viola mitchell evans
1913-1984
Life Story
From Newton County to Detroit
Early Life in Newton County
Viola Mitchell was born on December 20, 1913, in Mississippi to Randall Mitchell and Rosie Beal Mitchell. She was raised in the close-knit farming community of Beat 4 in Newton County, where large households and shared labor shaped daily life. Viola grew up surrounded by numerous siblings, including Glover, David, Rosie, Arthur, Wyatt, Sidney, and Jimmie Lee Mitchell.
The 1920 census captures Viola as a young girl attending school and already able to read—an important achievement for many rural Black children during the Jim Crow era, when educational opportunities were often limited and uneven. Her childhood was rooted in the rhythms of farm life, church, and family connections that stretched across the Lawrence community.
A Changing Household
By 1930, sixteen-year-old Viola was still living in her father Randal Mitchell’s household in Newton County. The family structure had changed somewhat following the death of her mother, and Viola was then living with her father and stepmother, Corena Adams Mitchell.
Like many young women in rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, Viola balanced domestic responsibilities with farm labor and family obligations. Census records indicate she completed school through approximately the sixth grade while contributing to the household economy.
Marriage, Motherhood, and Complicated Beginnings
In her young adulthood, Viola entered into a relationship connected to Ollie Smith, and she became the mother of sons J.C. and Willie. Later records would create some confusion regarding her marital status. The 1940 census recorded Viola as a twenty-six-year-old widow living back in her father’s household with her children. However, later research revealed that Ollie Smith appeared in the 1950 census living with another wife, suggesting that the relationship may have ended through separation rather than death.
As was common for many women of her generation, the historical record leaves unanswered questions. Yet what remains clear is that Viola returned home and continued helping support the Mitchell family through labor on the family farm while raising her children.
Over time, both J.C. and Willie adopted the Evans surname after Viola’s later marriage to Cisero Evans, reflecting the blended structure of the household that eventually formed.
Marriage to Cicero Evans
In 1941, Viola married Cisero Evans, a fellow Newton County native who had also experienced loss. Cicero was previously widowed and brought four children into the marriage. Together, Viola and Cisero added one son of their own, Arthur Evans, creating a large blended family rooted in both the Mitchell and Evans lineages.
Their marriage represented a new beginning during a period when many Black Southern families were searching for greater economic stability and opportunity beyond Mississippi’s agricultural system.
The Great Migration North
Like many members of the Mitchell family, Viola eventually joined the movement known as the Great Migration. Seeking improved opportunities and a more stable future, the Evans family left Mississippi and moved northward.
By 1950, they were living in Franklin County, Mississippi, where Viola was listed as “keeping house” while caring for the family. Eventually, the family settled permanently in Detroit, Michigan, joining the growing community of Black Southern migrants who transformed the city’s neighborhoods, churches, and industrial workforce.
Cisero became active in Russell Street Baptist Church in Detroit, helping the family establish new roots while maintaining strong ties to their Mississippi homeland.
Loss and Endurance
The family suffered a major loss when Cisero Evans passed away on January 20, 1968, at Lakeside Hospital in Detroit following a period of illness. Viola endured widowhood once again, continuing life surrounded by children, extended family, and the migrant networks that connected Detroit back to Newton County.
Even after decades in Michigan, Viola never lost connection with Mississippi. In 1978, she was named as an heir-at-law in legal proceedings concerning the estate of her father, Randal Mitchell, involving family land in Newton County. At that time, she was residing on Iroquois Street in Detroit.
These legal notices reveal how deeply tied many migrant families remained to ancestral land in Mississippi, even generations after leaving.
Final Years and Burial
Viola Mitchell Evans passed away on November 9, 1984, in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of seventy.
In death, she returned home.
Her remains were brought back to Newton County, Mississippi, where she was laid to rest at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery in Lawrence, among generations of Mitchell family members whose lives had begun in the red clay hills of Newton County before stretching northward during the twentieth century.
Family Summary
Parents:
Randal Mitchell and Rosa Beal Mitchell
Stepmother: Corena Mitchell
Spouses:
Ollie Smith
Cisero Evans
Children:
J.C. Smith (later Evans)
Willie Smith (Evans)
Arthur Evans
Burial:
Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
1913-1984
Sources
- Birth and Parentage: Viola Mitchell was born on December 20, 1913, in Mississippi. She was the daughter of Randal Mitchell and Rosa Beal Mitchell. Her stepmother was Corena (also spelled Corine or Corean) Mitchell.
- Early Education: In 1920, at age six, Viola was recorded as attending school and possessing the ability to read. By 1930, she was noted as being able to both read and write. Her formal education concluded after the 6th grade.
- Residency: Census records for 1920 and 1930 list her home in Beat 4, Newton County. Furthermore, her place of burial and family roots are in the community of Lawrence in Newton County.
- First Marriage and Children: Viola was married to Ollie Smith. This union produced a son, J.C. Smith (who later used the surname Evans). She is also recorded as the mother of Willie.
- Widowhood and Farm Labor: In the 1940 Census, Viola is listed as a widow living in her father’s household. During this time, she worked 40 hours a week as a laborer and an unpaid family worker on the family farm.
- Marriage to Cicero Evans: Viola married Cicero Evans in 1941. Cicero was the son of Benjamin and Maggie Evans. This marriage brought together a blended family, including Cicero’s children from his previous marriage to Susie Anna Hill: Edward, Arthur, Mayola, and Maggie.
- Migration and Detroit Residency: By 1950, the family had moved to Franklin, Mississippi (noted on Mill Town Road) before eventually migrating to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, they resided at 5132 Iroquois.
- Estate of Randal Mitchell: On April 18, 1978, Viola Mitchell Evans was served a Chancery Court summons as an heir-at-law of the deceased Randal Mitchell regarding a “Petition for Partition or Sale of Estate Property” in Newton County.
- Death and Final Resting Place: Viola Evans passed away on November 9, 1984, in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. As noted in the image The_Newton_Record_1978_04_26_18.jpg and her burial records, she was interred at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
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