DNA Seals the Deal? An Evans Family Connection

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, you’ve probably sorted your matches into people you know, people you don’t know but you do know how you’re related to them, and people for whom you strike out on both counts – you don’t know ‘em and you don’t know how you’re related to ‘em. The more distantly related you are – 3^rd and 4^th cousins and such – the harder it might be to know where and specifically through whom you connect, especially if you have enslaved ancestors. I’ve got more than a few DNA matches in this latter category. 

But I just moved one match out of this category, and, in doing so, I think I’ve made a DNA connection to Daniel Evans and Jennette (aka Anna Jane) Welch, the subjects of most of my recent posts.

The Many Names of Laura Ann Scruggs

In genealogical research, some names are more difficult to track than others. Unique names, ones with a variety of consonants, ones where spelling and pronunciation don’t necessarily seem to match. These all make sense – you’re probably going to have to be creative in your research techniques to find the person or people that you’re looking for. (See my maternal great-great-grandmother Scoatney (Scott) Cooper and her sister Masonia (Scott) Worthen for two examples.)

But I didn’t think “Scruggs” would be one of those names. Sure, maybe the “c” becomes a “k,” maybe there’s one “g” instead of two, maybe the “s” even becomes a “z,” or the “gg” becomes a “ck,” but none of those should make the name particularly difficult to research; how many different ways could people really hear or write the name? 

Finding the Parents of Laura Ann Scruggs: Part 1

In my last Mystery Monday post, I introduced the question of who the parents of one set of my paternal 2x great-grandparents were. The question was asked of me by one of my 3^rd cousins in Alabama – we share (James) Steven Evans and Laura Ann Scruggs as our great-great-grandparents, but neither of us had yet researched beyond that generation. So, the hunt was on.

I spent the next 3 blog posts (1, 2, 3) detailing the results of that hunt, focusing on (James) Steven Evans’ parents, who I now believe to be Daniel Evans and Jennette (aka Anna Jane) Welch. And I threw in a bonus post with some lingering questions about (James) Steven Evans’ siblings. But of course, that was all focused on only one side of the couple my cousin and I wanted to know more about.

Who were the parents of Laura Ann Scruggs?

A Note on (James) Steven Evans’ Siblings

If you were an eagle-eyed reader of my last post, on how researching the potential siblings of my 2x great-grandfather (James) Steven Evans helped me to make stronger connections between him and the people I believe to be his parents, Daniel Evans and Jennette (aka Anna Jane) Welch, you may have noticed two things.

• First, in the snippet of the 1900 Census I shared, showing the household of Daniel and Jennette, there are two numbers on the far right of the image: 3 and 3. Though it’s not visible in the snippet, these numbers are written into the columns headed “Mother of how many children” and “Number of those children living.”
  

• Second, in the snippet of the 1910 Census I shared, illustrating Jennette (as Annah Evans) living with her daughter Sarah and son Nelson, there are again two numbers in the far right columns: 14 and 5. As before, these numbers represent the number of children she has given birth to and the number who are currently living.

Finding the Parents of (James) Steven Evans: Part 3

One of the exciting things about trying to take your tree up another generation is that in addition to extending your tree backwards, you also have the opportunity to expand your tree outwards. That is to say, when you’re looking for parents, you’ll likely also find siblings. And that was absolutely the case in my search for the parents of my paternal 2x-great-grandfather (James) Steven Evans.

(Are you all caught up on this series? If not, start here and then work your way forward. Ready? Let’s go!)

Finding the Parents of (James) Steven Evans: Part 2

If you’ve read my two last posts, you know that I’ve been trying to nail down the parents of my paternal 2x-great-grandfather, (James) Steven Evans. 

I’ve got two, maybe three, good leads: Daniel Evans and Jennette (surname unknown) or Anna Jane Tolliver(?). That question mark is because, as of where we are in the story, I had only found 1 reference to Anna Jane’s maiden name. Perhaps it was correct, perhaps it wasn’t! Take a minute to read the previous posts – Mystery Monday and Part 1 of my research report – if you’re not caught up. Ready? Away we go!

Finding the Parents of (James) Steven Evans: Part 1

Hypothesis: Daniel Evans, born abt. 1844 in Alabama, date and location of death currently unknown, was the father of my 2x-great-grandfather, (James) Steven Evans. And Jennette (aka Anna Jane) Welch, born abt. 1853 in either South Carolina or Alabama and died 22 January 1941 in Montgomery County, Alabama was his mother.

If you read my last post, you know that I was asked by one of my paternal cousins back in mid-2024 if I knew who our shared 3x-great-grandparents were. At the time, I didn’t. Read that post for the set-up; right now I’m diving in!

Mystery Monday: Who Are the Parents of (James) Steven Evans and Laura Ann Scruggs?

Many months ago – perhaps midway through the year - one of my Alabama cousins reached out to ask if I had learned anything about the parents of our great-great- grandparents, (James) Steven Evans* and Laura Ann Scruggs. Unfortunately, my answer at the time was “No.” When I’d been focusing on that branch, I’d really been focusing on their children, including her great-grandmother Jannie Mae and my great-grandfather Steve/Theodore. I was tracing across and down, rather than up. And if you’ve been hanging around the blog for a bit, you know that for the past few years, I’ve really been focused on my maternal line, rather than my paternal – I thought I was working on a quick research project, lol.

But, well, you know what happened next…

But at Least We Know Who His Mother Is, Right?

Lest you think the Social Security Number application is the only frustrating document I've recently discovered for my great-grandfather, Steve Evans / Theodore Johnson, let me share with you another one.

Click Image to Enlarge. Snippet from first page of Steve's birth recording in Montgomery County Register of Births, 1913-1917. DOB April 15, 1913.

Click Image to Enlarge. Snippet from second page of Steve's birth recording in Montgomery County Register of Births, 1913-1917. DOB April 15, 1913.

This record actually predates the SSN one, both in terms of when it was created, and when I found it, and it was quite the happy discovery. See, this is my great-grandfather's entry in the Montgomery County Birth Register for April 1913. I found it on my first trip to Alabama, back in March, in the Montgomery County Probate Court's office. (Shout out to the super friendly and very helpful archivist and front desk staffer - they were both great!) If you waded through my series of posts trying to establish Steve / Theodore's identity, you know that I had been desperately hoping to find a birth certificate or other record of his birth. So, jackpot!

Except...

Who does it list as his mother? That doesn't say Laura Ann...

Close up of mother's name, age and race from Birth Register

Come on! His dad's name is what we would expect - Stephen Evens (sic) but now his mom's isn't! It appears to say Sarah Evens, and even the Sarah looks like there was some confusion when it was written down.

Now, I can pretty reasonably assume that this is a clerical or reporting error, as neither parent was the informant.

Millie Bedson, who reported Baby Steve's birth. She was probably a midwife.

We know from the 1910 Census and Steve (father)'s 1918 World War I Draft Registration Card that Steve is married to Laura Ann Evans. Since Steve (son)'s birth falls in 1913, meaning between these two other records, we can assume Steve (father) and Laura Ann are together at this time. Plus, Baby Steve is listed as their 7th child together, this is listed as the first marriage for both, and he is reported as a "legitimate" child, aka not born outside of wedlock.

Furthermore, this birth register gives "Sarah's" age as 30 years old, within two years of what Laura Ann would be according to her birth year of 1885 (estimated from her listing in the 1910 Census).

And while we do know of one actual Sarah Evans, she is the daughter of Steve and Laura Ann, and would have been about 10 years old when her brother Steve was born. There are other Sarah Evans in Montgomery County around this time, but they are not likely candidates, especially given all of the above.

So, I'm going to chalk this up to a reporting or clerical error, until and unless some future DNA test calls this conclusion into question.

My Great-Grandfather, Keeping Things Interesting!

I know, I know - I'm posting about multiple lines in the same week! *Shrug* I've got multiple balls in the air and new info is constantly coming my way. 

In this case, that new info is the un-redacted (is that a word?) version of my great-grandfather Steve Evans / Theodore Johnson's Social Security Number application. While I was in New Orleans, I sent away for these apps for three family members and had them mailed to my permanent address so they wouldn't miss me in transit depending on how long the turnaround time ended up being. So this baby was waiting for me when I got home.

My biggest reason for wanting this document was to see who he listed as his parents. (Note: If you are reading this, you've probably had a Social Security Number since your first weeks of life. But Social Security began in the 1930s and adults who wanted to receive the associated benefits needed to apply for a number themselves, because it didn't exist when they were born, and so their parents hadn't applied for it for them.)

When I originally sent away for this form, new privacy laws had just gone into effect which meant that the very information I was looking for - his parents' names - had been blacked out so I couldn't read them. But, Steve/Theodore's birth is now so far distant that protecting the names of his parents is no longer mandated. Of course, since I've now connected with members of his extended family who have confirmed his parentage, by the time I opened the envelope, I felt like this would be a rubber stamping of what we already new.

But my great-grandfather just couldn't let it be that simple, huh?

No redactions - hurrah!

His mother? Fine. Laura Ann Strokes is pretty much in line with Laura Ann Scruggs, Screws, Strug and other variations of her surname that I've seen. (For example, see snippets from her kids marriage certificates here.) It seems none of her kids (or the county clerks the family interacted with) could agree on who she had been born.

But his dad? Why couldn't it just say Steve Evans?!

I know, I know, he changed his name when he fled Alabama for his own personal safety. And I'm sure folks would have been suspicious or confused if his adopted surname (Johnson) didn't match that of his father (Evans). But genealogical due diligence means that at some point I'm going to have to research the name L.M. Johnson, just to see if it has any meaning or significance to the family story. Aargh!

It's okay, though. Genealogy is nothing if not full of twists and turns. He's just keeping it interesting for me. Thanks great-granddad!

Photo Friday: Our Alabama Cousins

Three weeks ago today, I was waking up to my first full day of hanging out with my Birmingham, Alabama cousins. The extended family of my paternal grandmother's dad, discovering their existence and actually meeting a few of them had been the highlight of my Alabama research trip the month before, and now I was getting to spend some real time with them!

I stayed with my cousin - technically, my second cousin, once removed - and her family. (Confused about that relationship? This chart will help! My great-grandfather Steve Evans/Theodore Johnson and her grandmother Jannie Mae Evans were brother and sister.)

It was a lovely trip. Not only did I meet 4 generations of the extended family, get to eat some of their delicious cooking and hear some of their memories, I also got to look at family photos, get copies of funeral programs for individuals who had passed, explore some of the areas where our family lived, worked and played, and see sites that were important to Alabama - and our nation's - Civil Rights history.

You can see some of my Civil Rights history and outdoors photos over on my other blog, www.ARunsAway.tumblr.com. But I've saved my family photos from that trip for here.

My host, her husband, and their grandson.

My cousin with two of her sisters, up from Montgomery, AL

A few of the kids and grandkids, all smiles!

Another of the kids, my third cousin, who would like you to know that he doesn't always take his shoes off and fish in creeks!

A double relation by marriage, he's in his 90s and remembers my great-grandfather leaving Alabama!

Two generations of double relations, they dug in their memories and helped solve a genealogy puzzle!

I'm so glad I added a second Alabama trip to my schedule - it was absolutely worth it to have this experience. And now, as my grandmother said to me when we chatted during this trip, a fire has been lit and we need to get the branches of our family - spread at least between Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois. Michigan and Alabama - together for a reunion! Whew, boy!

Uncovering a Church Affiliation: Rev. Castleberry and Thirty First Street Baptist Church

I love the social history side of genealogical research as much as I love the names, dates and events side of it. Sometimes a tidbit of information makes me run off in a different research direction, hoping to gain context that will help me understand my ancestors’ and relatives’ lives.

As I’ve been researching my Alabama family, one thing I’ve started tracking is the name of the pastor, minister or religious official who signed off on their marriage license. My hope is that through this, I’ll learn what religious institutions they were affiliated with, learn more about those institutions’ roles within my ancestors’ communities, and maybe even find religious records that mention my family. Even when I don’t find all these things, it’s interesting to look.

One name that kept coming up, especially in the Evans family marriages, was Rev. Wm. Castleberry. You can see his name below, cropped from marriage certificates for my great-great grandfather James Steven Evans and also his son, Marshall Evans.

In fact, between 1920 and 1937, he solemnized 5 weddings for the family, all of them in Birmingham:

• My great-great-grandfather James Steven Evans to his second wife, Ella Smith (1920)
• James’ daughter Janie Mae Evans to her first husband William Dyle (1926)
• Janie Mae Evans to her second husband James Baker (1930)
• James’ son Marshall Evans to his first wife Lillian Harris (1930)
• Lillian Harris to her second husband Perry Garner (1937)

Five times in 18 years might not seem significant, but this actually means Reverend William Castleberry conducted half of all the Evans weddings known to me that took place during that time period. In the 48 years of marriage records I have for my Alabama Evans family, only 1 other pastor shows up as frequently (Rev. N. Heard – I’ll explore him in another post).

So, who was Rev. Castleberry and what church was he affiliated with? I turned to census records and city directories to figure it out. Lucky for me, he wasn’t that difficult to find!

Here’s a snippet from the 1920 Census, showing a WM Castleberry living with his wife Sylvester and their children in Birmingham, Alabama. You can see that his occupation is listed as Minister in a B. (presumably Baptist) Church.

(1920 U.S. Census for Birmingham, AL. Note: I've cut out the irrelevant middle columns.)

Ten years later, in 1930, you can again find him in the census with his family. His occupation is Preacher in a Church.

(1930 U.S. Census for Birmingham, AL. Note: I've cut out the irrelevant middle columns.)

And you can see him in the list of Clergy in the Birmingham City Directory for several years. Here’s 1935.

So, what church is he affiliated with? Let’s go back to 1920 (which, incidentally is the year of the first Evans marriage that we know of that he officiated). This time, we’re looking at the Birmingham City Directory.

 

Mount Nebo Baptist Church. (In fact, he’s pastor here in 1919 as well.) But, if we jump ahead, this isn’t the only church he’s affiliate with – the City Directories for 1931 and 1935 show him as being the Pastor of Thirty First Street Baptist Church.

Now, I haven’t been able to find much out about either of these churches, but what I did find was kinda cool. Thanks to the witchcraft and sorcery of the archivists at the Birmingham Public Library involving tax records, land parcel numbers and whatnot, we were able to find Thirty First Street Baptist Church in the Jefferson County Tax Map Book for the year 2000.

Or at least, we found where the church used to be. I say that because, according to Google Street View, there’s nothing there but a parking lot for Kurt’s Truck Parts.

But, check this out, when you look at the standard view for Google Maps:

Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, the name of Rev. Castleberry’s church in 1919 and 1920! So maybe they were the same church, with different names at various points in time? One way or another, I haven’t found any books, newspaper articles, or pictures to tell me more. But, again, thanks to the magicians at the Birmingham Public Library, I did find this:

This is a photo of Thirty First Street Baptist Church taken in 1939. It was taken because taxes were assessed based on physical characteristics of the building and its location – the photo is from the County Board of Equalization files. It has VOID scribbled on it because the building was torn down in 1955, making the photo irrelevant for tax purposes. But it’s still awesome for genealogical purposes!

Reverend Castleberry continues to appear in the Birmingham City Directory until 1939, though he stops being listed as a Reverend or Pastor about 1937. This is the year of the last marriage I've found that he performs for the Evans family. He passes away in October of 1940 and is laid to rest in  Shadow Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Birmingham's largest African American Cemetery (founded in 1889).

What was the Evans family’s relationship to Reverend Castleberry and Mt Nebo / Thirty First Street Baptist Church? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t random. Though the family had other options both in the smaller communities they lived in outside of Birmingham, and MANY additional options in the city itself, they kept coming back to him. I hope I can find more information that sheds light on this pastor, his church(es) and their role in the lives both of my ancestors and of the larger black community they served. If so, you know I’ll share it here!

Do you know something about Reverend William Castleberry? Or about Thirty First Street Baptist Church or Mt. Nebo Baptist Church? If so, please share!

Photo Friday: New Castle Cemetery

One of the stranger pleasures of genealogical research is visiting cemeteries. Having spent so much time trying to understand a person’s life – or to even find out if a person existed or was related to you at all – it can be frustrating to not know a person’s final resting place. It’s like you’ve come so close to really truly finding them, but can’t! But when you do find them, you feel like you know them a little bit better. You’re often in their community, maybe seeing sights that were part of their daily life, and even in death, you’re learning more about them based on who is laid to rest near them.

All of which is what made it so cool that my newfound Evans cousin took me not only on a tour of one of the ancestral towns, New Castle, when I visited Alabama last month, but also to the cemetery there, where the family has a small plot. So for this Photo Friday, here are a few snaps from that day: 

Spruce Street leads up to New Castle Cemetery, a small community burial ground that is still in limited use today. 

Looking back towards the entrance of the cemetery, from the Evans Family plot.

A (somewhat wonky) partial panorama looking from the corner entrance of the cemetery. The family plot can be partially seen at the far right.

My great-grandfather Steve Evans / Theodore Johnson was apparently one of about 14 children. While he is laid to rest in West Virginia, several of his siblings rest here.

Janie Mae (Evans) Smith was, I've been told, the oldest of the Evans children. She is the one with whom Steve and his brother Henry were living in 1930, and it is with her descendants that I connected on my recent trip to Alabama. She shared family stories freely with her granddaughter, and it is thanks to them both that I am able to learn things that the documents themselves can't tell. 

Janie Mae had two children with her first husband, William Dyle. This is their daughter, Veola Dyle Rodgers.

A close-up of the photo from Veola's headstone. She was James and Laura Ann Evans' granddaughter, and my great-grandfather's niece.

Janie Mae and William Dyle's son, Coleman Dyle. Below "US ARMY," his headstone reads:

WORLD WAR II
SEP   14   1923
JAN  13   1990

This is the marker for Sarah (Evans) Paymon, Steve and Janie Mae's sister. She and her husband Archie lived across the street from each other near a church at the top of a hill in New Castle.

Sarah's husband Archie Paymon rests nearby. They were married on November 18, 1923, according to Jefferson County, AL records. Several of their children eventually moved to Detroit, Michigan in search of better economic opportunities.

This is the headstone for Marshall Evans, another of the Evans siblings. Following in his father's footsteps, he became a minister, and was known to some of the family as "Uncle Bishop." He is one half of the "two brothers married two sisters" duo, my great-grandfather Steve being the other brother, Steve's wife, my great-grandmother Beatrice Harris, being one of the sisters, and Lillian Harris being the other. Though they did not stay together, Marshall and Lillian had a daughter together, and her descendants now live primarily in Illinois.










Visiting this cemetery may actually have been the best part of my trip to Alabama. I am so grateful to my cousin for making this happen, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again!

Wedding Wednesday: James Steven Evans and Laura Ann Scruggs

Being in the South for the past few months has provided me with both a great opportunity and great motivation to learn more about the lives of my paternal grandmother’s parents, Steve Evans / Theodore Johnson and Beatrice Harris, and even about their parents. For my most recent Wedding Wednesday post, I shared what I knew about the marriage of Beatrice’s parents, my great-great-grandparents Ardenia Jackson and Solomon Harris. This week, I’d like to share what I know about the marriage of Steve Evans/ Theodore Johnson’s parents, my great-great-grandparents Laura Ann Scruggs and James Steven Evans. Given how much I’ve been writing about their son, they may already feel familiar to you, but hopefully this adds some more context to their lives.

(And, first things first: although I’ve referred to James Steven as Steve or Steve Sr. in previous posts, I am now shifting to calling him James Steven or James because this, my cousin tells me, is the name he went by with his family, though official documents list him as Steve, Steven or Stephen.)

Originally located at the Montgomery County, AL Probate Court, this version is from the AL Dept. of Archives & History.

This is the official marriage license and return for James and Laura Ann. You saw a similar one for Solomon and Ardenia Harris. And as with Solomon and Ardenia, there is also a second, decorative certificate!

Located at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL.

 

What do you all notice about when they were married? Look at that date!

(Credit at Bottom of Page)

December 24th, 1901 - Christmas Eve! Now, I can’t make any definitive statements about the significance of this date to them in particular, whether it was mere convenience or chosen specifically, but Americans in the late 19^th and early 20^th century were definitely captured by the magic of Christmas. Gift-giving and Christmas cards were popular, Virginia O’Hanlon had famously received an affirmative answer to her question “Is there a Santa Claus?” from the New York Sun in 1897, and by 1900, it’s estimated that 1 in 5 Americans had a Christmas Tree. So it was absolutely a special time to get married.

It was also just one year after the turn of the century. James and Laura Ann had recently said goodbye to the final century during which chattel slavery was legal in the U.S., and here they are, embarking on a life together, probably with dreams of the future their children might be able to experience. I’m probably romanticizing this, but really, imagine the promise of this moment. (Of course, by contrast, the decade beginning with 1891 - as in, the decade leading up to their marriage - saw the greatest number of African American lynchings out of all the decades for which the Tuskegee Institute tallied them (1882 – 1968). 1900 saw 106 alone and 1901 saw 105.)

Whew.

In any case, James and Laura Ann were married on December 24^th, 1901 in Oak Grove, Montgomery County, Alabama, by Reverend. J.T. Golson.

So what do we know about James and Laura Ann’s life together? Well, it was certainly filled with hard work: in the only census record we have where they appear together, both are listed as farm laborers and are working for wages. Given this and they fact that they are renting the land on which they live, plus their location in Alabama’s Black Belt (named originally for the rich, black soil, and not for the presence of African Americans), it’s likely that they were either sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Both of these groups of workers were generally individuals with little material resources to their names who worked land owned by others in return for the ability to keep some portion of the crop.

The Evans Family lived in Dooley, AL at least between 1910 and 1915. Credit Below.

(This was generally an exploitative system that left most sharecroppers and tenant farmers – of all racial backgrounds – impoverished, as they often had to buy on credit their necessities for farming and for life from the people for whom they worked. When the credit came due annually, they owed money, signed up for another year of working and thus the cycle continued.) As late as 1918, when James registered for the draft, he was still working as a farm laborer; his employer was an L.D. Zuber in Montgomery County.

We also know that Steve and Laura built a large family together – according to my Alabama cousins (so helpful!) – they had 14 children together.

Sadly, their time together was cut short, when Laura Ann was injured in a tragic accident. As my cousin (their great-granddaughter, who heard it from their oldest daughter) tells it, while Laura Ann was expecting another child, she saw that one of the family’s hogs or pigs had escaped its enclosure and was running around the farm. As she tried to corner and return it, it kicked her in the stomach. The injury was too serious for either Laura Ann or the baby to survive.

James Steven was left with a gaggle of children from teenagers to toddlers to take care of, and no wife. We know that in 1930 he was a traveling Methodist minister and my cousin says that he was already living this life when his wife died, which would have made the situation even more difficult. (Let’s also acknowledge the difficulty of Laura Ann’s life with all of these children while he was traveling!) It is perhaps no surprise, then, that James remarried fairly quickly – he wed Ella Smith in 1920, and then Florence Donovan, in 1924. He also moved from Montgomery County to Jefferson County, at whose heart was and is Birmingham, with its lure of coal mining and steel jobs that paid better than farming work.  

I wish I knew more about James and Laura Ann’s life together. I have no guesses on how they met and no concrete information about their lives before 1901. I do know that they have descendants spread out across the U.S. and that among them are students, college graduates, educators, lawyers, civil servants, businesspeople, medical professionals, information technology professionals, clergy, and more. When you think about the path of opportunities that lead from farming and coal mining to the present, that’s a pretty cool thing, indeed!

Do you have any pictures of James Steven and Laura Ann (Scruggs) Evans, or of their children? Do you have more information about their life together? Please share! 


Image Credit: Cover art for Dear Santa Claus, by Various Authors. Published by By W. B. Conkey Company in 1901 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. 

Map Credit: This is cropped from the Map of Montgomery County, AL created for the Board of Revenue by J.M. Garrett and published in Chicago by Rand McNally & Co in 1901. Full map located here and the original source is the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Timeline Tuesday: Steve Evans / Theodore Johnson

If you’ve been reading KINterested over the past two months, you know that during my time in the South (I’ve been wintering in the awesome city of New Orleans) I’ve been exploring the lives of my Evans and Harris family ancestors in Alabama. One person whose life I’ve been particularly digging into is that of my great-grandfather Theodore Johnson, my father’s mother’s father, who was born Steve Evans and later changed his name. You can find posts here and here and here.

I promised at the end of that series that I would post a timeline of what I currently know about him. Then, on a research trip to Alabama, I was (amazingly!) able to meet the granddaughter of one of Steve/Theodore’s sisters! Through my conversations with her, I can now flesh in a little bit more of his timeline. I’ll continue to update this post with information and links to other posts that touch on specific moments in his life as I learn and write more.

1913, April 15 – Steve is born in rural Montgomery County, Alabama to James Steven

Evans and Laura Ann (Scruggs) Evans. He will be one of about 14 siblings. (I’m still learning birth dates and birth order.)

1918, September: His parents James Steven and Laura Ann are still living in

Montgomery County, Alabama, where his dad is a farm laborer working for a farmer named L.D. Zuber.

Between 1918 and 1920: When Steve is between 5 and 7 years old, his mother passes

away. As I learned it, Laura Ann was kicked in the stomach while chasing a pig or hog that had gotten loose on the family farm. She was pregnant at the time, and unfortunately the injury was so bad that neither she nor the baby survived.

(The story dates this as happening closer to 1914, but Steve’s father’s World War II Draft Registration Card states that Laura Ann is still alive in September 1918. I do not yet have a certificate of death or other record to confirm a date.)

October 1920: Steve is 7 years old when his dad remarries. While his dad and step-

mother now live in Jefferson County where his dad is mining coal, Steve doesn’t appear in the 1920 Census in their household, so it’s not clear if he’s living with them or with someone else. Perhaps he’s with family, either back in Montgomery County or in another home in Jefferson County.

1930: Steve, about 17 years old now, and his also teenage brother Henry, are living in the

household of their older sister Janie Mae and her family in Majestic, Jefferson County, Alabama. Steve is listed as being able to read and write, but he’s not in school – he’s working as a coal miner, as are most of the other men living in this community.

Steve’s father and his third wife Florence (I don’t know what happened to Ella) are also living in Jefferson County, but his dad is no longer farming or mining, he is a Methodist minister. Family lore says that he traveled often throughout the state and was rarely home, which may explain why Steve and Henry are living with Janie Mae.

1933, August 15: Steve marries Beatrice Harris, who lives in Majestic with her mother,

sister and son, Robert. Like Steve, Beatrice was also born in Montgomery, and again like Steve, her family had also made a break from farming by 1920. Both families were probably affected by the devastation of cotton crops in Alabama by the boll weevil during the 19-teens. Montgomery County was hard hit and families who could sought out other work, including in the cities (like Beatrice’s dad who took work in the city of Montgomery) and in the coal mines of Jefferson County (like Steve’s dad).

1930s: Steve and Beatrice grow their family. Their oldest daughter is named after Steve’s

mother, Laura Ann. Their first few children are born in Alabama, but their last girls, born 1938 and 1940, will be born in Ohio.

Steve’s siblings are also getting married between the 1920s and 1940s. Some stay in Jefferson County, some move back to (or never left) Montgomery, and some eventually travel to Detroit, Michigan.

1930s: According to family lore, Steve gets into a fight with a white man and kills him

(in self defense, as the story is told). The local Ku Klux Klan immediately sets out after Steve and he flees to Ohio, changing his name to Theodore Johnson in the process. He will take years to return to Alabama to visit, and only does so with assistance from his brother, under cover of darkness and a veil of secrecy, fearing continued harassment from the KKK.

1937, July: Steve, now Theodore, has put his Alabama coal mining experience to use by

finding work with the Powhatan Mining Company, in Powhatan Point, Ohio.

Early 1940s: Theodore and Beatrice separate and divorce, temporarily throwing

Beatrice’s life and that of their children into financial turmoil. The children are split up between family and the state (one daughter lives with Beatrice’s sister Lillian in Kewanee, Illinois, another daughter and son spend time with Beatrice’s mother and step-father back in Alabama, at one point some are temporarily put into an orphanage) until Beatrice is able to get back on her feet.

1941, Spring: After a major labor agreement between the United Mine Workers

Association (a union for coal miners) and various coal mining companies expires at the end of March, hundreds of Ohio Coal Miner go on strike. They are back at work by the end of April. However, during the time that they are out, they – including Theodore Johnson – apply for unemployment benefits. Their claims are approved at first, but the coal mining companies protest. So begins a long court case that makes it to the Ohio Supreme Court and eventually ends in May 1946 with the coal miners (including Theodore Johnson) losing their final appeal.

1940s: Theodore moves to West Virginia and probably continues to work as a coal miner

until retirement. He becomes involved with another woman, to whom several additional children are born.

1950s and 60s: Theodore becomes a grandfather many times over, as his children marry

and expand their families.

1963?: According to family lore, Theodore’s father James Steven Evans passes away in

Alabama.

1986, October 26: Theodore passes away in West Virginia. He is laid to rest at Restlawn

Memorial Gardens, in Bluewell, WV. 

Photo Friday: New Castle, Alabama

Before I boarded my train back from Birmingham to New Orleans, my newfound Evans Family cousin scooped me up from my hotel and took me on a whirlwind tour of one of the coal mining communities where our shared ancestors had lived in the early-to-mid 1900s.

New Castle, north of Birmingham, along the L&N Railroad. Image Credit below.

New Castle, Alabama is located about 10 miles north of Birmingham and, since about 1870, has housed various coal mining operations that included company-owned homes, stores, schools, and churches for the miners and their families. The mines are no longer in operation today, and the houses are now owned by individuals, including some that are still in the hands of Evans relatives. 

Here’s a look at some of what I saw:

 New Castle Road is the main road through town and connected the community to other coal towns to the southwest and northeast.

Overlooking a portion of New Castle from one of the highest points. The area has been mostly reclaimed by woods now, but you would have seen large machines, great coal heaps, and many more houses and other buildings back in the day.

The New Castle Post Office, this used to be a gathering place for the community, where both mail and hot pieces of news were picked up.

One of the original camp houses (from my cousin's early years). Time, weather and abandonment have taken their toll.

Mt. Joy Baptist Church, which sits at the top of a hill overlooking the community. This was one of two black churches in the community. My great-grandfather Theodore Johnson (Steve Evans)'s sister, Sarah, lived on the same hill, and her husband, Archie, lived across the street. She was, I was told, an eclectic woman!

Eastern Star Missionary Baptist Church, the other black church serving New Castle. Several family members were ministers, but they were Methodist and did not preach here.

One of the Evans Family houses, my great-grandfather's sister Janie Mae and her daughter Veola had it built.

Another of the Evans Family homes, still showing some of the bones of the original camp house.

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad (LNRR) tracks through New Castle. These and smaller spurs throughout the area moved people and coal to and from the mining towns to Birmingham with its coke and steel plants, south through Montgomery and Mobile to Mississippi and New Orleans, and north to Nashville, Louisville and Cincinnati, where they could connect to other points. 

My cousin also took me to the Evans Family plot in New Castle cemetery - I think I'll post those as my next photo Friday. Getting to see, stand on and walk the land where my ancestors and their families lived and hung out was an awesome, awesome experience and I'm grateful to my cousin for being so excited to make it happen.I can't wait to visit again and see the other towns we're connected to - Bradford, Majestic and Dixiana, I'm looking at you!

Map Credit: This image was modified from a map in "The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide" by Marjorie Longenecker White, published by the Birmingham Historical Society in 1981.