earnest evans
1923-2005
Life Story
Early Life and Family Roots
Earnest Evans was born on March 13, 1923, in the Lawrence community of Newton County, Mississippi. He was the son of Albert Evans and Rosie B. Mitchell Evans, members of a large African American farming family deeply rooted in Beat 4 of Newton County.
Earnest grew up alongside his brothers and sisters, including Josie, Maggie Lee, Bernice, Amos, Cora Mae, and James. His childhood unfolded during the difficult years of the Great Depression, when agriculture remained the foundation of life for most Black families in the Lawrence community.
As a young boy, Earnest attended local schools and eventually completed a grammar-school education. Like many young men raised in rural Newton County, he entered the workforce early and gained experience through agricultural labor.
By the time he registered for the military draft during World War II, Earnest was employed by Will Guyse of Lawrence.
Answering the Call During World War II
On June 30, 1942, nineteen-year-old Earnest registered for the Selective Service in Newton County. His registration described him as standing approximately five feet seven inches tall and weighing 139 pounds. He listed Tom Evans as his next of kin.
Less than a year later, on May 21, 1943, Earnest entered the United States Army at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was assigned Army Serial Number 34632395 and entered service as a private.
Military records subsequently placed him at Fort Riley, Kansas, including Camp Funston, where he was associated with the Cavalry branch.
Earnest’s military career, however, would be unexpectedly brief.
During medical evaluation in 1943, Army physicians identified a spinal condition that military records classified as having existed before his entry into service. Because of the condition, Earnest was determined medically unable to continue military duty.
He was honorably discharged for medical disability in August 1943, only a few months after entering the Army.
Although his period of service was short and there is no evidence that he served overseas or in combat, Earnest nevertheless belonged to the generation of young men who entered military service as the United States mobilized millions of Americans during World War II.
Return to Newton County
Following his discharge, Earnest returned to the community where his life had begun.
Unlike many members of his generation who permanently left rural Mississippi during the Great Migration, available records indicate that Earnest remained closely rooted in Newton County.
One particularly important record appeared more than three decades after his military service.
In 1978, a legal notice published in The Newton Record named Ernest Evans among the heirs-at-law involved in an estate partition proceeding concerning Randle Mitchell. Listed alongside him were his siblings Josie V. Treadwell, Maggie Lee Sankey, Amos Evans, Bernice Williams, James Evans, and Cora Mae Arrington.
The proceeding provides an important documentary link between Earnest and his mother’s Mitchell family and demonstrates how family land and inheritance continued to connect descendants across generations—even after some family members had migrated away from Mississippi.
Later Years
Earnest remained associated with the Lawrence community throughout his later years.
Unlike some of his brothers and sisters whose lives carried them to cities in the North, Earnest’s known records continued to connect him to the rural Newton County community where his parents and grandparents had established their families.
He lived to see enormous changes during his eighty-two years—from the agricultural world of his childhood and the Great Depression to World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Death and Legacy
Earnest Evans passed away on December 7, 2005, at the age of eighty-two. His last known residence was in Lawrence, Mississippi.
His life represents a different branch of the Evans family’s twentieth-century experience. While some of his siblings participated in the Great Migration and established new lives outside Mississippi, Earnest remained connected to the community where generations of his family had lived and worked.
His brief Army service also deserves its proper place in that story. He answered the nation’s call during World War II, entered the United States Army, and was prepared for military duty until a medical condition beyond his control brought his service to an early end.
From the farms of Beat 4 to his enlistment during World War II and his eventual return to Lawrence, Earnest Evans’s life remained deeply connected to family, land, and the Newton County community he called home.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1930 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, population schedule, Albert Evans household, Earnest Evans; National Archives microfilm publication T626.
- U.S. World War II Draft Registration Card, Earnest Evans, June 30, 1942, Newton County, Mississippi; Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group 147, National Archives. The registration identifies Will Guyse of Lawrence as his employer and Tom Evans as his next of kin.
- U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, Earnest Evans, Army Serial No. 34632395, enlisted May 21, 1943, Camp Shelby, Mississippi; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration.
- U.S. Army hospital admission and medical records, Earnest Evans, 1943, Fort Riley/Camp Funston, Kansas; documenting treatment for a spinal condition recorded as existing prior to military service and his subsequent return/disposition from military duty.
- U.S. Army military service/discharge record, Earnest Evans, Army Serial No. 34632395, August 1943; documenting honorable separation from military service for medical disability.
- The Newton Record (Newton, Miss.), April 1978, legal notice concerning the estate and partition of property of Randle Mitchell, naming Ernest Evans, Josie V. Treadwell, Maggie Lee Sankey, Amos Evans, Bernice Williams, James Evans, and Cora Mae Arrington among the heirs-at-law.
- Social Security Death Index, Earnest Evans, born March 13, 1923, died December 7, 2005; last residence Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
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