otto ebeneezer simmons
1904-1971
Life Story
Early Life & Family Roots
Otto Ebeneezer Simmons was born on July 17, 1904, in the Lawrence community of Newton County, Mississippi, to Morris Simmons and Mary Thompson Simmons. As the youngest son in a large family, Otto entered a household deeply rooted in the agricultural traditions and close-knit community life of Beat 4.
Both of Otto’s parents had been born into slavery. His father, Morris, was born around 1844 and spent more than two decades enslaved before emancipation. His mother, Mary, born in 1859, was a young child when the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished. Together they belonged to the first generation of African Americans to build independent homes and farms after freedom, instilling in their children the values of faith, hard work, education, and perseverance.
By the 1910 United States Census, six-year-old Otto was living on the family farm with his parents and several older siblings, including Francis, Lucy, Archie, and John Wesley. Also residing in the household was his elderly grandmother, Lucy Thompson, whose lifetime stretched back before the Civil War. Through her presence, Otto grew up surrounded by family stories that connected him directly to earlier generations of Newton County history.
Like many rural children of his generation, Otto attended school while helping with the daily work required to sustain the family farm.
Working the Land
As Otto reached adulthood, he remained in the Lawrence community, continuing the agricultural tradition established by his parents.
During World War II, he registered for the military draft on February 16, 1942, in Lawrence. His registration described him as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 126 pounds, with a dark brown complexion, black hair, and brown eyes. At the time, he was employed by H. J. Harrison, and he named his brother Richard Simmons as his nearest relative.
Later that year, he was ordered to report for a physical examination by Local Board No. 1, although available records do not indicate that he entered military service.
Marriage & Farming Life
By 1950, Otto had established his own household along Lawrence–Bethel Road West in Newton County.
He was married to Martha Simmons, and together they built their life in the same rural community where Otto had been raised.
The 1950 census records Otto working approximately forty hours each week as a sharecropper, continuing the agricultural livelihood that had sustained generations of the Simmons family. Although sharecropping offered few financial rewards, it reflected Otto’s lifelong connection to the land and his determination to provide for his household through honest labor.
A Move to St. Louis
Sometime after 1950, Otto joined the continuing migration of African Americans leaving the rural South for larger cities in search of improved opportunities and access to medical care, employment, and family support.
He eventually settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where several members of the extended Simmons family had also established homes.
Although Otto spent his final years in Missouri, his lifelong ties to Newton County remained strong.
Final Years
In his later years, Otto became a resident of the St. Louis Nursing Home on Arsenal Street.
He died there on June 15, 1971, at the age of sixty-six. His death certificate identifies carcinoma of the esophagus as the cause of death. At the time of his passing, he was widowed.
True to the family’s enduring connection to Newton County, Otto’s remains were returned to Mississippi.
Funeral services were held in the Lawrence community, and on June 20, 1971, he was laid to rest in Union Chapel Cemetery, only a short distance from the place where he had been born sixty-six years earlier.
Legacy
Otto Ebeneezer Simmons belonged to the generation that linked two vastly different chapters of American history.
As the son of a man born into slavery, he inherited the determination of parents who built lives during the difficult years following emancipation. As an adult, he experienced the economic hardships of sharecropping, witnessed World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, and eventually joined the migration that carried many southern African Americans to cities beyond Mississippi.
Yet despite those changes, Otto’s life remained firmly rooted in the Lawrence community that shaped him. His return to Union Chapel Cemetery for burial symbolized the enduring bond between the Simmons family and the land they had called home for generations.
Research Note
Otto Ebeneezer Simmons is documented through federal census records, his World War II draft registration, Social Security records, death certificate, and burial records. These sources consistently place him in the Lawrence community during his early and middle years before documenting his later residence in St. Louis, Missouri. His draft registration identifies his brother Richard Simmons as his nearest relative, providing additional evidence of the close family relationships that characterized the Simmons family. His burial at Union Chapel Cemetery reflects the family’s longstanding connection to the Lawrence community despite later migration to Missouri.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Graveyard
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1910 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District (ED) ___, sheet ___, dwelling ___, family ___, Morris Simmons household.
- U.S. World War II Draft Registration Card, Otto Ebeneezer Simmons, February 16, 1942, Local Board No. 1, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
- Notice to Report for Physical Examination, Local Board No. 1, Newton County, Mississippi, October 1942, listing Otto E. Simmons among registrants ordered to appear.
- 1950 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Lawrence–Bethel Road West, Enumeration District (ED) ___, sheet ___, Otto Simmons household.
- Missouri Death Certificate, Otto Ebeneezer Simmons, June 15, 1971, St. Louis, Missouri.
- Union Chapel Cemetery (Lawrence, Mississippi), burial record or gravestone inscription for Otto Ebeneezer Simmons.
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