Jefferson County | |
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![]() Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi | |
![]() Mississippi's location within the U.S. | |
Coordinates: 31°44′N91°02′W / 31.73°N 91.03°W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
Founded | 1799 |
Named for | Thomas Jefferson |
Seat | Fayette |
Largest city | Fayette |
Area | |
• Total | 527 sq mi (1,360 km2) |
• Land | 520 sq mi (1,300 km2) |
• Water | 7.3 sq mi (19 km2) 1.4% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 7,260 |
• Density | 14/sq mi (5.3/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
Congressional district | 2nd |
Website | www |
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,260, [1] making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Its first county seat was located at Old Greenville until 1825, which no longer exists, [2] before moving to Fayette. [3] The county is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. [4]
One of the first of two counties organized in the Mississippi Territory in 1798 along with Adams County, it was first named Pickering County and included what would become Claiborne County. [5] Originally developed as cotton plantations in the antebellum era, the rural county has struggled with a declining economy and reduced population since the mechanization of agriculture and urbanization of other areas. In 2020, its population of 7,260 was roughly one-third of the population peak in 1900. Within the United States, in 2009 rural Jefferson County had the highest percentage of African-Americans of any county. It was the fourth-poorest county in the nation. [6]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 527 square miles (1,360 km2), of which 520 square miles (1,300 km2) is land and 7.3 square miles (19 km2) (1.4%) is water. [7]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1800 | 2,940 | — | |
1810 | 4,001 | 36.1% | |
1820 | 6,822 | 70.5% | |
1830 | 9,755 | 43.0% | |
1840 | 11,650 | 19.4% | |
1850 | 13,193 | 13.2% | |
1860 | 15,349 | 16.3% | |
1870 | 13,848 | −9.8% | |
1880 | 17,314 | 25.0% | |
1890 | 18,947 | 9.4% | |
1900 | 21,292 | 12.4% | |
1910 | 18,221 | −14.4% | |
1920 | 15,946 | −12.5% | |
1930 | 14,291 | −10.4% | |
1940 | 13,969 | −2.3% | |
1950 | 11,306 | −19.1% | |
1960 | 10,142 | −10.3% | |
1970 | 9,295 | −8.4% | |
1980 | 9,181 | −1.2% | |
1990 | 8,653 | −5.8% | |
2000 | 9,740 | 12.6% | |
2010 | 7,726 | −20.7% | |
2020 | 7,260 | −6.0% | |
2023 (est.) | 6,941 | [8] | −4.4% |
U.S. Decennial Census [9] 1790-1960 [10] 1900-1990 [11] 1990-2000 [12] 2010-2013 [13] |
Race | Num. | Perc. |
---|---|---|
White | 891 | 12.27% |
Black or African American | 6,138 | 84.55% |
Native American | 10 | 0.14% |
Asian | 14 | 0.19% |
Pacific Islander | 5 | 0.07% |
Other/Mixed | 128 | 1.76% |
Hispanic or Latino | 74 | 1.02% |
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,260 people, 2,448 households, and 1,488 families residing in the county.
Jefferson County School District operates public schools in all of the county. [15]
Jefferson County is overwhelmingly Democratic, and has supported Democratic candidates in presidential elections with at least 80% of the vote since Bill Clinton in 1992, who won 79%. Republicans have not garnered even 25% of the vote in presidential elections since 1972 (when Jefferson was one of only three counties in Mississippi to vote for George McGovern).
The last Republican to win the county was Barry Goldwater. Although Goldwater lost nationally in a landslide, he carried the state of Mississippi (and also Jefferson County) in a landslide, winning over 87% of the vote and carrying every county. [note 1] Jefferson County supported him with 95% of the vote. Goldwater's lopsided victory was the result of Mississippi's decades-long suppression of the voting rights of African Americans, which only began to be reversed with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [note 2]
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 531 | 13.59% | 3,327 | 85.13% | 50 | 1.28% |
2016 | 490 | 12.69% | 3,337 | 86.45% | 33 | 0.85% |
2012 | 468 | 10.56% | 3,951 | 89.13% | 14 | 0.32% |
2008 | 551 | 12.30% | 3,883 | 86.71% | 44 | 0.98% |
2004 | 630 | 18.16% | 2,821 | 81.32% | 18 | 0.52% |
2000 | 600 | 17.61% | 2,786 | 81.75% | 22 | 0.65% |
1996 | 489 | 15.68% | 2,531 | 81.15% | 99 | 3.17% |
1992 | 562 | 15.96% | 2,796 | 79.39% | 164 | 4.66% |
1988 | 702 | 20.64% | 2,693 | 79.18% | 6 | 0.18% |
1984 | 856 | 21.88% | 3,049 | 77.94% | 7 | 0.18% |
1980 | 751 | 20.17% | 2,871 | 77.09% | 102 | 2.74% |
1976 | 782 | 22.83% | 2,562 | 74.78% | 82 | 2.39% |
1972 | 1,131 | 43.37% | 1,457 | 55.87% | 20 | 0.77% |
1968 | 147 | 4.35% | 2,121 | 62.75% | 1,112 | 32.90% |
1964 | 1,258 | 94.80% | 69 | 5.20% | 0 | 0.00% |
1960 | 137 | 12.52% | 229 | 20.93% | 728 | 66.54% |
1956 | 189 | 19.65% | 440 | 45.74% | 333 | 34.62% |
1952 | 610 | 53.09% | 539 | 46.91% | 0 | 0.00% |
1948 | 14 | 1.41% | 15 | 1.51% | 967 | 97.09% |
1944 | 25 | 3.16% | 766 | 96.84% | 0 | 0.00% |
1940 | 7 | 0.87% | 801 | 99.13% | 0 | 0.00% |
1936 | 9 | 1.01% | 884 | 98.88% | 1 | 0.11% |
1932 | 24 | 3.07% | 753 | 96.29% | 5 | 0.64% |
1928 | 63 | 7.05% | 830 | 92.95% | 0 | 0.00% |
1924 | 50 | 9.14% | 497 | 90.86% | 0 | 0.00% |
1920 | 14 | 3.15% | 430 | 96.63% | 1 | 0.22% |
1916 | 3 | 0.65% | 456 | 99.13% | 1 | 0.22% |
1912 | 2 | 0.46% | 408 | 94.66% | 21 | 4.87% |
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Fayette is a city in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,614 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jefferson County.
David Hunt was an American planter based in the Natchez District of Mississippi. From New Jersey in approximately 1800, he took a job in his uncle Abijah Hunt's Mississippi business. After his uncle's untimely 1811 death, as a beneficiary and as the executor of the estate, he began to convert the estate into his plantation empire. By the time of the 1860 slave census, Hunt owned close to 800 slaves. This was after ensuring that each of his five adult children had at least one plantation and had an approximate minimum of 100 slaves apiece. In fact, Hunt and his five adult children and their spouses owned some 1,700 slaves by 1860. He became a major philanthropist in the South, contributing to educational institutions in Mississippi, as well as the American Colonization Society and Mississippi Colonization Society, the latter of which he was a founding member.
Abijah Hunt (1762–1811) was an American merchant, planter, slave trader, and banker in the Natchez District.
Old Greenville is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. The town was located along the old Natchez Trace and was once the largest town along the Trace. Nothing exists at the site today except the town's cemetery.