Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Mississippi County
Holmes County, Mississippi
Holmes County's Civil Rights movement and loess bluff landscape - from Holmes County's significant Civil Rights voter registration history (Holmes County was one of the most active sites of the 1960s voter registration movement in Mississippi - local farmers and sharecroppers who joined the NAACP and COFO organizers showed extraordinary courage in a county where Black residents faced severe economic and physical retaliation for attempting to register - Holmes County's local leaders became models for the movement's community organizing approach) to the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (the scenic loess bluff landscape along the Mississippi River valley's eastern edge provides migratory bird habitat in one of the most geologically distinctive landscapes in the state).
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Holmes County Emergency Management – confirm current phone via holmescountyms.org.
Sheriff: Holmes County Sheriff’s Office – 23234 Highway 12 East, PO Box 120, Lexington, MS 39095 | (662) 834-1511 | Fax: (662) 834-3362 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff Willie March, serving a four-year term, also chief officer of the Chancery and Circuit Courts and county law library.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: MS-12 and US-51 serve Lexington, the county seat, bounded by the Yazoo River to the west and the Big Black River to the east.
Notes: Holmes County was established February 19, 1833, carved from Yazoo County, on land ceded by the Choctaw Nation. Lexington was named for Lexington, Massachusetts. The county was historically a leading cotton producer (ninth among Mississippi counties by 1860), and by 1900 had a population of nearly 37,000, over 28,000 of them African American – reflecting a large population of Black tenant farmers and sharecroppers alongside a smaller number of Black landowners.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Holmes County Courthouse – Lexington, MS 39095.
Notes: Holmes County is genuinely, remarkably the birthplace of Mississippi’s first Corn Clubs – established by county schools superintendent William Hall “Corn Club” Smith, with USDA involvement beginning in 1907, these clubs were the direct precursor of the national 4-H movement, marking the first time the USDA partnered with a youth program at the county-state-federal level. The county also claims to be the birthplace of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic-affiliated women’s fraternal organization, tracing its origins to Holmes County’s Eureka Masonic College, historically known as the “Little Red Schoolhouse.” Governor Edmond F. Noel, Mississippi’s 37th governor, was a Holmes County native. Holmes County was also a significant site in the civil rights movement, with grassroots voter registration efforts beginning in the Mileston community in 1963, led in part by Hartman Turnbow, who survived a 1964 arson attack and shooting for his organizing work – these efforts helped build one of Mississippi’s strongest Black political organizations by the late 1960s. A Mississippi Blues Trail marker in Lexington recognizes the area’s musical heritage, including pianist Otis Spann, later famed as Muddy Waters’ pianist.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Holmes County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via holmescountyms.org.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Jackson, MS VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Lexington public library address/phone via holmescountyms.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Mississippi Blues Trail marker in Lexington and the county’s agricultural and civil rights heritage sites are the county’s most historically significant points of interest.
Notes: The genuine birthplace connections to both the national 4-H movement and the Order of the Eastern Star are among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Holmes County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via holmescountyms.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Holmes County Humane Society – confirm current address/phone via holmeshumane.com.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Holmes County – confirm current contact via holmescountyms.org.
NOTES: Holmes County is the fifth county in the fourth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine birthplace connections to both the national 4-H movement and the Order of the Eastern Star, alongside significant civil rights history, are among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Holmes County
Holmes County is central Mississippi’s Civil Rights voter registration county – the courage of Holmes County Black farmers and sharecroppers who risked everything to register to vote in the 1960s is one of the movement’s most important community organizing stories.
Lexington (the county seat, population ~1,500) serves Holmes County’s agricultural communities in the loess bluff and Delta transition landscape.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Holmes County Tax Assessor at 1 Court Square, Suite 1, Lexington, MS 39095, phone 662-834-2865. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Holmes County Chancery Court at 1 Court Square, Lexington, MS 39095, phone 662-834-2477, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
1 Court Square, Lexington, MS 39095
(662) 834-2508
CIRCUIT CLERK
1 Court Square, Lexington, MS 39095
(662) 834-2508
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Holmes County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Holmes County has 17 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an unusually rich concentration for research into the county’s built history.
Local societies
No dedicated Holmes County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Holmes County Chancery Court P.O. Box 239, Lexington, MS 39095 (662) 834-2508
Holmes County was founded 1833, named for David Holmes, in west-central Mississippi, seated in Lexington (though Durant is the county’s largest city). Its western border is formed by the Yazoo River, its eastern by the Big Black River, and its western portion sits within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and instead follows its own statutory framework under Miss. Code Ann. Title 91, Chapter 7. Mississippi’s small-estate threshold, at $75,000, is one of the lowest in the country, so most estates end up needing at least some court involvement.
Small Estate Affidavit (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-322) – personal property only, up to $75,000 (excluding liens and encumbrances). A 30-day waiting period after death applies. The affidavit is presented directly to whoever holds the property (a bank, for instance); that party is not required to investigate the truth of the affidavit and is protected from liability once it complies.
Muniment of Title (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-5-35) – a limited proceeding to transfer real property named in a will, without full administration, when the estate’s non-real-estate assets are $75,000 or less and all debts (including taxes) have been paid. A petition is still filed with the Chancery Court to declare the will valid; the will and court order are then recorded in the land records.
Formal Administration – required for most estates with real property beyond the muniment-of-title threshold or significant liquid assets. The Chancery Judge reviews the petition, the will (if any), and supporting documents before issuing Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration appointing the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for probate
File a petition with the Chancery Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The personal representative inventories assets and notifies creditors; Mississippi’s creditor claim period runs 90 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-145).
Claims and disputes are adjudicated by the Chancery Court if contested.
Once debts are settled and the creditor period closes, the estate can be distributed and closed.
What it costs
Costs are the Chancery Clerk’s per-county filing fee (built on the statewide base under Miss. Code § 25-7-9), plus recording fees and publication costs.
Mississippi has no state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could separately apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
1 Court Square, Lexington, MS 39095
(662) 834-1624
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
1 Court Square, Lexington, MS 39095
(662) 834-2508
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Holmes County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via holmescountyms.org.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Lexington
Population: 16,000
Area: 757 sq mi
Established: 1833
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Holmes County residents.
