garfield adkins
1885-1917
Life Story
Early Life and Family
Garfield Adkins was born in September 1885 (though some records suggest 1886 or 1889) in Newton County, Mississippi. He was the son of George Adkins and Sallie Thompson Adkins and grew up in Beat 4, a rural farming community in the county.
Garfield was one of many children in a large, hardworking household. His siblings included Annie, Thomas, Emmaline, Georgia, Roxie, Mandy, Fannie, Ethel, Brookins, Charlotte, and Sadie. The Adkins family represented the kind of extended agricultural household common in post-Reconstruction Mississippi — large families working collectively to sustain the farm.
Despite the limitations placed on Black education in the rural South, the 1900 and 1910 census records indicate that Garfield could read and write. Literacy in this era was not universal, and this detail reflects a family commitment to basic education even within restrictive circumstances.
Life in Beat 4: Work and Responsibility
By the age of fourteen, Garfield was already listed as a farm laborer in the 1900 census. Like many young Black men of his generation, he contributed early to the economic survival of his household.
In 1910, at age twenty-four, he remained in his parents’ home, working as a farm laborer on the family’s home farm. He was described as a wage earner, fully employed, and able to read and write.
By 1917, records show that Garfield had transitioned into industrial labor. One death certificate lists his occupation as “Common Laborer,” while the other describes him as a “Mill Laborer.” This shift suggests movement beyond strictly agricultural work, possibly reflecting the small but growing industrial opportunities within Newton County at the time.
He never married and remained rooted in the Lawrence and Prospect communities.
An Untimely Death
Garfield’s life was cut short in the early morning hours of April 11, 1917. He died of appendicitis — a condition that was frequently fatal before the widespread availability of emergency surgery and antibiotics, particularly in rural communities.
An unusual detail in his records reveals that two separate death certificates were filed:
- One recorded his death at 3:00 a.m. in Prospect.
- The other recorded his death at 4:00 a.m. in Lawrence.
The duplication likely occurred because he died near the boundary between two registration districts. The informants also differed — one certificate was signed by Zedie D. Atkins (likely a relative), while the other listed Joe Benton (a neighbor).
These dual records provide a rare glimpse into the inconsistencies of early 20th-century rural recordkeeping.
Garfield was buried at Union Chapel United Methodist Church Graveyard, returning in death to the church-grounded soil of his community.
Comparison of Vital Records
| Source | Birth Year | Occupation | Informant / Head of House |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 Census | 1885 | Farm Laborer | George Adkins (Father) |
| 1910 Census | 1886 | Farm Laborer | George Adkins (Father) |
| Death Certificate #1 | 1889 | Common Laborer | Zedie D. Atkins |
| Death Certificate #2 | — | Mill Laborer | Joe Benton |
The variation in birth year (1885, 1886, 1889) reflects the common inconsistencies in early rural documentation. Census records recorded information as provided orally, and death certificates often depended on the knowledge of whoever served as informant.
Family Tree Overview
Father: George Adkins (b. c. 1859, Mississippi)
Mother: Sallie Adkins (b. c. 1863, Mississippi)
Known Siblings:
Amie, Thomas, Emmaline, Georgia, Roxie, Mandy, Fannie, Ethel, Brookins, Charlotte, and Sadie.
Legacy
Garfield Adkins represents a generation of young Black men whose lives bridged agriculture and early industrial labor in Newton County. His story is not one of migration north, but of rural continuity — rooted in land, family, and church.
Though he died at only thirty years old, his documentation preserves an important thread in the Adkins family narrative and in the history of Union Chapel United Methodist Church.
His brief life reflects:
- Post-Reconstruction Black rural resilience
- Early 20th-century agricultural labor systems
- The vulnerability of medical care before modern surgery
- The complexities of historical recordkeeping
Garfield’s name remains anchored in Union Chapel’s cemetery — a quiet testament to a life lived entirely within Newton County’s red clay soil.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Graveyard
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1900 Federal Census
- 1910 Federal Census
- U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current
- Mississippi, U.S., Index to Deaths, 1912-1943
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