l.b. jackson
1910-1996
Life Story
Early Life and Family Connections
L. B. Jackson was born between 1910 to 1913 in Newton County, Mississippi. Early census records show that he was raised within an extended family network in Beat 4, a rural farming community that was home to many interconnected Black families.
The 1920 Census lists eight-year-old L. B. Jackson living in the household of Alex Jackson, where he was recorded as a nephew. The household included several relatives, including Will Jackson, Melva Jackson, Aaron Jackson, and elderly family members Lizzie and Vissie Jackson. Like many children in rural Newton County, L. B. grew up in a multi-generational home where family members worked together to sustain the household.
By 1930, seventeen-year-old L. B. Jackson was still living in Beat 4. Census records show that he could read and write and was already working as a farm laborer, earning wages for his work. These early records reflect the typical pattern of rural life in Newton County, where young men began working at an early age to support their families.
Marriage and Family Life
During the early 1930s, L. B. Jackson married Mary Ruth Williams, the daughter of Guss Garfield Williams and Lula Willis Williams. Through this marriage, he became connected to one of the large farming families of the Lawrence community.
The couple established their home in Newton County and raised a large family together. Over the years they became the parents of several children, including:
- L. B. Jackson, Jr.
- Frankie Lee Jackson
- Martha Lou Jackson
- Bobbie Jackson
- Mary Jackson
- James Jackson
- Betty Jackson
- Linda F. Jackson
Like many families of the era, their household relied on farm labor and shared family work to sustain daily life.
Life in the Lawrence Community
L. B. Jackson and his family remained closely connected to the Lawrence community of Newton County. By the mid-twentieth century they were living on South 7th Street in Newton, where they continued raising their children and maintaining ties to the surrounding rural communities.
The Jackson family’s life was deeply intertwined with the churches and cemeteries of the Lawrence area, particularly Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery, where multiple members of the extended Williams and Jackson families are buried.
Community records also show organized efforts to maintain local burial grounds. A Lawrence Cemetery committee report noted improvements made under the leadership of Rev. Rudolph Whitehead of Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, including fencing, maintenance work, and upkeep of the cemetery lots. Families whose loved ones were buried there were encouraged to support the preservation of the grounds.
Legacy
L. B. Jackson was part of a generation that sustained the rural communities of Newton County through farming, family labor, and deep community ties. Through his marriage to Mary Ruth Williams and the children they raised together, his legacy became woven into the broader network of Williams and Jackson descendants who remained connected to the Lawrence and Newton communities.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Graveyard
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1920 Federal Census
- 1930 Federal Census
- 1940 Federal Census
- 1950 Federal Census
- U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
- U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2
- U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
- U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
- U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
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