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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY -- ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF
MISSISSIPPI AUTHORIZING SAME -- NAMES OF COMMISSIONERS WHO ORGANIZED
THE COUNTY -- SIZE AND FORM OF THE COUNTY -- NUMBER OF SQUARE MILES IN
THE COUNTY -- NUMBER OF ACRES OF LAND IN THE COUNTY -- WHAT THE COUNTY
DERIVED ITS NAME FROM -- WHAT COUNTY WAS DIVIDED TO MAKE NEWTON COUNTY
-- WHAT PART OF THE CHOCTAW PURCHASE NEWTON COUNTY WAS TAKEN FROM.
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By an act of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, approved
26th of February, 1836, a certain territory, comprising the southern half
of Neshoba county, was set apart as the county of Newton.
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The names of three citizens of this new territory were mentioned and
commissioned by the Legislature of the State to organize the county of
Newton, namely, William Donalson, Michael Thomas and Francis Jones.
These men had power to meet and go through whatever form was necessary to
organize a county, and also to buy, or receive by gift, not more than eight
acres of land on which to build or locate a county site for the
court-house, as near as was practical in the center of the county.
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The form of Newton county is a square, there being no other county in
the State, unless it is Leake county, of the same form. It is twenty-four
miles square, which will give it 576 square miles and 368,640 acres of
land.
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The county derived its name from Sir Isaac Newton, the great
scientist and philosopher. Newton county, or that part of the territory now
forming the new county, was the southern part of Neshoba county, which was
nearly as large as any two of the new Choctaw counties coming in through
the last Indian purchase. The people in the lower part of the large county
of Neshoba wanted a county of their own, and although the population was
very small, the Legislature heard their petition through the
Representative, James Ellis, who was afterwards Newton county's first
representative.
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The court-house for the county of Neshoba, previous to the division of
the county, was near where the town of Union, in Newton county, is now
situated. An old settler, who is now living, says it was a black-jack oak
cabin with dirt floor; that Judge Wm. Sterling as judge, and Hon.
Jno. Watts as district attorney, held the first court for the new county
of Neshoba. After the division of the county, the county site for Neshoba
was removed to Philadelphia.
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The town of Decatur, the present site for the court-house, was chosen
by the commission as a suitable place for the court-house, and there it has
remained although repeated efforts have been made to remove it.
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Newton county is a part of the purchase made by the United States
Government through its commissioners, John H. Eaton and John Coffee, of
the one part, and the Choctaw Indians, through their Chiefs and Mingoes, on
the other. This treaty is called Dancing Rabbit Creek; in Choctaw, "Chookfa
Hitla Bogue." This treaty was concluded and signed the 28th day of
September, 1830.
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Dancing Rabbit Creek is in Noxubee county, near one of the original
trading points where the Choctaws were in large numbers. There had been
seven treaties with the Choctaw Indians previous to the one last named. The
treaty of Hopewell, concluded January 3d, 1786; Fort Adams, December 17th,
1801; Hoe Buck-in-too-pa, August 31st, 1803; Mount Dexter, November 16th,
1805; Trading House, October 24th, 1816; Doak's Stand, October 18th. 1830;
Washington, January 20th, 1825; and the last named, Dancing Rabbit Creek,
28th September, 1830. This treaty stipulate the immigration of the Choctaw
Indians as fast as they could get off with safety to themselves in
removing. They were to have the lands occupied by them in 1831, '32 and
'33, which they complied with. The removal in 1833 took place in Newton and
Jasper counties. The rendezvous was at Garlandsville, and they were taken
largely from these two counties.
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That part of the State known as the Choctaw Purchase, embraces the
counties of Noxubee, Neshoba, Leaks, Neaten, Scott, Smith, Jasper, Clarke
and Lauderdale, and six others in more remote parts of the State. These
were all admitted as counties December, 1833. This did not include the
admission of Newton only as a part of Neshoba county. After the division it
was separately admitted, as has been stated, February, 1836. This county is
situated near the center of this group, having Lauderdale east, Neshoba
north Noxubee northeast, Scott west, Jasper south.
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This county being centrally located in this purchase, may also be said
to be central in point of convenience for settlement and for passage of
railroads, being traversed the full length by one road, and the first
survey of the Gulf & Ship Island road ran nearly centrally through the
county from north to south.