Panola County Mississippi
Belmont62
Five or six miles southeast of Sardis, on the Illinois Central
(formerly Mississippi and Tennessee) railroad, was located the
town of old Belmont on the north side of the Tallahatchie River.
It was settled in 1836-'7, and soon became a flourishing town of
six or eight stores. A large number of bales of cotton was
shipped from this place to New Orleans. Maj. William M.
Strickland says, in speaking of Belmont:
''I have seen five steamboats being
loaded at the landing at the same time. It did a large
mercantile and shipping business. The most flourishing merchants
I now remember were Henry Laird and Dimaren L. Childress, of the
firm of Henry Laird and Company; Thomas B. Carroll (afterwards
Mayor of Memphis, Tenn.), and Anthony Foster."
There was for several years a contest between Belmont and the
town of old Panola over the location of the court house of
Panola County. This contest aroused much vindictiveness and
bitterness of feeling. Panola finally succeeded, but by the use
of bribery and intrigue, as was afterwards charged. Col. James
Bailey, now of Oxford, Miss., was in the county of Panola on the
day of the election. Although he was a lad of only sixteen and
lived in the adjoining county of Tallahatchie, several miles
over the line, he was prevailed upon to cast a vote in this
election for the town of Panola. The failure of Belmont in this
contest was a severe blow to the town, which was finally
absorbed by Sardis,63 situated near
the center of the Belmont faction.
Panola This town was situated on the south side
of the Tallahatchie River, a few miles below old Belmont.
Although old Panola won in the contest for the county seat,
referred to above, and became a flourishing business center in
the 40's, it was absorbed in a few years by the town of
Batesville, on the Illinois Central (formerly the Mississippi
and Tennessee) railroad. Most of its houses were placed on
rollers and removed to Batesville, about a mile away. Only two
buildings, the brick court house and jail, were left to mark the
site of old Panola. The court house has recently been remodeled
and made into an elegant residence. An interesting relic of the
contest between the two towns of Belmont and Panola, referred to
above, is still left in the two judicial districts of Panola
County, Batesville being the seat of justice for the second
district and Sardis for the first.
Old Panola received much attention from
the Legislature of the State, as is shown by the fact that it
had three different acts of incorporation passed by that body in
1839, 1840 and 1846.
Extinct Towns|
AHGP Mississippi
Footnotes:
62. This sketch is based upon information
derived from Maj. Wm. L. Strickland, of Holly Springs,
Mississippi.
63. This town had its beginning in a small log
school house, known as Danville Academy, in which Daniel B.
Killebrew taught. The Baptists then built a church at this place
and called it the Sardis Baptist Church. This church gave the
name to the town which was afterwards built at this place.
Source: The Mississippi Historical
Commission Publications, Volume V, Edited by Franklin L. Riley,
Secretary, 1902.
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