luella evans bobbett
1901-2002
Life Story
Early Life and Family Roots
Luella Evans Bobbett was born on January 26, 1901, in the Lawrence community of Newton County, Mississippi, the first child born to Tom Jefferson Evans, Sr. and Sallie Lillie Cooper Evans.
She entered a blended family already shaped by loss and resilience. Before marrying Lillie, Tom had four sons with his first wife, Charlotte Jones. After Charlotte’s death, Lillie became stepmother to William, Easmond, Alex, and Albert Evans. Luella grew up alongside these older half-brothers as well as her younger siblings Alberta, Thomas, Vasterlee, Bertha, Elmo, Fannie, Dessie, and Northa, creating one of the larger households in the Lawrence community.
Raised on the family farm in Beat 4, Luella learned the values of hard work from an early age. Like many rural African American children in the early twentieth century, she balanced school with farm responsibilities. Census records show that she attended school, completed the sixth grade, learned to read and write, and worked as a farm laborer on the family farm while still a teenager.
Marriage and the Great Migration
During the early 1920s, Luella married Weldon Green.
Like thousands of African American families seeking broader economic opportunities beyond the rural South, Luella and Weldon became participants in the Great Migration, relocating to Chicago, Illinois. By 1930, they were living at 5007 South Dearborn Street in Chicago’s Fourteenth Ward.
Although the city offered new opportunities, Luella’s daily work remained centered on caring for her growing family. She devoted herself to raising her children while establishing a home in one of Chicago’s expanding African American neighborhoods.
Together, Luella and Weldon were the parents of:
- Weldon Green, Jr.
- Ruth E. Green
- Booker T. Green
- Ervin Green
Like many Southern migrants, Luella experienced firsthand the dramatic transition from the quiet farming communities of Newton County to the crowded urban neighborhoods of Chicago.
Returning Home
Unlike many migrants who remained permanently in northern cities, Luella eventually returned to the place where her roots ran deepest.
By the mid-1930s, she was once again living in Newton County, Mississippi. Sometime afterward, she married Chester W. (“C.W.”) Bobbett (also recorded as Bobbitt), a lifelong farmer whose family had longstanding ties to the Lawrence community.
Together they established their home on a rural farm, where Luella continued raising her family while embracing once again the rhythms of agricultural life that had shaped her childhood.
Later census records indicate that the household also included their grandchildren, Willy and Annie, reflecting the extended family structure common throughout rural Mississippi.
By 1950, Luella and Chester were residing on South 7th Street in Newton, where Chester farmed while Luella managed the household.
Faith and Community
Faith remained one of the defining constants throughout Luella’s long life.
According to her obituary, she joined Jerusalem Baptist Church in Lawrence at an early age and remained devoted to her church throughout her life. Her lifelong membership reflected the central role the congregation played in the spiritual and social life of the Lawrence community.
When Luella passed away in 2002, funeral services were held at Jerusalem Baptist Church on June 8, with Rev. Percy Pollard officiating. Holifield Funeral Home directed the services, and she was laid to rest in the Lawrence community among generations of family members and friends.
Stewardship and Independence
Luella’s long life was marked not only by family devotion but also by careful stewardship of property and family interests.
In 1991, when she was ninety years old, Newton County Chancery Court records show that she filed an action to quiet and confirm title to land she owned in Newton County. The legal action demonstrates that even in advanced age she remained actively involved in protecting property that represented generations of family history.
She also applied for Social Security benefits in 1966, continuing to live independently in the community where she had spent most of her life.
A Century of Change
Few people witnessed as much change as Luella Evans Bobbett.
Born only thirty-six years after the Civil War, she lived through the rise of Jim Crow, World War I, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Her own life reflected many of those broader historical movements. She experienced both rural Mississippi and urban Chicago before choosing to return home, where family, land, and community remained central to her identity.
Death and Legacy
Luella Evans Bobbett passed away on June 3, 2002, at the remarkable age of 101.
She was survived by two sons, Weldon Green of Lawrence, Mississippi, and Ervin Green of Chicago, Illinois; eighteen grandchildren; thirty-four great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews, extended relatives, and friends. Her obituary also noted that eight brothers and three sisters had preceded her in death, underscoring the exceptional length of her life.
Her century-long life connected six generations of family history and embodied the resilience of African American women who sustained both their households and their communities through changing times.
Whether working alongside her parents on the family farm, raising children in Chicago during the Great Migration, returning to Newton County to build another home, or protecting family property well into her nineties, Luella demonstrated remarkable endurance, adaptability, and strength.
Today, she is remembered not only for the extraordinary length of her life but also for her steadfast commitment to family, faith, and the Lawrence community that she proudly called home for more than a century.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
Sources
- .1900 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District (ED) ___, sheet ___, dwelling ___, family ___, Tom Evans household, enumerating Tom Evans, Sallie Lillie Evans, and Tom’s four sons from his first marriage.
- Newton County, Mississippi, Marriage Record, Tom Evans and Sallie Lillie Cooper, March 5, 1900.
- 1900 U.S. Census and Mississippi Death Certificate No. 7088, Alex Evans (1913), identify Tom Evans’s eldest sons as children of Charlotte Jones, indicating that Luella was the first child born to Tom Evans and Sallie Lillie Cooper following their marriage in 1900.
- 1910 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District ___, sheet ___, Tom Evans household, listing Luella Evans as a school-age child.
- 1920 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District ___, sheet ___, Tom Evans household, listing Luella Evans as a farm laborer who had completed the sixth grade and was able to read and write.
- 1930 U.S. Census, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, Fourteenth Ward, Enumeration District ___, sheet ___, Weldon Green household, residing at 5007 South Dearborn Street, listing Luella Green and their children.
- 1940 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Enumeration District ___, sheet ___, Chester W. Bobbett household, documenting Luella’s return to Mississippi following her years in Chicago.
- 1950 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Enumeration District ___, sheet ___, Chester W. Bobbett household, residing on South 7th Street, Newton, Mississippi.
- Newton County, Mississippi, Chancery Court, Luella Bobbett v. Unknown Heirs, Complaint to Quiet and Confirm Title, 1991, documenting Luella Bobbett’s action to establish title to Newton County property.
- Social Security Applications and Claims Index, Luella Bobbett, application filed in 1966.
- Social Security Death Index, Luella Bobbett, born January 26, 1901; died June 3, 2002; last residence, Newton County, Mississippi.
- Mississippi Death Certificate (or obituary, if used), Luella Evans Bobbett, June 3, 2002.
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