Library of Congress, Cotton gin at Dahomey, Mississippi, print from black and white negative,
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, ( http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b39844 : accessed 3 Jun 2014), Reproduction no. LC-USZ62-93669 Mississippi was the 20th state admitted to the Union in 1817. Here are 5 things you might not have known about the Magnolia State:

• At various times throughout history Mississippi has been under the jurisdiction of France, Spain, Britain, and the United States; don't assume your ancestors records are stored in the state.
• Biloxi is the oldest permanent settlement in the Lower Mississippi Valley, established in 1699. Natchez was founded in 1716 and is the oldest city on the Mississippi River.
• In 1902, on a hunting trip in Mississippi, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear that had been tied up for that purpose; a subsequent cartoon that appeared in the Washington Star started the Teddy Bear craze.
• A fifth of the state's revenues was spent on artificial arms and legs for Confederate veterans in 1866.
• Mississippi established the first U.S state college for women in 1884.