Statistics from the Civil War

Interesting statistics from the Civil War, startling even, at least to me.  Stephen Ambrose, in his book To America, Personal Reflections of a Historian, provides the following statistics:  "...for the Confederacy 94,000 battle deaths, 164,000 killed by disease, and 194,000 wounded; for the Union, 110,000 battle deaths, another 225,000 deaths by disease, and 275,000 wounded."   I had just assumed that the South bore the brunt of casualties from the war.  Just in my family of ancestors, there was a great-great grandfather who died during the war, Jesse Potts (disease, Richmond VA), another was wounded at the Battle of Corinth (George Emerson Robinson), and W. T. Bishop, my great-great-great grandfather, spent two years as a prisoner of war in various Union prison camps as one of the Immortal 600.   I figure that most everyone in the South can claim ancestors who were Confederate casualties of the War Between the States; it just never really occurred to me that likewise, my Northern counterparts could claim a similar number of ancestors with casualties from the War, if not more.   In the South, we've probably overdone the memorializing of the war dead while in the North, there has been too little recognition of the soldiers who fought to keep our country united.  

I'm enjoying Ambrose's book, which was published the same year he died, 2002.  You may remember that he wrote Band of Brothers, and is largely responsible for the D-Day Museum (now World War II Museum) being located in New Orleans.

William Jasper Robinson- MS to ARK

Born in 1840-1841 in Itawamba County, near Tremont, William Jasper Robinson moved to Prairie County, Arkansas around 1855-1860.   His parents were William and Jane Robinson, both South Carolina natives who moved to Marion County, Alabama and Itawamba County, Mississippi.   This photo of William Jasper Robinson appeared in the Itawamba Settlers magazine several years ago, submitted by his grandson Ken Robinson, now deceased.   Although I never met or corresponded with Ken - he died before I got hooked on genealogy - I have found his trail of queries across South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.  It was gratifying to learn that Ken and I were on the same page, so to speak, as to our Robinson heritage.  Ken and I both believe that our Robinson families connect back to Matthew Robinson who fought in the Revolutionary War from Abbeville District, South Carolina and who later moved to Lawrence County and Marion County, Alabama.

There is scant information about Jasper's parents, pretty much all we know comes from census records which indicate William was born around 1815 in South Carolina, and his wife Jane also was born in South Carolina, around 1824.     Another clue found in the 1850 census record is William's neighbor of Thomas E. Robinson, believed to be his brother.  By 1860, William and Jane appear to have died because their obviously orphaned children were living with Thomas E. Robinson in Prairie County, Arkansas.   The families also lived in Itawamba County some time in the 1840's, based on the birth places of the children given in the later censuses.

In 1850, William, his supposed brother Thomas, and their respective families were living in Marion County, Alabama.  Based on the names of their neighbors, it appears that they lived in the Pine Springs area (near Detroit) of present-day Lamar County.    A biographical sketch of Thomas's son in the 1889 history of Lonoke County, Arkansas (formerly part of Prairie County) indicates that Thomas was "of Tennessee" and moved to Alabama with his parents at an early age, moved to Mississippi in 1855, then to Arkansas.   The Tennessee reference is interesting, and supports the theory I have that our Robinsons migrated from South Carolina to Franklin County, Tennessee where several families lived for a few short years (probably 1818-1822 or so) before moving on to Alabama.  Thomas E. Robinson's middle name was Ellis, as evidenced by the 1880 census which shows him as Ellis.  There was at least one other Thomas Ellis Robinson, born 1844 in Itawamba County, the son of Matthew W. and Anna Liddle Robinson.  And there were at least three other Thomas E. Robinsons of Itawamba County who were part of our extended Robinson family and whose middle name may have been Ellis.

Back to Jasper.   He married first, Sarah Ewell, with whom he had a son named William Ellis Robinson.   Jasper next married Mary Elizabeth Lee, daughter of John Lee and Adeline McVey, and they had six children together.   Jasper served in the Civil War, and according to his grandson Jasper died September 1, 1903.  He is buried in Whitley Cemetery in Lonoke County, Arkansas.  Whitley Cemetery is one of the most peaceful cemeteries I've found.  Mike and I found this cemetery, and Jasper's grave, on a trip home from Arkansas in 2006.   The CSA marker for Jasper indicates that he died in 1892, but this is incorrect.  The 1900 census shows he and his wife living in Lonoke township of Lonoke County, Arkansas.

I'd love to hear from anyone who can provide information about brothers William and Thomas, their wives, or any of their children.  Here are census records for them.

1850 Census
Marion County, Alabama
Same page as Thomas E. Roberson:
W.B. Roberson  33 SC  Farmer  (born 1817)
Jane S.S. 26 SC
William J., 10 MS,
John H, 8 MS
Narcissa C. 6 MS
Francis J.  5 AL
Sarah E. 2  AL
Jonathan G. H. Motly?, 2, M, AL

1850 Census
Marion County, Alabama
Beat 3
Thomas E. Roberson 35 SC    (born 1815)
 Prissilea 38 SC           
 William H. 10 AL                                                                  
 John J. 8 AL
 Sarah E. 6 MS
 Thomas E. 3 AL
 

1860 Census
Prairie County, Arkansas   Caroline township
T. E. Robinson 51 SC  farmer  1800/600
Persilla 45  SC
William H. 19 AL
John J. 17 AL  (this is another Jasper - John Jasper)
Sarah E. 13 MS

Directly underneath the above household, in a separately enumerated dwelling, in this order:
Thomas 8 AL
Peter F. 5 MS
William J. 19 AL  (this is William Jasper)
John H. 17 MS
Francis J. 12 MS  (female)
Sallie M. 10 AL
David M. 8 AL
Martha 5 MS
L. B. Mitchell 32 KY  doctor  100/1000

The 1860 is a real puzzler for this family.   In the second dwelling, the older children appear to be the children of William B/R Robinson, Thomas's brother.   Where are their parents?  Why do Peter and Thomas, supposed children of Thomas Ellis Robinson, appear to be living in the second dwelling?  Who is the Dr. Mitchell of the household?  It appears he owns the property ($100 value of real property).   The second dwelling is shown under the name of Thomas, age 8.  He is the first person listed under the dwelling number.     Neighbors are not familiar and do not indicate Mississippi or Alabama as place of birth.

By 1870, the part of Prairie County in which the family was living in 1860 had become part of Pulaski County.  Little Rock is located in Pulaski County.

1870 Census
Pulaski County, Arkansas   Caroline township
T. E. Robinson 60 SC  farmer  1600/550   (born 1810)
"Leo" Robinson 60 SC  female  "k. house"
Peter F. 13 MS 

Lonoke County was created in 1873 from parts of Pulaski and Prairie Counties, and this is where we find the family in the 1880 census.   What became northern Lonoke County was part of Prairie County in the 1860 census, became part of Pulaski Couny in the 1870 census, and finally Lonoke County by the 1880 census.

1880 Census
Lonoke County, Arkansas   Lonoke township
Ellis Robinson  68 SC SC SC  farmer   (born 1812)
Prisilla 73 SC SC SC 

Mary Bowen Brown

Mary M. Bowen was the youngest child of William Bowen and Rebecca Wesson.    She was born on January 5, 1847 in Tennessee while her parents were enroute from Cleveland County, North Carolina to Itawamba County, Mississippi.  In January 1866, Mary married Thomas Jefferson Brown, son of J. William and Sarah Brown.  The 1880 census finds the couple living next to her parents, but by the turn of the century the couple had moved to Arkansas.

1880 Census
Itawamba County, Mississippi
5th Supervisors District
Living next to her parents, William and Rebecca Bowen
Thomas Brown 38 AL AL AL farmer
Mary Brown 33 TN VA AL
William Brown 13 MS
Sarah Brown 10 MS
George Brown 7 MS
James Brown 4 MS
Mary F. Brown 1 MS

1900 Census
St. Francis County, Arkansas
Telico township
Thomas J Brown 56 AL AL AL farmer,born Dec 1843, married 35 yrs
Mary M Brown 53 TN VA NC, born Jan 1847, 7 children, 6 living
James D Brown 24 MS AL TN, born May 1876, farm laborer
Mary F Brown 20 20 MS AL TN, born June 1879
Lillie B Brown 16 16 MS AL TN, born Feb 1884
Clifford O Brown 13 MS AL TN, born Oct 1886
Summer M Blalock 48 GA GA GA, boarder with family, born Nov 1851, schoolteacher

A great-granddaughter of Thomas and Mary Brown shared this photograph of Mary Bowen Brown with me, and she indicated that her great-grandparents left Itawamba County in 1891, via a covered wagon train, for Caldwell, a small railroad town north of Forrest City in St. Francis County, Arkansas.

Records for Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Itawamba County show that Thomas Brown joined the church by letter in July 1870; he was an active member, serving as a delegate many times to association meetings (early records indicate that this church was originally Primitive Baptist).   In 1883, T. J. Brown was appointed to talk to Bro. Mabe Roberts about some fighting, and was also appointed to serve as a delegate along with W. H. Bowen and J. Y. Bowen to a union meeting.  Early records indicate that Mt. Pisgah was originally a Primitive Baptist church but adopted the beliefs of Missionary Baptists around the turn of the 20th century.   Bowens, Bookouts, Webbs and Chamblees appear to be among the dominant families of the early Mt. Pisgah church.

When the family moved to Arkansas, Thomas and Mary Brown helped organize Caldwell Baptist Church of Christ ('Baptist Church of Christ' was a designation that usually meant Primitive Baptist or Hardshell Baptist beliefs).  Their names are included on the church's first membership roll dated September 1900.

A huge thanks goes out to Mary Brown Spivey who shared this information about her ancestors and Itawamba County roots.    Mary's great-grandmother, her namesake Mary, was my great-grandmother's (Queenie Victoria Clayton Davis) half-great aunt.  

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and Cemetery

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church is located on Mt. Pisgah Road, just off Nita Lake Road and close to Clay-Tilden Road in eastern Itawamba County.    You can't see the cemetery from the road, but it is located behind the church.  It is a small cemetery; a few graves are marked with only stones, and the other graves belong primarily to Bowen, Bookout and Lyle families.   I took the above photographs about eighteen months ago.

Be aware that there are two Mt. Pisgah churches in Itawamba County.  The other church is located north of Mantachie in western Itawamba County.

Bus Routes - 1943

 Fulton News Beacon

February 25, 1943   

You could hop on a bus at Dulaney's Store (This might have been T.A. 'Bunt' Dulaney's Store -- he died in 1941? ) and an hour later, arrive at Banner.    There must have been quite a bit of commerce between Fulton and Red Bay, to warrant a bus route.  Pretty interesting to see the bus stops, wonder if there was similar service to other parts of the county by other bus lines?

Dollie's children

Hunter Stone, son of Ruby Costa Cofield and her husband Hugh Cowden Stone, shared this photograph of the children of John and Dollie Loyd Cofield.  My grandmother is the little girl in the middle.  The typewritten caption included with the picture was added by Hunter to identify the children.  Pauline, the youngest child of John and Dollie, was not yet born when the photograph was made so this dates it to late 1908 or early 1909.

I wish the quality of the image was better.  Unfortunately it is a scan of a photocopy, but nonetheless I'm happy to have the picture.   Before my daddy died in 2005, he told me to be sure to contact his first cousin, Hunter Stone, to get information about the Cofield family - Hunter was known as the family historian.  It wasn't until the following year that I called up Hunter one evening at his home in Florence, Alabama.  We exchanged e-mail addresses and soon I had an 80 year old e-mail buddy.   Hunter eagerly shared all of his Cofield research and family information, and in return I shared what I had learned about the Loyd family.    Hunter died in 2009.  I will always be grateful that Daddy urged me to give Hunter a call.   He was a sweet person.

Children of John & Dollie Loyd Cofield - minus Pauline who was not yet born

 

Ella Pearl Cofield, age 2-3

Dollie Loyd Cofield

Dollie's real name was Mary Marenda Loyd, the youngest child of Isham and Rachel Young Loyd.   She was born January 11, 1877 north of Shottsville on the Loyd family farm near Bull Mountain Creek in Marion County, Alabama.  My great-grandmother died when she was only 35 years old, leaving behind five orphaned children, the oldest being not yet twelve years old.   Pearl, my grandmother, was only five.

Dollie married John Richard Cofield on September 10, 1899.  The following April, John received his dental degree from Birmingham Dental College, and when the census taker (Dollie's brother-in-law, John L. Shotts) came 'round that summer he found the young married couple living with Dollie's parents.  Their first child, James Clyde, was born that July. Within a couple of years, John and Dollie had moved to Hackleburg in northeastern Marion County where John opened a dental practice, and by 1904, the family was in Haleyville where John died in 1910.

Dollie Loyd Cofield died March 29, 1912.  Her grandson, Hunter Stone, told me that his mother always said that her mother (Dollie) died of a broken heart following the death of her husband.   Officially, Dollie's death certificate indicates that she died of pellagra which is a rather odd diagnosis for Dollie.

Dollie died in 1912 when much about pellagra was misunderstood.   First reported in 1902, pellagra is a disease manifested by skin lesions, diarrhea, depression and sometimes dementia.   Patients are said to "waste away." Many cases were misdiagnosed as I suspect Dollie's was - she certainly would have been wasting away, and depressed, if she was mourning over the death of her husband less than two years earlier.  She may also have been suffering from an undiagnosed cancer or other illness.

In the rural South in the very early 1900's, pellagra reached epidemic proportions with high rates of morbidity.  Doctors blamed the disease on an unknown toxin or germ, believing it to be an infectious disease.  Not until 1915 was the link made between pellagra and diet, although several more years would pass before the lack of niacin was found to be the causative factor.

Pellagra is a nutritional disease caused by a deficiency of Vitamin B, or niacin.  Although pellagra can be caused by a metabolic disorder, the disease is usually related to a diet highly dependent upon corn.   Overwhelmingly, pellagra was found among the rural poor in the early 1900's.   Reliance upon corn and corn products (cornbread! grits!) combined with a diet lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables as well as meat, especially in winter months, made most Southerners at risk for pellagra.  The availability of milled flour after the Civil War also played a role since most of the vitamins were removed during the wheat milling process.  After the Great Depression, commercially packaged white flour was enriched with niacin.  Pellagra was essentially eradicated by 1960.

After her death, Dollie was buried next to her beloved John in the Cofield-Cockrell Cemetery near John's family home north of Shottsville.  She was survived by five children:  Clyde, Ruby, Louis, Pearl and Pauline, along with both her parents, a brother Luther, and two sisters, Millie Frances Shotts and Louella Clemontine Davis.  Dollie's young daughters went to live with Dollie's sister-in-law, Vannah Cofield Harbor, in Tremont while her sons moved in with their grandfather, Sam Cofield.

Remembering John Richard Cofield

John Richard Cofield died 101 years ago today.

Husband of Mary Marenda Loyd ("Dollie")

Father of Clyde, Ruby, Louis, Pearl and Pauline

Brother of Vannah Harbor and Mary Emeline Goggans

Son of Sam Cofield and Zilpha Cockrell Cofield

My great-grandfather

Davis-Loyd Family of Bull Mountain

Newly found "old" pictures are like Christmas presents, and lucky for me, I get to enjoy Christmas year around!   Cousin Jim Shotts shared this photograph with me earlier this year, along with some others that I will post later.  The photo is especially neat because it connects both my maternal Davis and paternal Loyd lines -- the only known connection between my mother's and my father's families. 

Jesse Abner Davis, seated to the left, was the son of Samuel McGee Davis and Emily Jane Lacey, named for Samuel's father, Jesse, although he went by the name of Abner .  Abner and my maternal great-grandfather, James Kelly Davis, were first cousins.  Samuel McGee Davis lived along the Mississippi-Alabama state line, earlier in Itawamba County and later over in Marion County, Alabama which is where Abner was born.  By contrast, Samuel's brother, James William Anderson Davis, my great-great grandfather, moved to Fulton, raised a family, and is buried in Fulton Cemetery.

Abner was a U.S. Deputy Marshall, serving northwestern Alabama.

Louella Clemontine Loyd, known as Ella to family and friends (her nickname was Love), was the daughter of Isham James Loyd and Rachel Caroline Young.  My paternal grandmother, Ella Pearl Cofield Robinson, was named for her Aunt Ella.   Ella and Abner married in 1893, and they had one child, a daughter Myrtle, pictured above in her father's lap.  Myrtle married Oscar Lochridge, and the 1920 and 1930 censuses find them living in Itawamba County - in 1920 in Wiginton Precinct, and in 1930 on the road to Vina, Alabama.  

Standing behind Abner and Ella are two women:  Mary Marenda "Dollie" Loyd (left) and Ora Avery (right).     Dollie was my great-grandmother, the youngest child of Isham and Rachel Loyd who was nearly six years younger than her sister Ella.   I don't know who Ora Avery is, and neither does Jim who owns the original photograph.  Is Avery a last name, or a middle name, for Ora?  There are some Avery families that lived in the Bull Mountain vicinity so perhaps Ora belongs to one of them... would love to hear from somebody who recognizes the name.

Dollie married John Richard Cofield, and they had five children before their untimely deaths in 1910 (Richard) and 1912 (Dollie).  Dollie was said by her daughter, Ruby, to have died of a broken heart.

Below are some newspaper items about Abner and Ella.

Hamilton News Press

November 29, 1893 

Married - At the residence of the bride's father, at Bull Mountain, on the 22nd instant, MR. J. A. Davis and Miss Ella Loyd. The Free Press wishes the young couple a long life of uninterrupted bliss.

Hamilton News Press
December 13, 1893
Mr. J. A. Davis who recently married the estimable daughter of our esteemed friend, Mr. I. J. Loyd, of Marion County, located to Russellville on the 30th ult.  Mr. Davis is an energetic young man of good business qualifications.  His good lady is one of Marion’s fairest daughters.  We wish them a pleasant and profitable journey through life. - Hustler

Hamilton News Press

April 18, 1895

Miss Dollie Loyd, a charming young lady of Bull Mountain, is visiting her sister, Mrs. J. A. Davis, at this place.

Hamilton News Press
June 6, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. I. J. Loyd, of Bull Mountain, are visiting their daughter, Mrs. Ella Davis, who is sick at this place.

Hamilton News Press
January 24, 1896

Deputy Marshal J. A. Davis, of Bull Mountain was here this week.

A BIG HAUL

Deputy Collector. W. L. Cole and Deputy Marshals Jas A. O’Rear and J. A. Davis made a raid five miles west of Hamilton on last Wednesday, capturing two hundred and fifty gallons of illicit whisky.  The whisky was found concealed in a ditch about forty yards from the residence of H. W. Palmer.  The officers hired a wagon and team from Mrs. Palmer, and brought the whisky to Hamilton, where it was stored in the office of Commissioner D. N. Cooper.  A thorough search on the premises was made to find the still but no copper was found.  Palmer says the whisky was made from chemicals and not from a distillery.  He was given a trial yesterday before Commissioner Cooper and held to bail in the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, which he promptly gave.

Itawamba County News
March 5, 1908
Rara Avis news
Mr. Abner Davis of Haleyville, Ala., is moving into our dear old county of Itawamba. 

Itawamba County News

May 24, 1910
Rara Avis news

Mrs. Ella Davis and daughter Miss Myrtle of Bexar were among friends Saturday and Sunday.  Miss Myrtle  spending a week with her grandmother.

Many old newspaper abstracts from Marion County newspapers, painstakingly transcribed by Veneta McKinney, can be found at this link: http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=411.   Old newspapers can provide wonderful Christmas presents too!

John Henderson Bowen photo

John H. Bowen photograph - 

presumed to be John Henderson Bowen 1822-1881, 

son of William and Martha Bowen.  

This digital image was shared with me by Mary Spivey, a descendant of William Bowen and Rebecca Wesson.  Since John died in 1881, the original photograph was likely a tintype.  Note the pink tinted cheeks... something often found on these old photos.

John Henderson Bowen 1822-1881

John Henderson Bowen was the oldest son of William and Martha Bowen, born May 5, 1822 in Virginia; he died November 25, 1881 in Itawamba County, Mississippi.

The Bible record of John's brother, W.D.S. Bowen, indicates that John married M.Z.E. Putman on August 29, 1847, while a Bible belonging to John's son shows that John married Zinnie E., daughter of Elias C. Putnam and Nancy, on the same date, in Shelby, North Carolina.

John and Zinnie were enumerated in the 1850 census in Cleveland County, North Carolina, but by 1860 the couple were in Itawamba County.   Zinnie died on November 30, 1866, and John remarried, to Mary Susan Tarver on February 21, 1868.

The graves of John and Zinnie are lost to us although we know the approximate location;  they were buried on family property located west of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.   Unfortunately, the family cemetery was bulldozed - apparently by accident - after the property was sold.  John Henderson Bowen's broken tombstone was later found where it had been pushed down a hill.   I was able to photograph John's grave marker which is in the possession of a Bowen descendant who still lives in Itawamba County.   Maybe one day other markers will turn up.

John and Zinnie had the following children:

William H. M. Bowen, married Mary Jane Tucker, died Itawamba County
Elias Alexander Bowen, married Rachel J. Hurst, moved to Arkansas and later Oklahoma
Emily J. Bowen, married Ephraim Johnson
John M. L. Bowen, died as infant in Cleveland County, North Carolina
Martha A. Bowen (my GG grandmother), married Nathaniel M. Clayton
Henderson** Roberts Bowen, married first Susan "Sallie" Lawson, second Mary Susan Elizabeth Fikes, died Itawamba County
Nancy Victoria Dulaney, married Alfred Elias Dulaney, died Sevier County, Arkansas
James Y. Bowen, married Sallie W. Rogers, died Itawamba County
Sarah E. Bowen, married Robert Franklin Smith
C. E. Bowen, gender unknown, died as small child

Apparently, John and his second wife did not have any children, or if so, they are not known to me.

Some descendants indicate that John was a minister, and that appears to be true.  Records show that John H. Bowen registered as a member of the clergy, Missionary Baptist faith, on January 23, 1866.    John may have served as minister for Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, or its predecessor church.  The minute books for Mt. Pisgah are full of Bowen names, including those of John's children and brother W.D.S. Bowen during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  On my to-do list is to find 1987 copies of Itawamba Settlers magazines that contain transcriptions of the earliest minutes of Mt. Pisgah (back to the 1870s) to see what references there may be to my GGG grandfather.

I also need to determine whether or not John H. Bowen served in the Civil War.   Records show a J. H. Bowen serving in the Company H, 2nd Regiment, Miss. but I don't know if this is the same as my John Henderson Bowen.  John would have been close to 40 years old when the war started.   His brother, W.D.S.Bowen, was an officer in the Miss. Cavalry.

** The name of Henderson Roberts Bowen is intriguing.  In the 1850 census, a Henderson Roberts is enumerated a few households away from John Henderson Bowen and his family.  What is the connection?

Jimmie Lunceford - Marker Dedication

It was a very hot and humid Saturday in Fulton for the Jimmie Lunceford marker dedication in front of City Hall, but by all accounts everyone was pleased with the event.  There is some serious discussion about the possibility of a local music festival in Lunceford's honor, and hopefully this will come to fruition.   The Itawamba County Development Council and the Lunceford Committee did a great job in planning the event and was commended by Alex Thomas, program manager for the Mississippi Blues Trail Commission who was in town for the ceremony.  Following a warm welcome by Shawn Green, and an original poem written and read by poet Patricia Neely-Dorsey, my husband Mike gave a delightful and entertaining speech about our county's musical heritage and Alderman Hayward Wilson spoke regarding the Jimmie Lunceford legacy.   Although the Itawamba County-born Lunceford lived only 45 years, his innovative style of music has made a huge impact throughout the world.  He was widely successful during his time, and big band leaders such as Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman credited Lunceford as being one of the best in the business. 

Census Information - Jimmie Lunceford and family

1900 Census
Itawamba County, Mississippi
Pleasanton precinct
Riley Lunceford 30 MS NC NC, farmer, can read and write, owns farm, born April 1870
Idella Lunceford 17 MS MS MS, can read and write, born Jan 1883, married 3 months

[Neighbors in the 1900 census were several black Tucker and Warren families.   Pleasanton was a voting precinct/community located northeast of Fulton.]

1910 Census
Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
Choctaw township
James Lunceford 41 MS MS MS farmer, owns home, married 10 years, second marriage
Della 28 MS MS MS, wife, married 10 years, first marriage, 2 children born, 2 children living
Nelson 8 MS MS MS son [this is James Melvin]
Cornelius 5 OK MS MS son

1920 Census
Denver County, Colorado
City of Denver
James Lunceford 41 MS SC SC janitor for private family, rents
Ida 35 MS MS MS wife
Melvin 17 MS MS MS son
Cornelius 15 OK MS MS son

1930 Census
Trumbull County, Ohio
City of Warren
James Lunceford 27 MS MS MS crate maker for drinking fountain, owns home worth $3000
Ida 44 MS MS MS  wife
Junior 8 CO MS MS son

1930 Census
Shelby County, Tennessee
City of Memphis
Jimmy Lunsford 27 MS MS MS teacher in county school, boarder in home of  James Moody

Honoring Jimmie Lunceford: Itawamba-born

   The Itawamba County Board of Supervisors has declared Saturday, June 4th, as Jimmie Lunceford Day to honor the Itawamba-born Jazz great.  James Melvin Lunceford was born June 6, 1902, the son of Itawamba natives James Riley Lunceford and Idella Shumpert.

A Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be unveiled at the Fulton City Hall at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow with live Jazz music presented both before and after the unveiling.  My husband, Mike, will deliver a short keynote address.  Scott Barretta, research coordinator for the Mississippi Blues Trail, will be on hand for the ceremony also.   Scott was instrumental in getting the marker for Itawamba County after conversations with Mike about Lunceford's connection to Itawamba.    If Scott's name sounds familiar to you, it is because he is the host of Highway 61 Blues program Saturday evenings on Mississippi Public Radio.  Scott, who recently published a book, Mississippi: State of Blues, was for several years the editor of Living Blues magazine and is widely considered an expert on Blues music and culture.  

And now, for your reading pleasure, here is an article that Mike wrote for the Red Bay News about Jimmie Lunceford and some of his fellow Itawambians.

JAZZNOCRACY   by Mike Mills

The line between Alabama and Mississippi, not to mention the line between Itawamba, Franklin and Marion Counties, is often blurred, if not down right confusing.  Some of the early settlers in Red Bay thought they were in Mississippi and some of the Tremont folk thought they had settled in Alabama.  And no doubt some folk around Bexar thought they had found Texas. The citizens of these neighboring communities share much in common. Black-eyed peas and cornbread are a staple in our diet.  We all know a home grown tomato properly sliced and peppered and put on white bread smeared generously with mayonnaise is the best thing either side of the Tombigbee. We all cook with Sunflower Self-Rising Corn Mill and sop our biscuits in Golden Eagle Syrup. And we share a regional proprietary claim to the First Lady of Country Music, Tammy Wynette,  formerly known as Tammy Pugh, and of course born near Tremont in Itawamba County,  Mississippi. 

Much has been written about Tammy Wynette’s share-cropper beginnings near Tremont.  Another prominent former share-cropper in Itawamba County was Miss Rosella Presley,  from out East of Fulton.  According to local sources, Rosella sometimes frequented an Itawamba business establishment known as The Linger Longer where she may have made acquaintance with the father of one or more  of her 10 illegitimate children.  She never married. Her grandson, Vernon Presley, was born in Fulton,  but later moved to the Shakerag community in East Tupelo. He was the father of the King.  As in Rock-N-Roll.  An art form.  (See the internet web-site The Kin of Rock and Roll.)

Tammy and Elvis made it to the top of their chosen art forms with little education, much determination, and a lot of talent.  I love both of them as entertainers.  And respect each for the gifts they gave the world. 

One would suppose Itawamba County ought to be satisfied with being the seminal ground for the King of Rock and the First Lady of Country Music.  But no.

A  young fellow named James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was born in the Evergreen community in Itawamba County in 1902. According to noted Itawamba historian Bob Franks, Lunceford’s people were initially well to do landowners in the African American community of Palmetto East of Fulton where his grandfather owned 150 acres off the old Warren plantation. The young Jimmie may have played in the red dirt hills drained by Bull Mountain Creek and Dulaney Branch. Little Jimmie went on to lead one of the greatest jazz bands of his day. He would be known as the King of Syncopation. 

Jimmie’s people found a way for him to attain a higher education at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. (While there he dated the daughter of W.E.B. Dubois, a prominent black philosopher and founder of the NAACP.) He majored in music and mastered many instruments.

After graduating from college, Jimmie began teaching music at Manassas High School in Memphis where he organized a group of his students into a band called  The Chickasaw Syncopators.  This group later evolved into Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra which scored big in 1934 at the Cotton Club in Harlem.  The band became known for a two-beat swing and polished showmanship and gained a national reputation. For ten years they were the top attraction at the Apollo Theatre where the band was known as The Harlem Express. His songs have been described as sophisticated, cheerful and boisterous. Major hits include White Heat, Jazznocracy, Rhythm is Our Business, In Dat Mornin’ and Swingin’ Uptown.

In his day, Jimmie Lunceford from outside Fulton, Mississippi was bigger than his contemporaries, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Glenn Miller, who borrowed from the Lunceford style, said,  “Duke Ellington is great, [Count} Basie is remarkable, but Lunceford tops them both.”  (Quote from Determeyer's excellent Lunceford biography, Rhythm Is Our Business, 2006.)  Unfortunately Jimmy has not enjoyed the lasting fame of many of his contemporaries. His full potential may not have been reached since he died an early death in 1947 when he collapsed  while signing autographs in Seaside, Oregon. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. 

A tip of the hat for this piece must go to Rubye Del Hardin who wrote about Jimmie in the 1960’s;  to Fulton musician and author Bob Gilliland who more recently published a piece about him in Itawamba Settlers;  and to Oxonian Scott Baretta who prevailed upon the powers that be to finally establish a Jimmie Lunceford marker on the Fulton Courthouse grounds.

And to bring it on home as they say in the music business, what do we make of a few sections of hilly land East of Fulton which  not only grow lush Kudzu and stout Mimosa trees but which also produced some of the finest entertainers in America?  Well I think if you or your daddy ever ran barefooted in the sandy red ditch banks of an Itawamba gravel road, or if you got baptized or went skinny dipping in Dulaney branch or if you ever tasted the ice cold waters of Bull Mountain Creek (either straight or improved with local corn products), then you have the makin’s of mastering an art form yourself.