mitchell adkins, sr.
1860-1920
Life Story
From Emancipation to Landholding: The Quiet Rise of a Mississippi Farmer
Early Life in Mississippi (1860–1870)
Mitchell Adkins, Sr. was born in January 1860 in Mississippi during the final years of slavery in the American South. He was the son of Thomas Atkins and Frances “Fannie” Lewis Atkins, a family whose lives bridged the painful divide between bondage and freedom. Born only five years before the Civil War ended, Mitchell belonged to one of the earliest generations of African Americans to come of age during Reconstruction and to be formally documented as citizens in federal records.
He first appears in the 1870 United States Census in Beat 4 of Neshoba County at approximately eleven years old. The household was headed by his father Thomas, who had been born in South Carolina before the Civil War and was likely enslaved during his early life. Young Mitchell was already working as a farm laborer, and like many formerly enslaved children emerging from the devastation of slavery, he could neither read nor write.
The 1870 census represented far more than a government document. For families like the Atkins household, it was the first federal recognition of their existence as free people under law. Mitchell belonged to the first generation of formerly enslaved Black children officially recorded as American citizens.
Young Adulthood and Life in Newton County (1880s)
By 1880, the family had relocated to Beat 4 in Newton County, where Mitchell, now a young adult, continued laboring in agriculture. Census records from that year still described him as illiterate and employed as a farm laborer.
Another 1880 enumeration appears to show a “Mitchell Adkins” in Beat 3 of Newton County listed as head of household alongside his brother Henry, suggesting an early effort toward independence, though census inconsistencies make definitive identification difficult.
These years marked a transitional period in Mitchell’s life as he moved from childhood labor into adulthood during the difficult decades following Reconstruction.
Marriage, Literacy, and Establishing a Farm (1885–1900)
On January 21, 1895, Mitchell married Margarett “Margaret” Riser. Together they established a large farming household that became rooted within the rural Black communities of Newton County.
The 1900 census reveals how dramatically Mitchell’s life had changed within a single generation. By then, he was recorded as:
- A married farmer
- The owner of a mortgaged farm
- Literate and able to read and write
- Head of a growing household
The transformation was profound.
In 1870, Mitchell had been an illiterate child laborer.
By 1900, he had become a literate landholding farmer.
Mitchell and Margaret raised a large family whose children included:
- Fannie Adkins
- Mammie Adkins
- Mitchell Adkins, Jr.
- Henry Adkins
- Stephen (Steven) Adkins
- Mary Adkins
- Harriett Adkins
- Etta M. Adkins
- George Adkins
- Maudrie Adkins
- Mabel Adkins
- Missouri F. Adkins
- Frankie Adkins
Across successive census decades, the Adkins household reflected stability, persistence, and agricultural productivity within rural Newton County during the difficult years of segregation and Jim Crow.
From Farm Laborer to Employer (1910)
By 1910, Mitchell’s social and economic position had advanced even further. The census listed him not merely as a farmer, but specifically as an “Employer” engaged in general farming. He remained literate, owned his mortgaged farm, and headed a substantial household.
That single census designation—Employer—carried enormous significance for a Black farmer born during slavery’s final years. It indicated that Mitchell may have hired laborers of his own, representing a remarkable rise within one generation from the world his father Thomas had known.
Mitchell’s life embodied the broader story of many African American families during Reconstruction and the post-Reconstruction South: the difficult movement from forced labor toward landholding, literacy, and economic independence despite severe racial barriers.
Final Census and Death in Jackson (1920)
In the 1920 census, Mitchell appeared once again in Newton County at approximately sixty years old. Though still farming and literate, the records indicate he was now renting rather than owning property. He continued living alongside Margaret and several younger children, maintaining the agricultural life that had sustained the family for decades.
Later that same year, Mitchell died in Jackson within Hinds County. His Mississippi death certificate, filed under Certificate No. 9007, recorded his death on May 6, 1920, at the age of sixty-three.
The certificate identified him as a married Black farmer and named his parents as Thomas Adkins and Fannie Lewis. His brother, Johnson Adkins of Lawrence, Mississippi served as the informant.
The medical section of the certificate lists the cause of death as complications related to an enlarged prostate, with suppression of urine noted as a contributory condition. The record also references a prostatotomy, a surgical procedure involving the prostate gland. His death in Jackson strongly suggests that he may have traveled there seeking medical treatment unavailable in rural Newton County.
At a time when advanced medical care for Black Mississippians was limited—particularly in rural areas—traveling to larger cities such as Jackson for treatment was often necessary despite the hardship and expense involved.
Following his death, Mitchell’s body was returned to Lawrence, Mississippi for burial. Funeral arrangements were handled by H. C. Graham Undertaking Company of Jackson.
Surname Evolution: Atkins to Adkins
Mitchell’s records reveal the gradual evolution of the family surname from “Atkins” to “Adkins” between 1880 and 1900.
Like many African American families of the era, spelling variations often reflected phonetic recording by census enumerators before literacy became widespread within the household. As family members gained greater educational access and legal documentation stabilized, “Adkins” became the more consistently used spelling.
A Life Across Transformative Eras
Mitchell Adkins’ life spanned some of the most transformative decades in Southern history:
- Born during slavery’s final years
- Recorded in the first post-Emancipation census
- Raised during Reconstruction
- Came of age during the Mississippi Redemption era
- Became a landholding farmer under Jim Crow
- Died shortly before the Great Migration dramatically reshaped Black Southern life
His story also reflects a striking three-generation progression:
Thomas Atkins (born c. 1812)
→ Likely born enslaved; illiterate farmer
Mitchell Adkins (born 1860)
→ Farm laborer → Literate landholder → Employer
Mitchell’s children
→ Raised within a landholding household during the Jim Crow era
This quiet but powerful upward movement illustrates the resilience and determination of the Adkins family line in the face of systemic obstacles that defined the postwar South.
Legacy
Mitchell Adkins was not a politician, wealthy businessman, or public official. His importance rests elsewhere.
He was a man who secured land, sustained a large family, pursued literacy, and helped shift the trajectory of future generations.
From an illiterate farm boy in 1870 to a literate employer-farmer by 1910, his life reflects the perseverance of a generation determined to build stability and dignity in the decades following emancipation.
In the broader story of rural Black Mississippi, that achievement alone stands as a remarkable legacy.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1870 – 1920 Federal Censuses
- Alabama, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1805-1967
- Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011
- Mississippi, U.S., Index to Deaths, 1912-1943
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