A brief Hstory of DeSoto County
Courtesy of the DeSoto County Geneological Society
Moving On 1876-1900
D.C. Campbell died on September 5, 1878, in Hernando of yellow fever. This dread illness, which had no known cause, nor cure, and few treatments, was a scourge in DeSoto County. The Hernando epidemic in six weeks killed almost half its inhabitants. There were also cases all over the county. The epidemic did not abate until frost came to the area on October 29. The people knew that cold weather would stop the illness, but did not know that destroying mosquitoes was the key.
At the turn of the century people still depended on horseback, wagon, buggy, or foot for personal transportation. Candles or the new, bright kerosene lamps provided light. Fireplaces or stoves vented into flues provided heat from burning wood or sometimes, coal. Brick lined cisterns caught rainwater during rainy spells. Elaborate gutter systems around the roofs of buildings caught rainwater in the cisterns or rain barrels. Main roads were gravel surfaced, but side roads were dirt-dust in dry weather, mud when it rained.
In 1886, the Illinois Central Railroad bought out the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad. In the town of Hernando a few lawyers and merchants installed telephones. The Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company had its exchange at the corner of Holly Springs and Temple Streets. Across the street the post office sold the new prepaid two cent stamps, but many people still sent mail without postage and the person receiving the letter had to pay the bill.
The economy of the county rested on agriculture with cotton as the important crop. Farmers kept livestock for their own use and many town dwellers had vegetable gardens and kept chickens, a hog and a milk cow in the backyard. Hunting, fishing, organized picnics and traveling circuses furnished entertainment for everyone.
The social life in each community centered around the activities of its local school and church. There were over 80 small public schools in the county. A notice in the county newspaper stated that a school would be established where there were 25 children of school age. A trip to the county seat was event enough to get your name mentioned in the "Locals" column in the local press.
