was emancipated from the municipality of Lagarto. The railroad, which served as one of the arguments for the political emancipation of the old village, was never completed, leaving today remaining in abandoned farms only excavations and foundations of bridges where the lines were planned. The county name is a tribute to a settler dating back to the early days of the occupation of Sergipe, a Frenchman named Simão Dias who in the years 1599, 1602 and 1607, along with Christopher and Augustine Dias da Costa, by application requested land grants in the region. The last requirement, which the codex is the Historical and Geographical Institute of Sergipe, calls "three leagues of land in picture" in Itabaiana of lands for cattle ranching. Freire Felisbelo, who was besides state president also a historian, says: "The land on which it is built today (1891) the village were donated to Simão Dias Fontes, Christopher and Augustine Dias da Costa." (Freire: 1997, p .. 322). However the thesis sustained by historian Felisbelo Freire was the target of opposition by Fr John Matos Carvalho, who had intended to credit the H butonorable Sebastião da Fonseca Andrade (Baron de Santa Rosa) for the construction of the temple of the current array of Santana. Father Joao de Matos took advantage of the contradictions found in various theories about the origin of the village, because the historical documents that spoke of Simão Dias, in letters of donation land grants, surnames have diversified beyond requesting allotments in different periods. Therefore, to Father John de Matos Carvalho, had the opportunity to have two historical characters with the same name. In the intention of provoking controversy and weaken the thesis of Felisbelo Freire, he published a work entitled "Matas of Simão Dias," in which vehemently defends the thesis that the city originated thanks to the donation of their ancestral Ana Francisca Menezes. The goal was to raise doubt about the historical version, as well as to disparage figure cowboy and enhance the figure of his ancestor, donor of the land where the first chapel was built that originated the parish of Santana in Simão Dias. Simão Dias' Church Before having "status" of the village, the current council was formed as a parish by Act of February 6, 1835, breaking up the Parish of Lagarto. The chapel that motivated its creation date of 1655, as advocates historians. However the only ancient document on