gertrude evans
1939-2014
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County
Gertrude Evans was born on September 14, 1939, in Mississippi to Albert Evans and Francis Wheaton Evans. She was among the children born during Albert’s second marriage and grew up within the large Evans family whose roots were firmly established in the Lawrence community of Newton County.
The 1940 Federal Census, taken only months after her birth, provides the earliest documented glimpse of Gertrude’s life. At approximately seven months old, she was living with her parents and other members of the family in rural Newton County. Among the young children in the household were her older brother Ezelle and sister Rosie Mae.
Gertrude’s childhood began in the same agricultural environment that had shaped generations of the Evans family. Her father farmed in the Lawrence area, while her mother managed the household and later became active in church, homemaker, Extension, and youth activities in the community.
Growing Up in the Evans Family
Gertrude was born into a family that would continue to expand during the years following the 1940 census.
Her father, Albert, had children from an earlier marriage, giving Gertrude a large network of older half-brothers and half-sisters in addition to the children born to Albert and Frances.
As those children reached adulthood, their lives followed different paths. Some members of the extended Evans family migrated from Mississippi and established homes in Michigan, Florida, and elsewhere. Others remained in Newton County.
Gertrude belonged to the branch of the family whose documented life remained closely connected to Mississippi.
Adult Life in Mississippi
Social Security records provide another documented point in Gertrude’s life. In 1960, at approximately twenty years old, she applied for her Social Security number in Mississippi.
Unlike some of her siblings whose surviving records document migration to other states, the available evidence continues to associate Gertrude with her home state.
Although the surviving public records presently provide relatively few details about her employment or other aspects of her adult life, her later records return us to the Lawrence community where she had spent her earliest years.
Death and Final Services
Gertrude Evans passed away on March 8, 2014, at the age of seventy-four.
A public visitation was held on Friday, March 14, followed by funeral services on Saturday, March 15, 2014, at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Lawrence, Mississippi.
Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Dunlap and Thames Funeral Home of Newton.
Her final services in Lawrence brought the documented story of her life back to the community where the Evans family had maintained roots for generations.
Legacy
Gertrude Evans’s life represents another thread in the history of Albert and Frances Wheaton Evans’s family.
Born in rural Mississippi in 1939, she entered the world just months before the 1940 census captured her as an infant in her parents’ Newton County household. Decades later, the records still connected her to Mississippi, and her final services were held at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Lawrence.
Like her sister Rosie Mae, Gertrude’s story provides an important counterpart to the migration narratives found elsewhere in the Evans family. Not every son or daughter left Mississippi for Detroit, Chicago, Florida, or another distant destination. Some lives remained closely associated with the communities from which the family had grown.
Gertrude’s surviving documentary record is relatively quiet, but it preserves that continuity. Her life began within the large Evans household in Newton County, and seventy-four years later, Lawrence remained the community in which family and friends gathered to remember her life.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1940 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Albert Evans household; National Archives microfilm publication T627. Gertrude Evans, approximately seven months old, was enumerated in the household of her parents, Albert and Frances Evans, along with other members of the family.
- Social Security Administration, Applications and Claims Index, Gertrude Evans, born September 14, 1939, Mississippi. The record documents her Social Security application in Mississippi in 1960.
- Social Security Death Index, Gertrude Evans, born September 14, 1939, died March 8, 2014; Social Security Administration, U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014.
- “Gertrude Evans,” Scott County Times (Forest, Miss.), March 19, 2014, 9. The notice records her death on March 8, 2014, visitation on March 14, and funeral services on March 15 at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Lawrence, Mississippi, with arrangements by Dunlap and Thames Funeral Home of Newton.
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