johnny lee evans
1939-1977
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County
Johnnie Lee Evans was born on October 16, 1939, in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, the son of Sam Evans and Lillian Evans.¹ He was born into a large Evans family whose roots in the Lawrence community extended across several generations.
His known siblings included Mattie Mae, Ed, Lorene, Ovetta, Annie, Freenell, Sophia, Irma, Willie Lee, Sam Jr., and Carson Evans, the latter having died in infancy years before Johnnie’s birth.
Johnnie’s childhood household arrangements provide another glimpse into the extended-family relationships within the Evans family.
By 1950, ten-year-old Johnnie was living in the household of his paternal grandfather, Robert “Rob” Evans, in Newton County. Also in the household were Robert’s daughter Nancy Scott and Johnnie’s brothers Bill and Sam Evans. The census explicitly identified the three boys as Robert’s grandchildren.²
The record does not explain why the boys were living with their grandfather rather than in the household of their parents, Sam and Lillian. It would therefore be inappropriate to assume that Robert or Nancy had permanently taken over their upbringing. What the census does establish is that, at least in 1950, three of Sam and Lillian’s sons were living within their extended Evans family household.
Adulthood and Family
Johnnie remained connected to Mississippi as he entered adulthood. In 1958, he applied for a Social Security number in Mississippi.¹
He later married Irene Jones, and the couple had two sons, Terry Evans and Calvin Evans.
The surviving records presently tell us relatively little about Johnnie’s occupation or everyday adult life. His obituary, however, shows that his closest family relationships remained spread across Mississippi and beyond as members of the Evans family migrated to other parts of the country.
An Early Death
Johnnie’s life ended at only thirty-eight years of age.
He died on Wednesday, October 26, 1977. His obituary, published several days later in the Hattiesburg American, announced that services had been held at noon Sunday at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Lawrence. Burial followed at Union Chapel Cemetery in Newton County.³
Brown Mortuary handled the funeral arrangements.³
The Family He Left Behind
Johnnie’s obituary provides an especially useful reconstruction of the surviving Evans family in 1977.
He was survived by his wife, Irene Jones Evans, and their two sons, Terry and Calvin Evans, both then living in Laurel, Mississippi.³
His surviving sisters were:
- Lorene Moffett, of Taylorsville, Mississippi;
- Sophia Dunagin, of San Diego, California;
- Mattie Mae Jones, of Chicago, Illinois; and
- Freenell Evans, of Laurel, Mississippi.
His surviving brothers were Ed Evans, of Union, Mississippi, and Willie Lee Evans, of Newton. His aunt, Nancy Evans, was living in Lawrence.³
The survivor list is valuable not only for documenting Johnnie’s family but also for showing how widely the children of Sam and Lillian Evans had dispersed by the late 1970s. Some remained in Newton County, while others had established lives in places such as Taylorsville, Laurel, Chicago, and San Diego.
It also helps establish which of Johnnie’s siblings had died before October 1977. Because several known siblings are absent from the survivor list, their absence can serve as a research clue—but should not by itself be treated as proof that each was deceased, since obituaries sometimes omitted relatives.
Burial Among the Evans Family
Following his funeral at Jerusalem Baptist Church, Johnnie was buried at Union Chapel Cemetery, returning him to the Lawrence-area community where generations of his family had lived.
His life was considerably shorter than those of several of his siblings. Yet the records that survive place him firmly within the interconnected Evans family of Lawrence: a grandson living in Robert Evans’s household as a child, a husband and father in adulthood, and a brother whose surviving family had spread from rural Mississippi to cities across the country.
Johnnie Lee Evans died at thirty-eight, leaving behind his wife Irene and two sons, Terry and Calvin, to continue his branch of the Evans family.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1. Social Security Administration, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007, entry for Johnnie Lee Evans, born October 16, 1939, Lawrence, Mississippi; parents Sam Evans and Lillian Evans; Social Security number issued in Mississippi in 1958; digital database, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
- 2. 1950 U.S. census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, enumeration district 51-22, p. 31, dwelling 239, household of Rob Evans; household included Rob Evans, daughter Nancy Scott, and grandchildren Bill Evans, Sam Evans, and Johnny [Johnnie] Evans, age ten; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 2026.
- 3. “Services are held for Johnnie Evans,” Hattiesburg American (Hattiesburg, Mississippi), October 31, 1977, p. 2; reports Johnnie Evans, age 38, deceased Wednesday; funeral services at Jerusalem Baptist Church, Lawrence; burial Union Chapel Cemetery; survivors wife Mrs. Irene Jones Evans; sons Terry and Calvin Evans; sisters Lorene Moffett, Sophia Dunagin, Mattie Mae Jones, and Frenell Evans; brothers Ed Evans and Willie Lee Evans; aunt Nancy Evans; Brown Mortuary in charge.
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