My name is Tammy Howard-Westmoreland. Welcome to Smith County Roots. 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 Smith County that you are willing to share with other researchers, let me know. Just email me at
tr.westmoreland@gmail.com and I will be pleased 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!

• Burnett Cemetery #2 burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Sullivan Cemetery #3 burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Ware Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• South Raleigh Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Tillson Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Tom Sullivan Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Shady Grove Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Thomas F. Sullivan Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• McAlpin Family Cemetery burial listing with tombstone photos.
• Thousands of Smith County marriage records.

The land that was to become Smith County, Mississippi was once home to Native American Indian tribes such as the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and others. This area was part of the Choctaw Indian Nation until the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. This was the last treaty between the United States and the Choctaw Nation.

Several years after the treaty, on 23 Dec 1833, Smith county was one of several counties formed from this newly acquired land.

Smith County was named in honor of Major David Smith of Hinds County (born in 1753 in Anson County, NC). Major Smith had served as a private in the Continental Army during the revolutionary war at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Euthaw Springs. He first married in 1776 to Sarah Terry and later in 1791 married Obedience Fort and moved with his family to Mississippi, settling in Hinds County. His son, Benjamin F. Smith, served as the first representative for Hinds County in the Mississippi Legistlature. Major Smith died at Jackson, MS in 1834. His daughter, Aurelia, married Governor Runnels.

Today's Highway 531 in Smith County runs along what was once Andrew Jackson's Military Road, according to most historians. This road was a Nashville to New Orleans route improved by the federal government and later named in honor of Jackson.

When the area now known as Smith County opened up to the public, settlers were quick to arrive. Coming primarily from Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, as well as other areas of Mississippi, these settlers, like so many others settling other parts of the southern frontier, faced hard times. Churches and schools soon sprang up in small communities throughout the county. The close-knit groups depended on each other to make it through the tough times.

The first county seat was in Fairfield, about four miles south of the location of present-day Raleigh. The county seat was later moved to Raleigh, which was named in honor of the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. Over the years, Smith County has suffered three courthouse fires. Sadly, many valuable historic records have been lost through these tragedies. Smith County is known throughout the region for its watermelons.

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