The History of Greene County
Alabama and its Neighbors
Greene County was named for General Nathaniel Greene, a Rhode Island hero of the American Revolution, who led
our troops at Guilford and Eutaw Springs and retook Charleston. Greene county was formed on 13 December 1819 from parts of Marengo (formed 1818) and Tuscaloosa (formed 1818)
counties and from Indian land from the Choctaw Cession of 1816. Many men who came down the Natchez Trace with Andrew Jackson for
the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 went back through central Alabama looking for land. Since settlers may have
arrived there as early as 1812, records of the parent counties could have some information on these first families.
Blessed with fertile soil and level or rolling land,
Greene County was the primary Alabama County for agriculture as
late as 1845. Greene County is one
of several Central west and Southwest Alabama
Counties that were occupied by white settlers as soon as land
was made available by Federal Treaty. Although there are no
records to substantiate early occupation, Federal records
indicate that title was granted for Greene County parcels of land
as early as 1812 (note: this could be Greene Co. MS). Some
occupation was possible from Spanish and French settlements to
the South. In fact, the French Colony at
Demopolis from 1818 to 1830 was said to have extended into
parts of Greene County. Pickens County was formed in 1820 from
Tuscaloosa County, Sumter County was formed in 1832 from the
Choctaw Indian Cession of 1830 and Hale County was formed in 1867
from Greene, Marengo, Perry and Tuscaloosa Counties.
A census of the Mississippi Territory was taken in 1816 in preparation for establishing the
state of Mississippi and
a separate territory of Alabama. Much of this census was lost, but the following Statistics for Counties in Alabama are recorded in the
Territorial
Papers of the United States:
| County Name -- |
Free Whites - |
Free Colored - |
Slaves - |
| Baldwin |
436 |
43 |
684 |
| Clarke |
2767 |
16 |
1334 |
| Madison |
10000 |
0 |
4200 |
| Mobile |
666 |
0 |
334 |
| Monroe |
3625 |
72 |
1609 |
| Washington |
1888 |
0 |
671 |
| Total |
19382 |
131 |
8148 |
The population for Greene County peaked in 1850 and then
started to decline by 1860. The creation of Hale County in 1867 took away
forty percent of the land of Greene County along with the residents. According
to the census of 2000, Greene covers 645.87 square miles with an average of
15.4 persons per square mile and now has the lowest population of all Alabama
counties.
| Population: |
1820 |
1830 |
1840 |
1850 |
1860 |
1870 |
1880 |
1890 |
1900 |
1910 |
1920 |
1930 |
2000 |
| White |
2878 |
7585 |
7556 |
9265 |
7251 |
3858 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1904 |
| Black/Other |
1580 |
7441 |
16468 |
22176 |
23608 |
14541 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8075 |
| Total |
4468 |
15026 |
24024 |
31441 |
30859 |
18399 |
21931 |
22007 |
24182 |
22717 |
18133 |
19745 |
9974 |
Sources:
Historical Atlas of Alabama, Volume I, Historical Locations by County
W. Craig Remington, University of Alabama
Cartographic Research Laboratory Director and Thomas J. Kallsen, University of Alabama Map
Librarian, coauthored this great reference book with maps of each of
Alabama’s 67 Counties, Census data, tables of places that exist today, but used
to be called something else, and specialized maps, such as one showing all the
antebellum plantations in Greene County. It identifies all
places of commerce, such as post offices, landings & ferries, mills, forts,
Indian villages and towns. In many cases, it identifies the origin of the name.
However, it does not list cemeteries, churches & schools. The book cost is
$50.00 and can be ordered with an
online form from the University of Alabama.
Greene County Data Book, West Alabama Regional Commission, U.S. 2000
Census data
Alabama Census Returns 1820 and An Abstract of Federal Census of Alabama
1830, State Department of Archives and History (Clearfield Company, 1899)
Territorial Papers of The United States, Volume 18, Territory of
Alabama 1817-1819
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