Establishment of Amite County and Liberty. Mississippi

Amite County, established in 1809, was the fifth county formed in the Mississippi

Territory. In 1799, Mississippi Territorial Governor Sargent issued a proclamation dividing the

original Natchez Territory into the southern or lower division, to be called the County of Adams,

and the northern or upper division to be called Pickering. In 1802 Wilkinson County was

established from Adams County; in this same period of time, Jefferson and Claiborne counties

were established from Pickering County On February 24, 1809, the general assembly of the

Mississippi Territory enacted the division of Wilkinson County and the establishment of Amite.

The name Amite was given because of the river by that name which flows through the county

which had been named by the French in  commemoration of the friendly manner in which they 

had been received by the [Houma] Indians living along the river.

This legislation also called for establishing the location of the county seat authorizing the

" .... purchase not less than 50 acres ... not to be more than one and one-half miles from the

center of the county and to include a good spring ... "

Section four of this Act states " ... that the town when laid out should be called and

known by the name Liberty." " ... it is assumed that the spirit that actuated coming of the

forefathers to America and that shown in the Revolutionary War was still in the minds of the

men who composed the General Assembly and thus the name Liberty was chosen."

Source:

Selected History of Amite County, Mississippi, I, compiled by Amite County Historical and Genealogical Society, Liberty, Mississippi, 2006.  

Liberty and Amite County Sesqui-Centennial, 1809-1959. The Amite County Sesqui-Centennial Committee, Liberty, MS, 1959. 

A History of Methodism in Amite County, compiled by Rev. Robert S. Weldon, pastor of Liberty Methodist Church, Liberty, MS, 1976. 

A Brief History of Amite County, an excerpt from a Master's Thesis by Jennifer M. Payne, Rice University, 1996. 

The History of Liberty, Mississippi, a senior research paper by Hattie Pearl Nunnery, Liberty, MS, 1958.