1952	754	27.38%	2,000	72.62%	0	0.00%
1948	17	0.88%	144	7.47%	1,767	91.65%
1944	95	5.31%	1,694	94.69%	0	0.00%
1940	42	2.40%	1,711	97.60%	0	0.00%
1936	31	1.46%	2,089	98.40%	3	0.14%
1932	53	3.44%	1,482	96.11%	7	0.45%
1928	563	33.23%	1,131	66.77%	0	0.00%
1924	87	6.24%	1,306	93.62%	2	0.14%
1920	47	5.35%	807	91.91%	24	2.73%
1916	49	4.19%	1,092	93.33%	29	2.48%
1912	17	2.29%	638	85.87%	88	11.84%

References

^ "Clarke County, Mississippi Genealogy & History Network". Retrieved November 8, 2014.
^ "Census - Geography Profile: Clarke County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 83.
^ Halbert, H. L. (1893). Peet, Stephen Denison (ed.). "Okla Hannali: Or the Six towns District of the Choctaws". The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. 15. Jameson & Morse: 146–149. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Recollections of John Hicks Evans, Personal Manuscript, 1902, Department of Archive & History, Washington, D.C.
^ ^a ^b Lowry, Robert; McCardle, William H. (1891). "XXIV, Clarke County". A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. R. H. Henry & Company. pp. 460–462. ISBN 978-0-7884-4821-8. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
^ Ward, Jason Morgan (2018) [2016]. Hanging Bridge: Racial Violence and America's Civil Rights Century. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190905842.
^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "American FactFinder - Results". Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
^ "The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas".
^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 4, 2018.