History of Choctaw County Alabama United States of America

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Choctaw was established by an act of the legislature, approved December 29, 1847, and two tiers of its townships were taken from Sumter and five from Washington.

It is in the western portion of the State, and bounded north by Sumter, south by Washington, east by Marengo and Clarke, and west by the State of Mississippi.

The name preserves the remembrance of the most docile and numerous of all the aboriginal tribes of the United States, who possessed the soil now embraced within its limits from a time "whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary."

Its area is something over 900 square miles.

The assessed value of property is $1,104,975, viz: real estate $821,732; personal property $283,243.

The following shows the decennial movement of population:

1850 1860 1870 Whites 1850: 4620 1860: 6767 1870: 5802 Blacks 1850: 3769 1860: 7110 1870: 6872

The lands are rolling and flat. The ridges and pine lands are sandy, but the river and creek "bottoms" are alluvial. The pine forests are extensive, and will be made a source of wealth. Grazing for cattle is excellent in the outlying lands.

The farm lands are valued at $946,850, and embraces 79,502 acres improved, and 220,329 acres unimproved.

The value of live stock in 1870 was $409, 209, and consisted of 1313 horses, 941 mules, 10,236 neat cattle, 2940 sheep, and 14,082 hogs.

The productions in 1869 were 227,715 bushels of corn, 51,759 bushels of potatoes, 29,146 pounds of butter, 6439 bales of cotton, 3356 pounds of wool; the value of animals slaughtered was $67,823; and the value of farm productions was $908,562.

The Tombikbee river is the eastern boundary line, and is open to steam navigation the entire year.

There are mineral waters in the county, and Bladon Springs have attained to a wide celebrity.

Butler, the seat of justice, has about 200 inhabitants. It was named to honor Col. Pierce M. Butler of South Carolina, killed at the battle of Cherubusco, in 1847. Bladon Springs has about 350, and Mount Stirling about 300 inhabitants.

S. E. Catterlin and A. J. Curtis represented this county in the constitutional convention of 1861. Thomas Wilkes Coleman and Joshua Morse represented it in the constitutional convention of 1865.

The following is a list of members of the general assembly from Chocta since it was allowed representation:

Senators

1853 - Wm. Woodward. 1855 - Thomas McC. Prince. 1859 - Wm. Woodward. 1861 - Turner Reavis. 1865 - John T. Foster. [No election in 1867 or since]

Representatives 1853 - Edward McCall. 1855 - John Wesley Pennington. 1857 - John W. Pennington, A. Cullum. 1859 - James G. Slater, J. G. Fielder. 1861 - J. T. Foster, J. A. M. Thompson. 1863 - John T. Foster, J. S. Evans. 1865 - Joshua Morse, G. F. Smith. 1869 - J. S. Evans, (to fill vacancy.) 1870 - G. Frank Smith.

SOURCE: Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men From 1540 to 1872, by Willis Brewer.

History of Choctaw County Alabama

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