Looking for Dickens family in the Jones/Perry/Covington County MS area
We are tracing our family tree and were told by a ralative that my Great-Grandfather's father was a man with the last name Dickens. My great-grandmother's name was Mary J Pitts and my great-grandfather, Jeff Pitts was born in 1884 in the Jones/Perry/Covington County, MS area. Whoever this man was did not stay with Mary very long, so we are not sure if they were actually married or not. In the 1900 Census, which is the first time we find Jeff, Mary is 38 years old, widowed and living in Jones County, MS. There was one daughter born before Jeff in 1879 named Frances "Fannie". She married a man named Bob "Robert" Temples. We are not sure if she went by the last name Pitts or not because she was already married by the 1900 Census and her name had already changed. But all of Mary's other children were in that Census and going by the last name Pitts. We were told by Mary's granddaughter that Mary gave all her children her maiden name. We are still in the process of verifying this.
Jeff's next sibling was Alice Pitts Creel. She was born in 1888 and we were told that she had a different father, as did Mary's other living children. So whoever this Dickens man was, possibly could have died before 1888. We have the father's last names for all the children but the oldest, Frances and a daughter named Lillie Pitts who died as a child. So it is possible that both Frances and Jeff had the same Dickens father, but we really just do not know. We do know that all 3 of the known Pitts sons lived and died with the last name Pitts, and of course, the daughter's names changed when they got married.
This story has a little clout in that in the 1910 Census, Jeff is actually going by Jeff Dickens and is living in Covington County, MS. His brother Willie was living with him and going by Willie Dickens, however we were told that Willie had a different father, so this could have just been a Census assumption on the last name. We suspect that Jeff may have been hiding from the law and using an alias, because we know he was a moonshiner, but we really just don't know. In the 1920 Census Jeff had moved to Copiah County, MS and was once again going by Jeff Pitts. He died in 1926 after being shot by a Prohabition Officer while operating his still. We know the 1910 Census is Jeff by 1) his wife and daughter names 2) His brother Willie is living with him 3) He is living next door to his mother Mary, who was now going by Mary Wright. Around 1907 she married a man named Emmanuel Wright and they stayed together until his death.
I have joined the Pitts DNA Group and have taken the Y-DNA Test. The results should be ready by mid-June 2014. Hopefully this will tell me if I have any Dickens DNA or not.
I know this is a long shot but thought I would post this here just in case any of this is a missing piece to someone else's puzzle. If anyone has any info that may be able to help my contact email is [email protected] or my cell number is 601-613-6784.
God Bless!
Jerry Pitts