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HANCOCK COUNTY
Organized in 1812, Hancock County is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and on the west by the Pearl River. The county ranks fifty-third in area and was named for John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Only eight counties had been organized when Hancock and Jackson Counties were formed on the same day. At the time of organization David Holmes was Territorial Governor and James Madison was President of the United States.
Hancofek County now plays an important role in the National Space Program, with a rocket engine test site being located here.
BAY ST. LOUIS	1 **	^ ^
The Bay of St. Louis was the scene of the misnamed Battle of Pass Christian in 181 A. British Vice-Admiral Cochrane was following Andrew Jackson from Pensacola, Florida while Jackson was rushing to defend New Orleans. In an effort to delay Cochrane’s Fleet and prevent his forcing a passage through the Mississippi Sound, the American Flotilla consisting of five gunboats and Commanded by Lt. Catesby Jones, was stationed in the shallow bay where the enemy's heavier ships could not follow. On December 14> the five American vessels were attacked by forty-five British Ships and within an hour each American vessel was either captured or sunk. The casualties included 80 Americans and 300 British.
At the time of the battle the town of Bay St. Louis was known as Shieldsboro, for Thomas Shields who had obtained a Spanish Land Grant in 1789. Bienville had explored the bay in 1699 naming it St. Louis for King Louis IX. In 1720, John Law, Mississippi Land Bubble promoter had given the land around the bay to Madame de Mezieres, but the stability of each of these colonization efforts was very uncertain.
The French-Canadians who lived about the bay area intermarried with the Indians, Spainards, and Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia, forming the blood strains sometimes incorrectly called Creole. In the shuttling of soverignties of the Eighteenth Century, the people living around the bay were ignored by anything that resembled government. Yet when the British defeated Lt. Jones in 1814., Shieldsboro was an established summer retreat for wealthy Natchez Planters.
Because land titles in this section were based on claims that involved twenty-three types of tenure, including claims of the State of Georgia, some of the best lawyers in the profession were drawn here. By 1825 Shieldsboro rivalled Pearlington as the seat of Hancock County Courts, and the Military Hoad that Andrew Jackson had cut through the pine woods into Shieldsboro was bringing the town a substantial part of the back	country.
The building of the New Orleans, Mobile and	Chattanooga	Railroad,	which
was completed in 1869 did much for the development of the town as a summer resort and less of a rural center.
The Shieldsboro Post	Office was established on October	11,	1819 with John
B. Touline as postmaster.	The	name was changed to Bay St. Louis	on April 27,
1875.
In 1969 Bay St. Louis suffered tremendous losses when	a	hurricane	devas-
tated almost the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast.
ANSLEY
Date of settlement is not clearly defined but Ansley is located ten miles west	of Bay St. Louis and	was	established as a flag stop on	the	L & N Railroad.
The town was named for a	man by the name of Ansley who	was	once roadmaster
on the L & N Railroad.