Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru,but is best known for leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States. He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River.
DeSoto County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census,the population was 185,314,making it the third-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Hernando. DeSoto County is part of the Memphis metropolitan area. It is the second-most populous county in that statistical area. The county has lowland areas that were developed in the 19th century for cotton plantations,and hill country in the eastern part of the county.
Pontotoc is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County,Mississippi,located to the west of the larger city of Tupelo. The population was 5,640 at the 2020 census. Pontotoc is a Chickasaw word that means,“Land of the Hanging Grapes.”A section of the city largely along Main Street and Liberty Street has been designated the Pontotoc Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Treaty of Pontotoc Site is also listed on the National Register. The Treaty of Pontotoc Creek,part of U.S. president Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal policy,ceded millions of acres of Native American lands and relocated the Chicakasaw west of the Mississippi River.
Douglas Edward Davis is a Republican politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate,formerly representing the 1st District.
Charlie Ross is an American politician and attorney who lives in Brandon,Mississippi. He served as Senator from District 20 in the Mississippi Senate until 2007. District 20 comprises parts of Madison and Rankin Counties. Ross was first elected to the Senate in 1997 after serving as the representative from District 59 in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Prior to his legislative service,he served as the Chairman of the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee. In 2008,Ross ran for Congress in Mississippi's 3rd congressional district,but was defeated in the primary by Rankin County Republican Chairman Gregg Harper.
Thomas Arlin Gollott is a businessman and former state legislator in Mississippi. A Democrat,he served as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate before becoming a Republican in 2007. He represented the 50th District from 1980 to 2020. He had served continuously in the Mississippi Legislature from 1968,when he sat as a state representative,which he served until his election as state senator in 1979. He had been a Democrat until 2007,when he switched his affiliation to Republican. In September 2017,he became the longest-serving member of the Mississippi Legislature in history. He retired from the Senate in 2020,after deciding not to run for another term.
Carrie Belle Kearney was an American temperance reformer,suffragist,teacher,white supremacist,and the first woman elected to the Mississippi State Senate. A Democrat,she served in the state senate in 1924 and 1926. She lived in Flora,Mississippi,and represented Madison County.
A special election for Mississippi's 1st congressional district was held on May 12,2015,to fill the term left by the vacancy created by the death of Alan Nunnelee. Nunnelee,a member of the Republican Party,died on February 6,2015.
Christopher "Brice" Wiggins is an American lawyer and politician. He serves as a Republican member of the Mississippi State Senate representing Mississippi's District 52,which includes the cities of Pascagoula and Ocean Springs.
David Parker is an American optometrist and politician. He serves as a Republican member of the Mississippi State Senate for District 2,which includes part of DeSoto county.
Michael McLendon is an American politician and insurance producer who has served in the Mississippi State Senate from the 1st district since 2020.
Miles Patrick Nelson is a retired customer service manager and former Republican member of the Mississippi House of Representatives,now Executive Vice-President of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi. He lives in Brookhaven,Mississippi.
Stephen Thrasher was a Civil War veteran,lawyer,and state senator in Mississippi. He served in the Claiborne Guards and was involved in several battles during the American Civil War,was injured,and captured. He and his wife owned large plantations. He was twice elected to the Mississippi Senate in 1886 and 1889. He lived in Port Gibson,Mississippi in Claiborne County.
Nathan Shirley was a state legislator in Mississippi.
Henry H. Harrison was a minister,shoemaker,teacher,and state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Chickasaw County,Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1874 to 1875.
Obediah Crew French was a state legislator in Mississippi. He was a Republican. He and other Republican legislators were ridiculed in the Natchez Democrat. Z. P. Landrum,a fellow legislator,called him a low-bred carpet bag cur. He served as Mississippi's commissioner for the U.S. Centennial.
James Alexander Ventress (1805–1867) was a lawyer,inventor,plantation owner,and state legislator in Mississippi. He served five terms in the state house and then two in the state senate.
Merle Franklin Palmer was a state legislator and judge in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964 and the Mississippi Senate from 1964 to 1970,when he was appointed to the State Circuit Court. He served as president pro tempore of the Mississippi Senate and was acting governor of the state for part of January 1968.
Bobby Gerald Perry was a lawyer,judge,and state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi Senate including as President Pro Tempore with a stint as acting governor.
Carl Cochran Allen was an American pharmacist,farmer,and Democratic politician. He represented DeSoto County in the Mississippi State Senate from 1944 to 1952,and in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1932 to 1936,from 1940 to 1944,and from 1952 to 1956.
