sentences:  The per capita income for the county was $20,216.About 9.7% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.5% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.In its pre-Civil War history, Massac County, like all of Southern-leaning Southern Illinois, was powerfully Democratic as it was opposed to the abolitionist politics of the northern regions of the state.