pleasant evans
1830-bef. 1900
Life Story
Patriarch of Early Altare, Mississippi
Pleasant Evans was born around 1830, likely in Greene County, Mississippi, where his enslaver, Henry Evans, had migrated after leaving South Carolina around that time. Pleasant spent the entirety of his early life enslaved under Henry Evans, whose household records and legal documents provide the primary evidence of Pleasant’s existence before emancipation.
Life in Bondage
Pleasant first appears in the historical record in Henry Evans’ 1858 Last Will and Testament, where Henry grouped Pleasant together with his wife Kizzie Ann and their daughters Dilcy, Rina, and Matilda. Pleasant was identified as one of Henry’s most trusted enslaved men, assigned along with his family to Henry’s twin daughters, Narcissa and Laura.
Pleasant and Kizzie likely spent decades working in agriculture on the Evans plantation, bearing children, and maintaining family bonds despite the restrictions of enslavement.
Freedom and Reconstruction
After the Civil War ended in 1865, Pleasant was among the few Black men who remained on the Evans plantation rather than seeking employment elsewhere. In 1866, Henry paid taxes on three Black males still residing on the plantation, and Pleasant — about 36 years old — was almost certainly one of them.
During Reconstruction, Pleasant’s name resurfaced during an 1875 investigation into a robbery and attempted murder on the Evans property. Testimony revealed that Pleasant and another freedman, Dan, were still working on the plantation and were called upon for help by Henry’s son, Curtis Evans, during the incident. Pleasant was not involved in the crime nor charged in any way; instead, his presence reflects the complicated realities of post-emancipation labor and relationships.
Land Ownership and the Crop-Lien System
In 1881, Henry’s daughter Delana Evans Walker deeded Pleasant a small parcel of land on the old Evans plantation. The arrangement likely served Delana’s interests as well as Pleasant’s: she needed reliable freedmen to help care for her elderly mother, Elizabeth Evans, and Pleasant—by then in his fifties—benefited from remaining on familiar land.
Like many Black farmers in the postwar South, Pleasant soon became entangled in the crop-lien system, a form of agricultural credit that often plunged poor farmers into deep debt. Between 1888 and 1892, Pleasant, his son Pleasant Jr., and his son-in-law George Moore signed several deeds of trust with local merchant Matthew John Lucas Hoye and later Hoye’s widow. These agreements pledged livestock, wagons, crops, and land as collateral for farming supplies.
Faith and Community Leadership
Pleasant embraced the Christian faith soon after emancipation. On September 16, 1867, Pleasant, Kizzie, and their daughters were baptized into White Bethel Baptist Church, a rare integrated religious act in Reconstruction-era Mississippi.
Later, Pleasant and his family became charter members of Altare Missionary Baptist Church, formed several miles west of Newton. Their membership helped shape the spiritual roots of the community that would eventually become the settlement of Altare.
Marriage and Children
Pleasant married Kizzie Ann Evans (c.1833–1924), who outlived him by several decades. They were the parents of at least the following confirmed children:
- Dilcy Evans (1847–1927), married Frank Chapman
- Riney Evans (1850–1926), married Emanuel Watson Walker
- Matilda Evans (born c.1857), married George Moore
- Lany (Lanie) Evans (born c.1864)
- Pleasant Evans, Jr. (born c.1865), married Rebecca Laster
Other individuals appeared in the household in the 1870 census, but their exact relationship to Pleasant has not been fully verified.
Later Years and Death
Pleasant appears in the 1880 U.S. Census, residing in Newton County with his family and working as a farmer. Because the 1890 census was destroyed by fire, and Pleasant does not appear in the 1900 census, his death likely occurred sometime between 1880 and 1900.
No death record or burial site has survived, and it is not known where Pleasant is buried.
Given the family’s early involvement with the Altare community, he may rest in one of the early unmarked burial grounds in southwest Newton County.
Legacy
Though he left few written records, Pleasant Evans stands as one of the earliest identifiable patriarchs in the Altare region — a man who lived through enslavement, emancipation, Reconstruction, and the hardships of the crop-lien era.
His descendants spread into the Chapman, Walker, Moore, Watson, and Arrington families, forming a core network that would eventually shape the identity, culture, and population of the Altare community.
Pleasant’s story — of survival, faith, and perseverance — serves as a cornerstone for understanding the roots of Altare’s earliest generations.
Resting Place
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1840 Federal Census
- 1850 Federal Slave Schedule
- 1860 Federal Slave Schedule
- 1870 Federal Census
- 1880 Federal Census
- Mississippi, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1780-1982
- Newton Weekly Ledger, Desperate Attempt to Rob and Murder, Thu, Apr 08, 1875 ·Page 3
- Mississippi, U.S., State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951
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