Lamar County was created by the Alabama legislature on Feb. 4, 1867 and was originally named Jones County after E.P. Jones, a resident of Fayette County. On 1867 Nov. 13, the county was abolished. On 1868 Oct. 8, the county was re-created under the name of Sanford County. On 1877 Feb. 8, the name was changed to Lamar in honor of Senator L.Q.C. Lamar of Mississippi. Lamar County is bordered by Marion, Fayette, and Pickens counties in Alabama, and by Lowndes and Monroe counties in Mississippi. The county is drained by the Tombigbee River.
Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. Foscue, Virginia O., Place Names in Alabama, The University of Alabama Press, 1989. Graves, John Temple, ed., The Book of Alabama and the South, Protective Life Insurance Co., Birmingham, 1933. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Estimates Division.