Tombstone Tuesday Bertha Collins Gatlin and Jethro Leander Gatlin

PINK HILL CHURCH CEMETERY

Pink Hill Church cemetery is located 1154 Jewell Dr. McComb, Mississippi 39648  across the street from the church.

Bertha Collins Gatlin and Jethro Leander Gatlin

Bertha Collins Gatlin and Jethro Leander Gatlin attended the Pink Hill church and are buried in this cemetery. They were  married for over fifty years and died on the same day.  Jethro Gatlin was the son of Jack Gatlin.

 

Precious are our memories ...

---The Tree Gardener

A Brick In The Wall has Fallen Part 6 Eli Brumfield

 

Eli Brumfield

This is Part 6 of a series identifying the individuals in the above photograph. Eli Brumfield is identified in the above picture as the black man standing on the right side in the picture. Eli has been identified to have lived his entire adult life in Pike County, Mississippi. He and his family are enumerated in the 1920 and 1930 Pike County, Mississippi Federal Census. In the 1920 census, states Eli and Sally were able to read and write.  He continued to work on the farmland that he owned at age 66. They are enumerated with Eli's female cousin and children with the last name Thomas. Their given names written are probable transcription errors. I have been unable to identify them at this time. 

Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Leggett, Pike, Mississippi; Roll: T625_891; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 100

Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Leggett, Pike, Mississippi; Roll: T625_891; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 100 transcribed Eli Brumfield 

In the 1930 census, Eli owned his farm but didn't own a radio. In this census Eli, Sallie and Dudley could not read or write.   

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9MQ-P8X : accessed 8 February 2021), Eli Brunfield, Beat 1, Pike, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1, sheet 4B, line 55, family 84, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1162; FHL microfilm 2,340,897. 

 

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9MQ-P8X : accessed 8 February 2021), Eli Brunfield, Beat 1, Pike, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1, sheet 4B, line 55, family 84, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1162; FHL microfilm 2,340,897. Transcribed Eli Brumfield family

Eli Brumfield died June 2, 1933 in Pike County, Mississippi. A list of births and deaths was reported in the local newspaper under "Colored" deaths. His name is listed near the end of the notice.

Semi-Weekly Journal (McComb, Mississippi) · 27 Jul 1933, Thu · Page 3

 

On Eli Brumfield's death certificate, Sally Brumfield was the informant. They were married for over 50 years.  His parent's names were Isom and Charlotte Brumfield and the etiology of his death was heart disease and "old age".  The interment of his remains is in the Pink Hill Cemetery. 
 

Sallie Brumfield 80 years old was enumerated in the 1940 Pike County census with her son Dudley. I have not located her date of death.  

------ The Tree Gardener

A Brick In The Wall Has Fallen Part 5 Eli Brumfield

Eli Brumfield

This is Part 5 of a series identifying the individuals in the above photograph. Eli Brumfield is identified in the above picture as the black man standing on the right side in the picture. In the 1900 Pike County, Mississippi Federal census, the enumerator recorded that none of Eli Brumfield's children could read or write. In 1900, 44.5 % of Black and other non-whites were literate or unable to read or write in any language.*    His children however did attend school. The Pike County, Mississippi school census was divided into colored and white. I was able to identify Eli's children.  In the 1885 Pike County school census, Kizzie Brumfield 6 years old is listed with her father Eli Brumfield. Their names are at the bottom of the page.

Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939F-PV9F-WD?cc=1856425&wc=M6NC-7P8%3A167436801%2C167437202 : 18 September 2015), Pike > 1885 > image 6 of 178; Government Records, Jackson.

Kizzie (Kizza) 11  and Lotty 6 years old are listed with Ely (Eli) Brumfield in the 1890 Pike County school census. 

Allen County Library Fort Wayne, Indiana  Pike County, Mississippi Records and Correspondence Black families1890 author Serena Abbess Haymon collation 

Lottie 10, Charles 8 and Maude 5  years old are listed with Eli Brumfield in the 1896 Pike County school census.

  

Allen County Library Fort Wayne, Indiana  Pike County, Mississippi Records and Correspondence Black families1896 author Serena Abbess Haymon collation 

Dudley 14 years old is listed with Eli Brumfield in the 1908 Pike County school census. 

The Allen County Library Fort Wayne, Indiana  Pike County, Mississippi Records and Correspondence Black families1908 author Serena Abbess Haymon collation 

The number of days that the children actually attended school a year is unknown. As the children became older, they were probably helping on the farm with their parents.  The quality of education in the segregated school at that time has been well documented in United States history. 

*SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970; and Current Population Reports, Series P-23, Ancestry and Language in the United States: November 1979. (This table was prepared in September 1992.)

------ The Tree Gardener

A Brick In The Wall Has Fallen Part 4 Eli Brumfield

Eli Brumfield

 

This is Part 4 of a series identifying the individuals in the above photograph. This photograph is significate because it is one of the few known pictures of my Black ancestors. It also shows a picture of the individual who subjugated them to slavery.   Eli Brumfield is identified in the above picture as the black man standing on the right side in the picture. Eli lived most of his life in the Pike County, Mississippi area.  I was first able to identify Eli Brumfield 14 years old in the Pike County, Mississippi 1870 census.  In this census, he is enumerated with his presumptive father Isham "Bromfield" Brumfield 49 and his siblings Hester 13  and Henrietta 10 years old.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 2 Range 9 East, Pike, Mississippi; Roll: M593_745; Page: 131B; Family History Library Film: 552244

Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 2 Range 9 East, Pike, Mississippi; Roll: M593_745; Page: 131B; Family History Library Film: 552244  Transcribed  Isham Bromfield

Eli Brumfield 24 years old is enumerated in the 1880 Pike County, Mississippi Federal Census with a wife Sarah 17 years old and a daughter  Keziah 1 year old. Please note Isham and Henrietta Brumfield his daughter are enumerated in the household above them on the census page. Isham Brumfield's health is recorded as blind at home and not a farmer. It is reasonable to infer that Eli is the son of Isham Brumfield because they were enumerated in the 1870 census and lived near each other in the 1880 census

Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Pike, Mississippi; Roll: 662; Page: 353C; Enumeration District: 037

  

 

Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Pike, Mississippi; Roll: 662; Page: 353C; Enumeration District: 037 Transcribed Isham Brumfield and Eli Brumfield

Eli and Sally and their children are enumerated in the 1900 Pike County, Mississippi Federal Census. This census is informative because month and year of birth information are given. There are some discrepancies noted from the prior census records. In the 1880 census, Eli's wife's name is Sarah and she and her parents were born in Louisiana. In the 1900 census, Eli's wife Sally and parents were born in Mississippi.  Sally is a nickname for Sarah and she is probably the same individual in both census records.  There are also name spelling discrepancies. Eli and Sarah couldn't read or write so the enumerator was responsible for the name spelling. Eli's occupation was a farmer and he rented the land which is designated on the census form. An individual who farmed rented land was considered a sharecropper. A sharecropper has a legal arraignment with a landowner which allowed him to use the land for a share of the crops which was grown on the land. 

Year: 1900; Census Place: Beat 1, Pike, Mississippi; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0105; FHL microfilm: 1240825

Year: 1900; Census Place: Beat 1, Pike, Mississippi; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0105; FHL microfilm: 1240825 Transcribed Eli Brumfield and family

There are major discrepancies in the information correlated with family in the family of Eli and Sarah (Sally) Brumfield. In the 1900 census, Sally is listed as having 5 children and 5 living. There are however  7 children listed as her children. 

More information to come.

-----The Tree Gardener