Editing Coahoma County, Mississippi (section)

==History==
Coahoma County was established February 9, 1836, and is located in the northwestern part of the state in the fertile [[Yazoo River|Yazoo]] Delta region. The name "Coahoma" is a [[Choctaw]] word meaning "red panther."<ref>{{cite book|last=Baca|first=Keith A.|title=Native American Place Names in Mississippi|url=https://epdf.pub/native-american-place-names-in-mississippi.html|year=2007|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-60473-483-6|page=29}}</ref> Chickasaw leader [[William McGillivray (Chickasaw)|Coahoma]] is the immediate namesake of the county, he was chief of one of four annuity districts arranged by U.S. Indian agents in 1815; Coahoma's territory was in the northwestern section of what is now Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite book |author-last=Atkinson |author-first=James R. |title=Splendid Land, Splendid People: The Chickasaw Indians to Removal |date=2010 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-8337-4 |location=Tuscaloosa |pages=208}}</ref>

The act creating the county defined its limits as follows:
<blockquote>Beginning at the point where the line between townships 24 and 25 of the surveys of the late Choctaw cession intersects the Mississippi River, and running thence up the said river to the point where the dividing line between the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians intersects the same; thence with the dividing line to the point where the line between ranges two and three of the survey of the said Choctaw cession intersects the same; thence with said range line, to the line between townships 24 and 25 aforesaid, and thence with the said township line to the beginning.<ref name="Rowland">{{cite book | last = Rowland | first = Dunbar | title = Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form | publisher = Southern Historical Publishing Association | year = 1907 | url = https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/548960-redirection | volume = 1 | page = 450}}</ref></blockquote>

In the early days of the county, before the construction of railways or extensive roadways inland, the [[Mississippi River]] was the primary transportation route, and the first three county seats were each located on the river. In 1836, [[Port Royal, Mississippi|Port Royal]] was designated as the first county seat.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sansing |first1=David G. |last2=Jones |first2=Walker W. |last3=Bush |first3=Jason R. |title=Unequal Justice: An Unintended Consequence in Mississippi Counties with Two Judicial Districts |publisher=Mississippi Law Journal |date=April 2004 |url=http://mississippilawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Supra-79-Essay-Sansing.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222050703/http://mississippilawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Supra-79-Essay-Sansing.pdf |archive-date=February 22, 2014 }}</ref>  In 1841, high waters on the Mississippi River flooded Port Royal, and in 1842 the county seat was moved to the town of [[Delta, Mississippi|Delta]].<ref name="Kerstine">{{cite web | last = Kerstine | first =  Margery | title = Cotton-Family-Religion: Jewish Life in Coahoma County Mississippi, Delta History from 1836 to 1941, Prologue: 1721 to 1867 | publisher = Margery Kerstine | date = January 7, 2011 | url = http://www.margk.com/prologue.htm}}</ref>  High waters on the Mississippi also flooded Delta, and in 1850 the county seat was moved to [[Friars Point, Mississippi|Friars Point]],<ref name="Kerstine"/> which had a population of about 1,000 in 1920, and received its name in honor of Robert Friar, an early settler. As nearby Clarksdale grew in population and influence, it challenged Friars Point's hold on the county government, and in 1892, Coahoma County was divided into two jurisdictions, one going to Friars Point and the other to Clarksdale. In 1930, the county seat was given exclusively to Clarksdale,<ref name="Nelson">{{cite book | last = Nelson | first =  Lawrence J. | title = King Cotton's Advocate: Oscar G. Johnston and the New Deal | publisher = University of Tennessee Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 9781572330252 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-NfyYgEb1_YC&pg=PR4}}</ref> which had a population of 7,500 in 1920. Clarksdale is now the largest and most important city in the county, and was named for John Clark, a brother-in-law of Governor [[James L. Alcorn]], whose home, Eagle's Nest, was in this county.