My name is Tammy Howard-Westmoreland. Welcome to Perry County MSGHN. I am proud to serve as the interim County Director for Perry County MSGHN, but Perry County is available if you have an interest in joining our volunteer group. For more information, contact me at tr.westmoreland@gmail.com.

Our purpose is to provide free resources for genealogical and historical researchers. This site is FREE and will ALWAYS be FREE to all researchers! We are proud to be a part of the Mississippi Genealogy & History Network.

If you have information relating to Perry County that you are willing to share with other researchers, email me at tr.westmoreland@gmail.com and I will be happy to place it here on our site. If you have information for other Mississippi counties, please consider clicking on the Mississippi Genealogy & History Network link in the Main Menu and contact the appropriate County Director. Thanks for visiting and good luck with your research!

The following is part of what you will find here on Perry County MSGHN.

• Carter-McSwain Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located north of New Augusta on Carter-McSwain Cemetery Road about 1/4 mile east of Highway 29.
• Burch Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located on Highway 42 just west of Hancock Road.
• Clark Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Northeast of Richton on Leonard Clark Road about 2 1/2 miles north of Highway 42.
• Fairhope Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located northeast of Beaumont at the intersection of Arlington Road & Byrd Road.
• Myra Janette Fortenberry Courtney Memorial Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located at the intersection of Courtney Road and Van Gundy Road, just off Highway 98.
• Mount Pleasant Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Near Beaumont on Arlington Road about 1/2 mile east of Highway 15.
• Isaiah Hinton Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. South of Richton on Highway 15 about 1 mile south of the Richton-Perry Airport.
• Earl Mayo Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located on Leonard Clark Road about 1 1/2 miles north of Highway 42E.
• Dewitt Family Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located on David Newell Road about 3/4 mile south of Goodhope Church Road.
• Curry Family Cemetery - burial listing with tombstone photos. Located north of Richton on Gatorwood Road off Hwy 15N.
• Thousands of Perry County marriage dates. Be sure to check for your Perry County ancestors. These dates are an important aid to getting a certified copy of a marriage record from the Perry County Couthouse.

Perry County, formed February 3, 1820is located in the south-eastern portion of Mississippi and was once part of the large Greene County. Perry County was formed on February 3, 1820. The Legislative Act creating the Perry County defined its bounderies as:

“Beginning on the line of demarcation where the line that divides the thirteenth and fourteenth ranges intersects the said line of demarcation; thence with said range line to where the fifth parallel township line crosses the same; thence east with the said township line, to where the line that divides the eighth and ninth ranges crosses the same; thence with the line of demarcation; thence west to the beginning.”

Additional lands were added to Perry County over the years until it encompassed all of the area that is present day Perry and Forrest Counties. The county was named in honor of Commodore Oliver H. Perry (photo), a naval hero in the War of 1812. The original county seat, Augusta, was situated on the east bank of the Leaf River.

The original civil officers during the first year of Perry County's existence were Jacob H. Morris, Chief Justice of the Quorum, and John Jenkins, John Green, Jacob Carter, Craven P. Moffitt, Associate Justices; Alex. McKenzie, Eli Moffitt, Benj. H.G. Hartfield, William Hudson, John Moffitt, Seth Granberry, Lewis W. Ball, Henry Easterling, Wm. Reynolds, Justices of the Peace; John McDonald, Assessor and Collector; Geo. Harrison, Ranger; Joel Lewis, Surveyor; John Barlow, Constable; Wm. Tisdale, Coroner; J.J.H. Morris, Notary Public; Martin Chadwick, Sheriff. Some of the other county officers, 1821-1827, were Griffin Hollomon, J.J.H. Morris, John F. Mapp, Abner Carter, Judges of Probate; Lewis Rhodes, Sheriff; Anthony Pitts, Adam Ulmer, Jonathan Taylor, Geo. B. Dameron, Sterling Brinson, John Deace, Daniel Miley, James Simmons, Sherod Byrd, Isham H. Clayton, James Overstreet, Uriah Millsapp, Justices of the Peace; Hugh McDonald, Treasurer; Farr Proctor, Geo. Harrison, Lewis Rhodes, Assessors and Collectors.

The nineteenth century outlaw, James Copeland, was executed by hanging in Augusta on October 30, 1857.

James Copeland and his gang was hired to kill Perry County resident James Harvey. On July 15, 1848, the Copeland gang rode to James Harvey’s home on Red Creek (now in Forrest County), Mississippi. Here, the Copeland clan fought a blazing gun battle, which resulted in the death of Harvey several days later and his buried in the nearby Dale Cemetery.

Although Copeland escaped the gun battle, he was eventually captured near Mobile in 1849, tried for his Alabama crimes, and sentenced to a four-year prison term. Upon completion of the prison term, Copeland was transferred to Perry County to stand trial for the Harvey killing, for which he was convicted and sentenced to hang. Before his death on the gallows in 1857, Copeland made a full confession to Sheriff J.R.S. Pitts, naming each member of the gang. Many gang members were prominent citizens of Mobile, south Mississippi, and the surrounding area.

Copeland's body was buried on the banks of the Leaf River near Augusta, Mississippi. But after 2 or 3 days, the body disappeared, and a skeleton was purportedly made of his remains. The skeleton was exhibited at McInnis & Dozier Drugstore in Hattiesburg in the late 19th Century.  In the early 1900s, the skeleton vanished and has not been seen since.

Copeland detailed how his clan had buried some $30,000 in gold in a swamp near Mobile and later reburied the treasure in the Catahoula Swamp in Hancock County. Rumors have circulated for decades of Copeland gold caches, still unclaimed, hidden around the MS and AL Gulf Coasts. The James Copeland legend lives today, as treasure hunters search  for burial sites of the Copeland gang's riches.

The county seat was moved two miles south in 1906 and was renamed New Augusta. This occured when the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City Railroad was built through the area. The relocation of towns to be closer to railroads was common in Mississippi in the early 1900's, due to the importance of this means of transportation to communities and their economies. Old Augusta remains a small village today.

In 1908 Perry County was divided roughly in half and the western portion was formed into Forrest County.

The county seat is New Augusta. Other Perry County communities include: Beaumont, Richton, Hintonville, Old Augusta, and Runnelstown. In it's first census in 1820 there were 2,037 residents listed. In the last federal census in 2000 the population was 12,138.

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