About half way up the western border of Scott County, the line turns left at about a 15 or so degree angle. If it went straight, it would make so much more sense. I wonder if anyone knows why Scott County got that little bit of land and Rankin did not. And before you all start gossiping about what an OCD screwball I have become, I'll just save you the time and trouble. I am not OCD. I am CDO. That is OCD in alphabetical order. Now, back to the original question. Anyone up to it?
Re: Question for John Billy or anyone else interested
Robert, You ask an excellent question. The answer may be more that you asked for, but here it is.
(Following from pages 1 and 2 of my 2016 Forest, Scott County, book)
The area that would later become Scott County, was situated within the lands claimed for thousands of years by the Choctaw Indians. There seems to be evidence that suggest Choctaw ancestors have been in the Mississippi area for at least 4,000 to 8,000 years.
In 1798 when the Territory of Mississippi was first created, the area of what was later to be Scott County was not included in the Territory of Mississippi. This was due to the State of Georgia’s claims of ownership of this northern lands of what would later become the State of Mississippi from Georgia’s eastern boundary at the Atlantic Ocean and then all the way westward to the Mississippi River.
Georgia relinquished its claim to these northern Mississippi lands (which included what was later to be Scott County) in 1802. Within two years, in 1804, the United States federal government included this upper Mississippi area to be part of the Territory of Mississippi. However, much of this area, including the future-to-be Scott County, was still owned/claimed by the Choctaw Indians so it still could not be settled by the westward moving Europeans.
In 1817 the State of Mississippi was created from the western half of the Territory of Mississippi. The future-to-be Scott County was located within the State of Mississippi but still within lands claimed by the Choctaw Indians, therefore it was still unavailable to land settlers. All that was about to change in the next thirteen years.
Scott County, Mississippi is a part of the territory surrendered by the Choctaw Indians to the federal government by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in their third and last cession (surrender) in 1830. The treaty was signed September 27, 1830 near a creek named Dancing Rabbit Creek located in south-western Noxubee County, Mississippi. There were about 6,000 Choctaw men, women, and children attending the signing of the treaty.
The treaty ceded, or surrendered, about 11 million acres of land of the Choctaw Nation (now Mississippi) in exchange for about 15 million acres of land in the Indian Territory (now the State of Oklahoma). In the 1831 ratification of the treaty some Choctaws were allowed to stay in Mississippi if they chose to stay, but if they stayed they would be required to become citizens of the United States and would be subject to U. S. laws.
About 15,000 Choctaws moved to Oklahoma but maybe 6,000 chose to stay in Mississippi. Of those who stayed, many were forced to also go to Oklahoma in the years to come due to harsh treatment by the white population.
Almost immediately following the treaty, these new ceded lands started to be surveyed by the U. S. Federal government, readying it to be sold to the public. Scott County was organized three years later on 23 December 1833. It was named in honor of Abram M. Scott, who was then governor of Mississippi.
When Scott County was created in 1833 the state legislature defined the boundaries to be 24 miles square which was a total of 576 square miles.
Probably due in large part to dealing with different governments, the U. S. Federal Government, the State of Georgia, the Choctaws and different land surveyors, etc., it was discovered about 1837 that there was 8 square miles of land in the western top corner of the county east of Pearl River that had not yet been assigned to any Mississippi county.
About four years after its creation, Scott County was enlarged by those additional 8 square miles in the western top corner of the county east of Pearl River that had mistakenly not yet been assigned to any Mississippi county. The additional 8 square miles made a total of 584 square miles, or 373,760 acres in the county. With this exception the boundary lines of Scott County have not changed since its creation in 1833.
Re: Question for John Billy or anyone else interested
I assume you are referring ti tghe poaragraph which reads, "February 8, 1838, the county was enlarged by the addition of "all that portion of territory lying east of Pearl River and the old Choctaw boundary line, designating the dividing line between the Indian and white settlements prior to the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, in 1830, from the point where the said boundary line crosses Pearl River, to the point where the same intersects the present western boundary line of the county of Scott."It is now a nearly square area of land containing 597 square miles of territory, and was one of the sixteen counties formed at the above time from the territory ceded by the Choctaws in the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, September 27, 1830."?
Re: Question for John Billy or anyone else interested
I take it back. I had not seen John B's post when I said the above. That DOES indeed explain it. (I still think it ought to go to Rankin Co. so we can have a prettier and more reasonable county.)
I fear our days of having 'a prettier and more reasonable Scott County', ever again, is long, long gone. (Martha would scold me for all those unnecessary commas) Maybe we should give those 8 square miles to Mexico.
