Talk:Secretary of State of Mississippi

Secretary from 1837-1839 (The Benson/Dickson Problem)
Hello everyone, There seem to be conflicting sources on who was the Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1837 to 1839. According to this source, this source, and the official website, the Secretary of State was a man named David Dickson during that time period. But, according to this source, this source, this source, and this (notably primary) source, the Secretary from 1837 to 1839 was Barry W. Benson, who was also the Secretary from 1835 to 1837. At least one of Benson's obituaries implies that Benson was the incumbent at the time of his death on June 11, 1839. These sources are mostly older/primary sources and date from closer to the 1837-1839 time period. It is important to note that David Dickson, The Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1833 to 1835, could not have been the Secretary during this time period as he had died on July 31, 1836, before the 1837-1839 term. What should we do about this problem?

Globg (talk) 00:23, 29 August 2021 (UTC)