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Mississippi County
Quitman County, Mississippi
Marks and the Mississippi Delta poverty march heritage - from Marks' significant place in civil rights history (in 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Marks and was so moved by the poverty he witnessed that he wept, and the Poor People's Campaign mule train that marched to Washington D.C. that year began its journey from Marks, making the small Delta town a poignant symbol of American rural poverty and the ongoing civil rights struggle) to Quitman County's flat Delta cotton landscape (the county's level Delta terrain of cotton and soybean fields represents the classic Mississippi Delta agricultural landscape along the Coldwater River corridor).
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Office: Quitman County Emergency Management – confirm current phone via quitmancountyms.org.
Sheriff: Quitman County Sheriff’s Office – 233 Chestnut Street, PO Box 365, Marks, MS 38646 | Non-emergency (662) 326-3131; Crime Stoppers tip line (662) 326-8477; Sheriff Oliver Parker, Jr.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-278 and MS-3 serve Marks, the county seat and largest town.
Notes: Quitman County was founded in 1877, named for Mexican-American War general and Mississippi Governor John A. Quitman. The bill creating the county was introduced by Leopold Marks, a Prussian-born Jewish-American state legislator, for whom the county seat is named. Roughly 5,360-6,180 residents across 405-406 square miles – the county reached its peak population in 1940, developed historically for cotton cultivation.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Quitman County Courthouse – Marks, MS 38646.
Notes: Marks, Mississippi is genuinely, nationally significant as the starting point of the Mule Train, the centerpiece of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. King visited Marks in 1966 and 1968, deeply moved by the extreme poverty he witnessed, and chose it as the symbolic launch point for a march on Washington intended to demand anti-poverty legislation. After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference carried out his vision: the Mule Train – roughly 13-28 covered wagons pulled by dozens of mules, carrying about 150 people – departed Marks on May 13, 1968, traveling over 1,000 miles through Batesville, Grenada, Winona, Columbus, Montgomery, and Birmingham before reaching Washington, D.C. in time for the June 19 “Solidarity Day” observance. The journey helped build momentum for the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and groundwork for Pell Grants and expanded school meal programs. A Mississippi Freedom Trail historical marker in Marks commemorates the event, and the town now maintains a Mule Train Interpretative Trail.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Quitman County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via quitmancountyms.org.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Clarksdale, MS or Memphis, TN VA clinic; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Marks public library address/phone via quitmancountyms.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Mule Train Interpretative Trail and the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker in Marks are the county’s most historically significant sites.
Notes: The genuine, deeply significant Poor People’s Campaign Mule Train history is one of the most important civil rights facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Quitman County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via quitmancountyms.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated Quitman County animal shelter was confirmed – flagged honestly rather than smoothed over. Confirm current local options via quitmancountyms.org or the Sheriff’s Office, (662) 326-3131.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Quitman County – confirm current contact via quitmancountyms.org.
NOTES: Quitman County is the fourth county in the ninth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine, deeply significant Poor People’s Campaign Mule Train history is one of the most important civil rights 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 Quitman County
Quitman County is the northwest Mississippi Delta’s civil rights heritage and cotton county – Marks’ connection to Dr. King and the Poor People’s Campaign gives this small Delta county an outsized place in American history while the surrounding flat Delta farmland continues the cotton and soybean agriculture that has defined the region for generations.
Marks (the county seat, population ~1,400) is Quitman County’s governmental and commercial hub, a small Delta town whose civil rights heritage and rural Delta character define one of Mississippi’s least populous counties.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Quitman County Assessor at 230 Chestnut Street, Marks, MS 38646, phone 662-326-8001. MS assessed at percentage of true value by property class.
Courts & Legal
Quitman County Circuit Court at 230 Chestnut Street, Marks, MS 38646, phone 662-326-2661, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
230 Chestnut St., Marks, MS 38646
(662) 326-2661
CIRCUIT CLERK
230 Chestnut St., Marks, MS 38646
(662) 326-2661
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Quitman County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Quitman 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
Quitman County Chancery Court 220 Chestnut Street, Suite 2, Marks, MS 38646 (662) 326-2661 Quitman County is in the Mississippi Delta, seated in Marks.
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
230 Chestnut St., Marks, MS 38646
(662) 326-2911
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
230 Chestnut St., Marks, MS 38646
(662) 326-2661
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Quitman County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via quitmancountyms.org.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Marks
Population: 7,000
Area: 405 sq mi
Established: 1877
Tier: 4
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Quitman County residents.
