james evans
1931-2004
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County
James Evans was born in October 1931 in Newton County, Mississippi, to Albert Evans and Rosie Mitchell Evans, who was later known as Rosie Mitchell Smith. In his childhood records, James appears under the name “Jack.”
He grew up in Beat 4 of Newton County within the large Evans family whose roots were centered around the Lawrence community. His brothers and sisters included Josie, Earnest, Maggie Lee, Bernice, Amos, Cora Mae, and Lottie Mae, among others.
James’s childhood coincided with the Great Depression, when farming remained central to the lives of many African American families in rural Newton County.
Growing Up in a Changing Household
By the 1940 Federal Census, James—recorded as Jack—was living in the household of his father, Albert Evans, and Albert’s second wife, Francis Wheaton Evans.
The household included several of James’s siblings, including Maggie, Bernice, Cora Mae, and Lottie Mae, as well as members of the growing family Albert and Francis were building together.
The census recorded James as attending school and having completed the fourth grade.
His childhood therefore unfolded within a family undergoing significant change. His parents, Albert and Rosie, had separated and divorced, his father had remarried, and some of James’s older brothers and sisters were approaching adulthood.
Before long, several members of that sibling generation would begin leaving Mississippi.
From Mississippi to Michigan
James eventually followed a path already becoming familiar within his family: from rural Newton County to metropolitan Detroit.
By the early 1950s, Social Security records document James applying for a Social Security number in Michigan, establishing that he had left Mississippi by young adulthood.
His migration was not an isolated family event.
Several of Albert and Rosie’s children established lives in Michigan, including Josie, Maggie Lee, Bernice, Amos, and Cora Mae. Taken together, their records reveal the development of an Evans family network in and around Detroit.
For James, as for his siblings, Michigan became home while Newton County remained part of the family’s history.
Family Connections Across State Lines
One of the clearest records connecting James’s adult life in Michigan with his Mississippi origins appeared decades later.
On April 26 and May 3, 1978, The Newton Record published legal notices concerning Newton County Chancery Court proceedings involving property associated with the estate of Randle Mitchell, James’s maternal grandfather.
James Evans was named among the heirs through his mother, Rosie Mitchell Smith, along with his siblings Josie V. Treadwell, Earnest Evans, Maggie Lee Sankey, Amos Evans, Bernice Williams, and Cora Mae Arrington.
By then, several members of the family were living in Detroit.
The court proceeding demonstrates how migration changed the geography of the Evans family without completely severing its connections to Mississippi. More than three decades after James left Newton County, inheritance and family relationships continued to connect him to the Mitchell family property back home.
Part of a Larger Family Migration
James’s story becomes particularly meaningful when considered alongside those of his brothers and sisters.
The children of Albert Evans and Rosie Mitchell were born into a farming family in rural Newton County. As they reached adulthood, several migrated to the Detroit area.
Josie went north.
Maggie Lee went north.
Bernice went north.
Amos went north.
Cora Mae went north.
And James followed the same migration stream.
This pattern illustrates an important feature of the Great Migration. Families did not always move together at one time. Often, one sibling migrated first, followed by another and then another. Over time, a new family network developed hundreds of miles from the community where the siblings had been raised.
The surviving records of Albert and Rosie’s children show precisely that kind of movement between Newton County and Detroit.
Death and Legacy
James Evans passed away on July 18, 2004, at the age of seventy-two.
His life connected two places that became central to the twentieth-century history of the Evans family: Newton County, Mississippi, and Detroit, Michigan.
He was born into a rural Southern farming family during the Great Depression and spent his childhood in the Lawrence area. By young adulthood, he had joined members of his family in Michigan, becoming part of the larger migration of African Americans who left Mississippi during the twentieth century.
Yet decades later, the 1978 Newton County court proceedings still identified him within the family from which he came.
James’s individual documentary record may be quieter than those of some of his siblings, but when their lives are viewed together, a larger story emerges. The children who once shared a household in Beat 4 of Newton County eventually established new lives hundreds of miles away while remaining connected through family, inheritance, and their common Mississippi roots.
In that larger family migration, James “Jack” Evans represents another link between Lawrence and Detroit—and between the generation that remained on the land and the generation that went North.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1940 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, population schedule, Albert Evans household, James “Jack” Evans; National Archives microfilm publication T627. James was recorded in the household with his father, stepmother Francis, and siblings and was attending school, having completed the fourth grade.
- Social Security Administration, Applications and Claims Index, James Evans, application for Social Security number, Michigan, early 1950s. The record documents his presence in Michigan by young adulthood and connects him to his Mississippi origins.
- The Newton Record (Newton, Miss.), April 26, 1978, legal notice concerning Newton County Chancery Court proceedings involving the partition of property associated with the estate of Randle Mitchell; naming James Evans among the heirs through Rosie Mitchell Smith.
- The Newton Record (Newton, Miss.), May 3, 1978, continuation or republication of the legal notice concerning the estate of Randle Mitchell and the heirs of Rosie Mitchell Smith. The notice names James alongside siblings Josie V. Treadwell, Ernest Evans, Maggie Lee Sankey, Amos Evans, Bernice Williams, and Cora Mae Arrington.
- Social Security Death Index, James Evans, born October 1931, died July 18, 2004.
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