dee evans

1894-1964

Life Story

Early Life in Newton County

Dee Evans was born on April 1, 1894, in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, the son of Robert Evans and Betsy Curry Evans.¹ His mother, whose name appears variously as Betsy, Bessy, and Betsey in surviving records, was the daughter of Jake Curry and Sallie Logan.

Dee grew up in Beat 4 of Newton County as one of the older children in a large farming family. By 1900, six-year-old Dee was living with his parents and younger brothers Sam and Jay on the family’s rented farm.²

Over the following decade, the household expanded to include Jody, Sally, Nina, Birta, and Nancy Evans. By 1910, sixteen-year-old Dee was coming of age in a household whose livelihood remained firmly tied to agriculture.³

His childhood unfolded during a period when his father Robert was gradually establishing himself as a farmer in the Lawrence community. Dee therefore learned agricultural work within the same rural environment that had sustained generations of the Evans family.

But unlike his father, Dee would eventually leave Mississippi.

From Mississippi to Arkansas

By the time the United States entered World War I, Dee had made his way west from Mississippi to Arkansas.

His World War I draft registration placed him in Columbia County, Arkansas, where he registered for military service. The registration described him as being of medium height with a stout build.⁴

Dee’s movement from Newton County to Arkansas represented the beginning of a permanent geographical break from the community in which he had been raised.

It was not, however, a move to the industrial North that characterized the Great Migration experiences of so many African Americans from Mississippi. Dee instead relocated within the South, moving from rural Mississippi to neighboring Arkansas, where agriculture and railroad employment would both become important parts of his adult life.

Service During World War I

Dee’s life changed dramatically in the summer of 1918.

He entered the United States Army on June 20, 1918, during the final year of World War I.⁵

He served with Company B, 334th Service Battalion, Quartermaster Corps, eventually holding the rank of Private First Class.⁵

The Quartermaster Corps performed essential logistical work for the Army, supplying and supporting the enormous military force deployed during the war. Dee’s assignment placed him within the vast support network necessary to sustain American troops overseas.

His service carried him far beyond Mississippi and Arkansas.

In July 1918, Dee sailed for Europe aboard the troop transport USS Princess Matoika. After approximately a year overseas, he returned to the United States aboard the Manchuria.⁶

Dee was honorably discharged from the Army on August 1, 1919.⁵

For a young man who had grown up working on a rented farm in rural Newton County, military service had taken him across the Atlantic and into one of the defining international events of his generation.

Marriage and a New Life in Arkansas

Dee returned to Arkansas following his military service.

Only weeks after his discharge, on September 23, 1919, he married Emma Haskin, whose surname also appears as Haskins, in Columbia County, Arkansas.⁷

By 1920, Dee and Emma were living in Taylor, Arkansas. Rather than immediately returning to farming, Dee was working as a railroad laborer.⁸

His railroad employment marked an important occupational transition. Dee had grown up in an agricultural household, but his move to Arkansas gave him access, at least temporarily, to wage labor outside farming.

Over time, however, agriculture again became central to his livelihood.

Dee and Emma established themselves first in the Dorcheat area of Columbia County and later in Cleveland Township, Little River County, where Dee worked as an independent farmer.

Their household included children Mary M. and Robert Evans, among others documented in the family records.

The Loss of a Son

One of the most painful events of Dee and Emma’s later life came in October 1952.

Their son Robert Evans, only twenty-five years old, was killed in an automobile accident.⁹

Robert’s Arkansas death certificate records that he died on October 11, 1952, in Little River County. His usual occupation was listed as pattern man, and the certificate identified his father as Dee Evans and his mother as Emma Haskin. The cause of death was recorded as a crushed skull resulting from an automobile accident.⁹

Dee Evans served as the informant on his son’s death certificate.

Robert was buried at Cook Cemetery in Wilton, Arkansas, the same cemetery where his father would eventually be laid to rest.

Later Years in Wilton

Dee and Emma remained in Little River County.

By the later years of his life, Dee’s home was in Wilton, Arkansas, where he had established roots far from the Lawrence community of his childhood.

His life had followed an unusual geographical arc: born into a farming family in Newton County, Mississippi; moving to Arkansas as a young man; crossing the Atlantic as a soldier during World War I; and then returning to Arkansas, where he spent the remainder of his life.

By old age, Arkansas had been his home for more than four decades.

Death in 1964

In April 1964, Dee became seriously ill and was admitted to Little River County Memorial Hospital in Ashdown, Arkansas. He died there on April 10, 1964, at the age of seventy.¹⁰

His Arkansas death certificate recorded the immediate cause of death as a cerebral vascular accident, with hypertension identified as the underlying condition. The certificate indicated that he had suffered from hypertension for approximately five years.¹⁰

At the time of his death, Dee was recorded as married and a retired laborer. The certificate confirmed his birth on April 1, 1894, in Lawrence, Mississippi, and identified his father as Robert Evans. His wife, Emma Evans of Wilton, Arkansas, served as the informant.¹⁰

Dee was laid to rest on April 17, 1964, at Cook Cemetery in Wilton, Arkansas, where his son Robert Evans had been buried following his death in 1952.¹⁰

Honoring His Military Service

Dee’s military service was formally commemorated after his death.

An application was submitted for a government military marker for his grave at Cook Cemetery. The application identified him as Dee Evans, service number 3271771, and documented his Army service from June 20, 1918, through August 1, 1919, with Company B of the 334th Service Battalion, Quartermaster Corps.¹¹

The application requested a flat granite marker bearing a Christian cross.

It was submitted by Emma Haskins Evans, who identified herself as Dee’s wife and gave her address as Wilton, Arkansas.¹¹

From the Piney Woods to Arkansas—and Across the Atlantic

Dee Evans’s life represents a different kind of migration story within the Evans family.

He was born into the rural world of Lawrence, Mississippi, where his father Robert spent much of his life farming. But Dee did not remain there.

As a young man, he traveled to Arkansas.

As a soldier, he crossed the Atlantic during World War I.

After returning home, he built his adult life in Arkansas, first finding employment with the railroad and later returning to the agricultural work he had known since childhood.

He married Emma Haskin shortly after coming home from the war and established a family hundreds of miles from the Newton County community where the Evans family had its roots.

His life also carried profound loss. In 1952, Dee and Emma buried their twenty-five-year-old son Robert at Cook Cemetery. Twelve years later, Dee was buried in that same Arkansas cemetery.

The government marker requested for his grave preserved another part of his identity for future generations: his service as an African American soldier during World War I.

Dee Evans began life on a rented Mississippi farm. Before his twenty-fifth birthday, his journey had carried him from Mississippi to Arkansas and across the Atlantic Ocean in the service of his country.

He returned not to Lawrence, but to Arkansas.

And there, Dee Evans built the home, family, and community that would define the remainder of his life.

Resting Place

Cook Cemetery in Wilton, Arkansas

Photos/Albums

Sources

1. Arkansas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, certificate of death for Dee Evans, state file no. 005417, died April 10, 1964, Little River County Memorial Hospital, Ashdown, Little River County, Arkansas; born April 1, 1894, Lawrence, Mississippi; father Robert Evans; informant Emma Evans, Wilton, Arkansas; burial April 17, 1964, Cook Cemetery, Wilton.
2. 1900 U.S. census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, population schedule, enumeration district 52, p. 16, dwelling 304, family 305, household of Robert Evans; household included Robert and Bessy Evans and children Dee, Sam, and Jay; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
3. 1910 U.S. census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, population schedule, enumeration district 93, p. 21A, household of Robert Evans; children included Dee, Sam, Jay, Jody, Sally, Nina, Birta, and Nancy Evans; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
4. U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, registration for Dee Evans, Columbia County, Arkansas; physical description recorded as medium height and stout build; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
5. U.S. military service records and application for government headstone or marker for Dee Evans, service no. 3271771; enlisted June 20, 1918; discharged August 1, 1919; Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 334th Service Battalion, Quartermaster Corps.
6. U.S. Army transport passenger lists, World War I, entries for Dee Evans; outbound transportation aboard Princess Matoika, July 1918, and return transportation aboard Manchuria, 1919; digital images, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
7. Arkansas marriage records, Columbia County, marriage of Dee Evans and Emma Haskin [Haskins], September 23, 1919; digital database and image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
8. 1920 U.S. census, Taylor, Columbia County, Arkansas, household of Dee Evans; Dee enumerated with wife Emma and employed as a railroad laborer; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026. Subsequent federal census records document the family’s residence in Dorcheat, Columbia County, and Cleveland Township, Little River County, and Dee’s return to agricultural work.
9. Arkansas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, certificate of death for Robert Evans, state file no. 13021, died October 11, 1952, Little River County, Arkansas; age 25; father Dee Evans; mother Emma Haskin; informant Dee Evans; death resulting from a crushed skull sustained in an automobile accident; burial October 16, 1952, Cook Cemetery, Wilton, Arkansas.
10. Arkansas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, certificate of death for Dee Evans, state file no. 005417, died April 10, 1964, Little River County Memorial Hospital, Ashdown, Little River County, Arkansas; age 70; born April 1, 1894, Lawrence, Mississippi; marital status, married; occupation, retired laborer; father, Robert Evans; wife Emma Evans, informant; cause of death, cerebral vascular accident due to hypertension; burial April 17, 1964, Cook Cemetery, Wilton, Arkansas.
11. U.S. Department of Defense, DD Form 1330, Application for Headstone or Marker, Dee Evans, service no. 3271771; Company B, 334th Service Battalion, Quartermaster Corps; enlistment June 20, 1918; discharge August 1, 1919; application signed April 15, 1964, by Emma Haskins Evans, identified as wife; Cook Cemetery, Wilton, Arkansas. The application records Dee’s death as April 17, 1964, conflicting with the Arkansas death certificate’s April 10 death date; April 17 corresponds to the burial date recorded on the death certificate.

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