Dennis Bearden Family: Sharecropping and Labor in Lumber and Turpentine Part 1

 In southern Mississippi, which included Pike County, agriculture and lumber became the backbone of the post-Civil War economy. Formerly enslaved people had to find ways to provide for their families. While a few were able to purchase or homestead land, many entered labor contracts that evolved into tenant farming and sharecropping. Dennis Bearden supported his family as a sharecropper in Pike County, Mississippi.  The presence of lumber companies and sawmills increased due to the abundant timber supply. For three of Dennis’s sons, Lucius, Charles, and Murray, survival meant finding work beyond the farm. His sons sought employment in the lumber and turpentine industries, which dominated the region. Lucius and Charles worked at the Fernwood Lumber Company.

One of the most influential was the Fernwood Lumber Company, incorporated in 1884 by the Enochs family. Under the leadership of Philip Henry Enochs and his brothers John Fletcher, Isaac Columbus (I. C.), and James Luther Enochs, the company established the town of Fernwood in Pike County. Fernwood was a company town where most of the businesses, housing, schools, and churches were developed or owned by the company. Fernwood Lumber offered employees non-transferable commissary coupons to purchase items at the company store. 

 The Enochs brothers built the first Methodist church in 1898 and a predominantly Black church in 1909. A separate "colored school" was built in 1913.   The company could control the workers' and their families' quality of life.  

Around 1912, the Enochs family organized the community of Kokomo in Marion County, where they established what was reportedly the largest turpentine distillery in the United States, along with commissaries that served both the logging camp and the distillery.

Lucius Bearden's age is uncertain. His birth predated the advent of birth certificates in 1912 in Mississippi. From various sources, his year of birth ranges from 1868 to 1878. 

Lucius was married to Lula Brown on December 21, 1899, in Pike County. At the time he married, his age was between 21 to 31 years old.

Pike County, Mississippi December 21, 1899  File # 0046708  Book "H" page 114

He was enumerated in the 1910 Federal Census in Pike County with his family. His employment was documented at the saw mill. He lived in rented housing. 

Lucius Bearden Pike County, Mississippi 1910 census transcribed

Lucius and Lula had five more children: Chester(1908), Edna Mae (1911), Rosa (1913), Augustine (1915), and Lillian (1919).

 In 1941, Philip Henry Enochs, Jr., took photographs of employees who worked at Fernwood Lumber Company at that time. A picture of Lucius Bearden was taken. 

 

Lucius Bearden 1941

Thanks to the Fernwood Foundation est. 1948 (https://fernwoodfoundation.org) for saving this valuable historical information

UPDATED 9/6/2025

More information to come

The Tree Gardener

Calvin Caston & The Courthouse

Calvin Caston homestead took many years to establish a title to the land. It was not totally clear to me what  impediments  prevented him obtaining his land.  When I searched his homestead documents, one of reasons became clear why there was a delay.  The  Pike County courthouse burned down in 1882. The following is documentation:

Transcription:

The State of Mississippi

Pike County

I A. P. Sparkman Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for said County and State hereby that the cause for not forwarding the Final Proof of Calvin Caston was my inability to secure blanks #369 and that said proof was forwarded as soon as I received said blanks. I further certify that Calvin Caston Homestead Prcht #4260 was destroyed by fire in the Courthouse in 1882 and that he has never obtained a duplicate.

Gurr under my hand and official

 seal this 24th day of May A.D. 1889

The documents that were destroyed in the 1882 fire where important over a hundred years ago as they are in genealogical research today.

----- The Tree Gardener

Calvin Caston Homestead Part 2

Homestead Witnesses

Calvin Caston had to have two witnesses for final proof  to complete his homestead application.  His two witnesses Tom Brumfield  35 years old and Joe McEwin 40 years old  gave testimony in Magnolia March 16, 1889. They both lived at Walkers Bridge, Mississippi . 

Calvin Caston documentation of homestead witnesses Tom Brumfield & Joe McEwen

Tom Brumfield testimony solidified his connection to Calvin Caston. He gives brief information about himself in question 2 stating  his present occupation is farmer not employed by anyone since January, 1872.  Question 4  asks how far from the residence of claimant on same tract do you reside and how long have you lived there?  "1/2 mile have lived there 3 years. before that lived have lived in the same neighborhood."  Question 6 he states he has known Calvin Caston "all his life .(Calvin Caston) has lived on his claim 17 years ...."  
 Question 19 asks the claimant's actual residence and how often he was seen him upon the land. Tom states " I live in sight of claimants house, see his family on the land nearly every day know he has lived there .... "

First page of Tom Brumfield testimony for Calvin Caston's homestead 

Joe McEwin and Andrew Johnson lived near the claimant was testimony also given by Tom Brumfield.

Joe McEwin in his testimony states he is a farmer. Question 4 How far from the said claimant on said tract do you reside, do you reside and how long have you lived there? " 1/4 mile have lived there 9 years." In question 6 he says that he has know Calvin Caston  for 17 years.

First page of testimony of Joe McEwen for Calvin Caston's homestead

Joe describes that Calvin has cultivated 50 acres of land planting cotton, peas and potatoes with unknown value. Question 22 asked Give the size, construction, and material of claimant's house on said tract, and state the same is habitable during all seasons of the year. Ans. "18 x 22 ft big house with kitchen. is habitable all seasons of the year." 
Question 28  Does claimant , with his family, reside an said land as the present time? You will explain how you know he has resided there, as you heretofore stated. "They do. I live in sight of claimant house see him his  family on the land nearly every day, know he has lived on the land ...."

Calvin Caston witnesses testimony verified his residence from 1872 to 1889. There are additional rules that must be satisfied prior to the homesteader receiving title to the land  which include a thirty day published notice of  intention of  final proof  and an officer authorized to take final proof.

The published notice of final proof was made in the Magnolia Gazette newspaper.  In the notice, the name of the homesteader Calvin Caston, a description of the land (Sec. 22 T 2. N R. 9 E) and the name of the witnesses Henry S. Brummels, David Walker, Joe McEwin and Tom Brumfield all of Walkers Bridge, P. O. Pike Co. Miss. are given.  I do not have the witness testimony of  Henry S. Brummels and David Walker.

Calvin Caston finally received his homestead June 11, 1889.

 ----The Tree Gardener

Six degrees of Separation: Caston & Brumfield Families Part 8

Isham Brumfield

 Irvin and Robert Brumfield homesteaded 80 and 160 acres respectively in Pike County Mississippi. My mother Irvin Brumfield’s granddaughter stated that Isham or possibly Isom Brumfield was Irvin’s father.  I have yet been unable to verify this information.  Isham Brumfield (Broomfield/ Bromfield)   however homestead 160.26 acres of land in Walkers Bridge, Pike County, Mississippi beginning in December, 1870. At the time of his homestead, his family consisted of 3 children.  The 1870 Federal Pike County census lists Isham Brumfield 49 years old with 3 children Eli 14, Henrietta 18 and Hester 10.  His initial application was filed March 6, 1873. 

  He almost missed the opportunity to own the land because of a missed proof filing date. He missed the filling date after five weekly notices dated from March 12^th to April 9^th 1880 in the newspaper Magnolia Gazette.   He requested that his homestead application be reinstated which was cancelled January 14, 1881.   The reasons for the missed filing in the request for reinstatement was secondary to “severe disease of   both of his eyes from which he became totally blind.” and ignorance of the law.  In the testimony of claimant dated October 21, 1881, he stated he was 63 years old with three children.  He had a dwelling house, stables valued at $200.00 and cultivated 20 acres and raised 5 crops. His witnesses Solomon Singleton and Jacob Ellzey also verified his homestead from December, 1870 to October 12, 1881.    Isham Brumfield displayed fortitude of character because with sightlessness his homestead was reinstated and he received title to the land in December 13, 1884.

Brumfield Settlement Part 3

Isham Brumfield

Irvin and Robert Brumfield homesteaded 80 and 160 acres respectively in Pike County Mississippi. My mother Irvin Brumfield’s granddaughter stated that Isham or possibly Isom Brumfield was Irvin’s father.  I have yet been unable to verify this information. Subsequent research suggests that this information is incorrect.  Isham Brumfield (Broomfield/ Bromfield) however homestead 160.26 acres of land in Walkers Bridge, Pike County, Mississippi beginning in December 1870. At the time of his homestead, his family consisted of 3 children.  The 1870 Federal Pike County census lists Isham Brumfield as 49 years old with 3 children Eli 14, Henrietta 18, and Hester 10.  His initial application was filed on March 6, 1873. 

  He almost missed the opportunity to own the land because of a missed proof filing date. He missed the filling date after five weekly notices dated from March 12^th to April 9 1880 in the newspaper Magnolia Gazette.   He requested that his homestead application be reinstated which was canceled on January 14, 1881.   The reason for the missed filing in the request for reinstatement was secondary to “severe disease of both of his eyes from which he became totally blind.” and ignorance of the law.  In the testimony of the claimant dated October 21, 1881, he stated he was 63 years old with three children.  He had a dwelling house, and stables valued at $200.00 and cultivated 20 acres, and raised 5 crops. His witnesses Solomon Singleton and Jacob Ellzey also verified his homestead from December, 1870 to October 12, 1881.    Isham Brumfield displayed fortitude of character because with sightlessness his homestead was reinstated and he received title to the land on December 13, 1884.