This Alabama county, the home of a prominent Alabamian was established, abolished and went through three name transitions.
First known as Jones County
Known as Jones County, being named in honor of E. P. Jones, of Fayette County, Alabama. Its territory was taken from Marion and Fayette Counties.
By an act of November 13, 1867, the county was abolished and its territory returned to the counties from which it was taken.
Next it was known as Sanford County
On October 8, 1868, an act was approved again creating a new county. However, Covington County had been renamed ‘Jones County’ the same year ( a change that lasted only a few months) so the new county was known as Sanford County and was out of the same territory as that which Jones had previously occupied. The name Sanford was in honor of H. C. Sanford of Cherokee County.
Had to deal with the aftermath of the Civil War
Its boundaries were as follows: “Starting at the Mississippi line and following township line between eleven and twelve, to where said township line crosses the range line between the thirteenth and fourteenth range; and following said range line southward to the Marion and Fayette line, and thence along the same line southward to its crossing the Pickens County line, and thence along the Pickens County line westward to the Mississippi line, State line, and northward along said line to township line, between township eleven and twelve.”
Since the county was created during the Reconstruction Era, it had to deal with the aftermath of the Civil War.
Finally named Lamar County
By act of February 8, 1877, Sanford County became Lamar County, and “all public property, rights and credits pertaining to said county of Sanford.” were transferred to Lamar. The new county was named in honor of Hon. Lucius Quinton Cincinnatus Lamar of Mississippi. The county comprised an area of 391,232 acres, or about 611 square miles. The county seat is Vernon.
James Greer Bankhead house built in 1840, Lamar County, Alabama
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936 EAST WALL OF LIVING ROOM
It is situated in the northwestern part of the State, and is bounded on the west by Lowndes and Monroe Counties, Mississippi, the north and northeast by Marion County, on the east by Fayette and on the south by Pickens County. The topography of the county varies from rolling to almost mountainous. Its level areas are limited.
James Greer Bankhead House, U.S. Route 278, Sulligent, Lamar County, AL
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936 EAST WALL OF LIVING ROOM
James Greer Bankhead House, U.S. Route 278, Sulligent, Lamar County, Alabama
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936
James Greer Bankhead House, U.S. Route 278, Sulligent, Lamar County, AL
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936 SOUTH ELEVATION (SIDE)
Eastern half is rough and hilly
The eastern half of the county is rough and hilly, and the ridges marking the boundary between the major streams are from 250 to 300 feet above the water courses. In many cases the slopes are so precipitous as to give the valleys of Beaver, Yellow and Hell Creeks a gorge-like appearance. In the central and western parts of the county, with the exception of the area between Luxapallili and Mud Creeks, and between Mud and Yellow Creeks, the hills are broader and more rounded.
The drainage of the county is into the Tombigbee River. The streams are the Luxapallili and Buttahatchee Rivers, and Mud, Yellow, Hell, Wilson, Watson and Cut Bank Creeks. One writer says: “Lamar County lies in the southwestern border of the Cumberland plateau. The old shore line is approximately parallel to the east county line and about 15 miles to the east of it.”
Line between Lamar and Pickens once separated Choctaws and Chickasaws
Lamar County was embraced in the domain claimed by the Chickasaws. It is an interesting fact that the line separating Lamar and Pickens Counties was the ancient line separating the Choctaw and Chickasaw claims.
The Chickasaw claim to the country in which Lamar County is embraced was extinguished by the treaty of the Chickasaw Council House, September 20, 1816. There were no Chickasaw settlements in the county, and in ancient times prior to the expansion of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, after the American Revolution it was a part of that vast neutral hunting ground, used by them, and occasionally by the Creeks. Careful investigations have been made to locate if possible evidences of prehistoric relics or remains, but so far nothing has been found, although they have been found in contiguous parts of Mississippi.
Descendants of settlers from Georgia, South Carolina & Tennessee
Many residents of Lamar were descendants of the early settlers from Georgia and South Carolina. Few of the early emigrants were slave holders. Most of the settlers traveled to Lamar via General Andrew Jackson’s Military Road. Settlement was slow, due to the roughness of the country, and the distance of the markets. The early towns were small with only a small population. Some of the earliest towns included Vernon, the county seat which was originally named Swayne, Sulligent and Beaverton.
The town of Swayne was named for Wager Swayne, who served as Alabama’s governmental leader during Military Reconstruction. The name was changed to Vernon in 1868 when Lamar County was recreated after Edmund Vernon, an immigrant from Vernon, England.
Lamar County, Alabama courthouse ca. 1975
(Alabama Department of Archives and History)
The courthouse today is on the site of the original two-story frame building of brick courthouse that was replaced around 1909. The courthouse was again remodeled in 1950.
Bankheads were a prominent family of Lamar County
One of the early pioneer families of Lamar County was the Bankheads, who probably came down the Jackson Military Road. George Bankhead established a stage coach stop on the road and acquired land. James Greer Bankhead, the son of George Bankhead and his wife Jane (Greer) Bankhead, built the house included on this page in 1840 as part of a large plantation. James Greer Bankhead married Susan Fleming Hollis, daughter of John Hollis and Letitia Holliday, who was born January 25, 1822 in Moscow, Lamar County, Alabama.
James Greer Bankhead House, U.S. Route 278, Sulligent, Lamar County, AL
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936 well on the side of the Bankhead house
Confederate troops gathered in the front yard
Their son, Hon. John Hollis Bankhead, “gathered Confederate troops in the House’s front yard. John Hollis survived the war and was nominated to congress at the Fayette County Courthouse in 1886.
Bankhead was elected and served continuously from 1887 to 1907. He also served as a Senator until his death in 1920.”
James Bankhead’s two grandsons, William Brockman and John Hollis, Jr. were born in the house. They later became distinguished public servants as did his son John Hollis, Sr.
William Brockman Bankhead served as Speaker of the House from 1936 until his death in 1940. He played on the University of Alabama’s first football team while he studied law there.
James Greer Bankhead House, U.S. Route 278, Sulligent, Lamar County, AL
Alex Bush, Photographer, March 4, 1936 door in living room of the Bankhead house
President attended his funeral in Walker county, Alabama
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended William Brockman Bankhead’s funeral in Jasper, Walker County, Alabama. William was the father of the famous actress Tallulah Bankhead.
John Hollis Bankhead, Jr. was a U. S. senator from the state of Alabama and like his father, he died in office in 1946 after being elected three times to the Senate. He suffered a stroke while attending an evening Senate committee meeting.
The Bankhead’s influence can be seen across the United States. The family names graces such historic places as Bankhead Lock and Dam in north Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; Bankhead National Forest in northwest Alabama; The Bankhead Highway that stretches from Washington, D. C. to San Diego, California.
First newspapers
The first newspaper published in Lamar county was The Vernon Pioneer. The Editors and Proprietors included William R. Smith, William R. Smith Jr., Smith, McCullough & Co, Sid B. Smith, and Don R. Aldridge.
In 1879, the Vernon Clipper was published by Alexander Cobb as Editor and Proprietor and later Alex A. Wall as Proprietor, followed by the Lamar News in 1886 by E. J. McNatt as Editor and Proprietor’ The Sulligent Lightning and The Vernon Courier in 1886 by Alex A. Wall as Editor and Publisher. Other newspapers were in1894 The Eagle-Eye; 1901 The Lamar Democrat: 1908 The Rural Educator: 1942 The Sulligent News.
Post office at Sulligent, Lamar County, Alabama ca. 1900 Greer Bankhead, postmaster and brother of John H. Bankhead, Sr., stands in the doorway. To the left of the door is Clyde Oldshue, assistant postmaster
(Alabama Department of Archives and History)
Greer Bankhead and his second wife, Emma, stand at the left. Bankhead was the postmaster of Sulligent and the brother of John H. Bankhead, Sr.
– This historic book includes the biographies of many prominent men in Alabama
![This county with numerous bat caves only existed four years because it was too small [film & pictures]](https://www.alabamapioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1823map.jpg "This county with numerous bat caves only existed four years because it was too small [film & pictures]")
