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Mississippi County
Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
Sumner courthouse and Emmett Till legacy - from the Sumner courthouse where the Emmett Till murder trial was held in 1955 (the acquittal of Till's killers in the Tallahatchie County courthouse in Sumner became a pivotal moment in American civil rights history, and the county today is home to the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and part of the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail) to the Tallahatchie River Delta landscape (the county's flat Delta terrain of cotton fields, oxbow lakes, and river bottomland represents the classic Mississippi Delta agricultural landscape that shaped American blues music and Southern culture).
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Office: Tallahatchie County Emergency Management Agency – 192 South Panola Street, Charleston, MS 38921.
Sheriff: Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office – 104 W Main St, Charleston, MS 38921 | (662) 647-8551 / (662) 647-3700; Tallahatchie County Jail – 19351 US Hwy 49 N, Tutwiler, MS 38963 | (662) 345-6567.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: MS-32 and US-49 serve Charleston, the county’s larger and original seat, and Sumner, its second seat on the west side of the Tallahatchie River. The county is bisected north-south by the Tallahatchie River, which flows into the Yazoo River in neighboring Leflore County.
Notes: Tallahatchie County was founded December 31, 1833, after most of the Choctaw Nation was forced out under Indian Removal; the name derives from a Choctaw word roughly meaning “River of Rocks.” Roughly 10,880-12,715 residents across 645-652 square miles, in the Mississippi Delta.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Tallahatchie County Courthouse – Sumner, MS 38957 (Second District) and Charleston, MS 38921 (First District).
Notes: Tallahatchie County is genuinely, gravely significant in American civil rights history. The Second District Courthouse in Sumner is where, in September 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam stood trial for the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till – an all-white, all-male jury acquitted both men after deliberating only 56 minutes; the two men later confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview but were never legally held accountable. In 2007, on the courthouse steps, the Emmett Till Memorial Commission offered the first formal apology from anyone in Mississippi to the Till family. On July 25, 2023, President Biden designated the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, which includes the Tallahatchie County Courthouse and the adjacent Emmett Till Interpretive Center (donated to the National Park Service by the county), as well as Graball Landing on the Tallahatchie River near Glendora, believed to be where Till’s body was recovered. The courthouse and interpretive center are open for tours; a National Parks passport cancellation stamp is available on-site.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Tallahatchie County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via tallahatchiecounty.org.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Greenwood, MS or Clarksdale, MS VA clinic; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Charleston and Sumner public library addresses/phone via tallahatchiecounty.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument – the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, and Graball Landing near Glendora – is the county’s most historically significant site, part of the National Park System.
Notes: The genuine, deeply significant Emmett Till history and its recent 2023 National Monument designation are covered factually here with the gravity this history warrants.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Tallahatchie County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via tallahatchiecounty.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi animal shelter was clearly confirmed – flagged honestly rather than smoothed over. Confirm current local options via the Sheriff’s Office or tallahatchiecounty.org.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Tallahatchie County – confirm current contact via tallahatchiecounty.org.
NOTES: Tallahatchie County is the fifth county in the tenth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine, deeply significant Emmett Till history and its recent 2023 National Monument designation are among 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 Tallahatchie County
Tallahatchie County is the Mississippi Delta’s civil rights heritage county – the 1955 Emmett Till trial in Sumner reverberated through American history, and today the county’s two county seats, flat Delta landscape, and blues heritage make it one of Mississippi’s most historically significant rural counties.
Charleston (population ~2,000) and Sumner (population ~350) share county seat duties, an unusual arrangement reflecting Tallahatchie County’s historical division between its eastern and western districts.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Tallahatchie County Assessor at 1 Court Square, Charleston, MS 38921, phone 662-647-5551. MS assessed at percentage of true value by property class.
Courts & Legal
Tallahatchie County Circuit Court at 1 Court Square, Charleston, MS 38921, phone 662-647-8722, 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, Charleston, MS 38921
(662) 647-5551
CIRCUIT CLERK
1 Court Square, Charleston, MS 38921
(662) 647-5551
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Tallahatchie County Chancery Court, 1st District (Charleston) and 2nd District (Sumner) – probate case files split by district; see Probate section above.
Local societies
No dedicated Tallahatchie 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
Tallahatchie County Chancery Court – TWO JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
Tallahatchie County is one of several Mississippi counties split into two judicial districts, each with its own courthouse and Chancery Clerk’s office. File in whichever district covers the area where the decedent lived.
1st District (Charleston): P.O. Box 350, Charleston, MS 38921, (662) 647-5551
2nd District (Sumner): P.O. Box 180, Sumner, MS 38957, (662) 375-8731
Tallahatchie County is in the Mississippi Delta, with dual county seats – Charleston and Sumner.
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 district covering the area 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, Charleston, MS 38921
(662) 647-8811
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
1 Court Square, Charleston, MS 38921
(662) 647-5551
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Tallahatchie County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via tallahatchiecounty.org.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
Population: 13,000
Area: 644 sq mi
Established: 1833
Tier: 3
Public Records
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