5. Memorial for Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

Searching through Newspapers.com has led me to many interesting discoveries related to our family. Charles Brumfield appears in several newspaper articles. I will be sharing 5 posts about this young man, in the order they appeared in the newspaper: 1. Lost in a Swamp; 2. His Wedding & Happy times; 3. World War II; 4. A tragic Crash, 5. A Memorial.

 5. A Memorial. 

A month after the terrible plane crash a memorial service was held. The remains of Charles "were not recovered." Charles left his young wife and two small children. An August 1946 newspaper shares the announcement of Charles' widow's second marriage to Cecil C. Broome. 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

18 December 1918 MS – 10 February 1944

Son of Charles Edgar Brumfield & Katie Leona Freeman

Husband of Virginia Rawls

 Services Held in Memphis for Crash Victims

Members of Brumfield Family Attend Rites for Lieutenant

 

Dr. Robert H. Brumfield of McComb, and Mrs. W. A. Bilbo, Jr., of Magnolia, left Tuesday afternoon for Jackson, where they were joined by Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield and Mrs. Charles Edgar Brumfield, all going to Memphis where a joint funeral service was held at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon for the victims of the plane crash which brought death to their little brother, son and husband, Lieut. Charles Edgar Brumfield.

 

The services were of a military nature and held in the manner of a memorial to the service personnel losing their lives, the bodies of many of whom, including that of Lieutenant Brumfield were not recovered from the waters of the Mississippi River near Memphis, where the tragic crash of a huge commercial air transport occurred Tuesday, February 10.

 

Several identifiable bodies and portions of bodies of others of the 24 victims, were recovered by United States engineers and salvage workers, following the plunge of the plane into the river. Salvage efforts were given up after many days of intensive probing of the waters.

 

Lieutenant Brumfield had been stationed with the U. S. Ferry Command at Memphis and was returning to the city after a military trip to the West Coast, after which he was to have been transferred to a station at Evansville, Ind.

 

His survivors included his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, Jackson; his widow; one son, Charles E. Brumfield III; a daughter, Virginia Brumfield, all of Jackson; two brothers, Dr. Robert H. Brumfield, McComb and Max Brumfield, U. S. Marine Corps, Quantico, Va.; and two sisters, Mrs. W. A. Bilbo, Magnolia, and Mrs. George Gulley, Brookhaven.

 

Source: Services Held in Memphis for Crash Victims. (McComb, MS: McComb Daily Journal, 8 Mar 1944) 1; digital image, Newsspapers.com: accessed April 2021.

Related Posts:

• Part 1, Lost in a Swamp
• Part 2. Wedding & Happy Times
• Part 3. World War II

 

4. Plane Plunged into MS River; Lt. Brumfield Died, Feb. 1944

Searching through Newspapers.com has led me to many interesting discoveries related to our family. Charles Brumfield appears in several newspaper articles. I will be sharing 5 posts about this young man, in the order they appeared in the newspaper: 1. Lost in a Swamp; 2. His Wedding & Happy times; 3. World War II; 4. A tragic Crash, 5. A Memorial.

4. A Tragic Crash

Charles Brumfield had joined the Army Air Corps with the onset of World War II. With other soldiers he was "en route from Los Angeles to New York" when the plane plunged into the Mississippi River. Searching through the articles published about this event, I was not able to find a cause for the crash. 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

18 December 1918 MS – 10 February 1944

Son of Charles Edgar Brumfield & Katie Leona Freeman

Husband of Virginia Rawls

 

 

Plunges into Mississippi River Memphis

Sinks After Explosion

 

The Coast Guard reported Friday that drag lines had located part of an American Airlines Transcontinental plane that had crashed into the Mississippi River with 24 passengers aboard. The radio message from patrol boats to headquarters said that the luggage door had been recovered but there was no immediate contact with the remainder of the wreckage. The Coast Guard and United States Army engineers are conducting a search on the 22-foot channel 15 miles below Mississippi.

 

Charley Williams, night watchman for the engineers, said he saw the plane hit the water and sink, seconds after being enveloped in flames. “There was a terrific explosion and fire,” he said, “and it seemed to sink immediately.” He said the plane was on a course to land at the Memphis Airport where it was due at 11:38 Thursday night. The plane was en route from Los Angeles to New York and the last stop was a Little Rock. At least 10 of the 21 passengers aboard were members of the armed services. Three of the crewmen were based at Fort Worth.

 

Was Son of Former Pike County Chancery Clerk

Attended Southwest

 

First Lieutenant Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr., formerly of Magnolia, was reported to have lost his life Thursday night in a plane crash near Memphis. Although not announced officially, members of his family have received word that he was on the American Airlines Transcontinental plane that crashed into the Mississippi river Thursday night near Memphis.

 

Lieutenant Brumfield, who was about 27 years of age, was born and reared in Magnolia, and attended Southwest Mississippi Junior College at Summit and Millsaps college in Jackson. Prior to his enlistment in the Army Air Corps he was a civilian instructor at the Jackson Air Base. After joining the air corps, he was transferred to the Ferry Command and had been in this division of the air corps for about two years.

 

Survivors. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Virginia Brumfield of Jackson; two children, a daughter, Virginia, age 4, and a son, Charles Edgar Brumfield III, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Brumfield, Sr., of Jackson, Miss., formerly of Magnolia two brothers, Dr. Robert H. Brumfield of McComb; Pvt. Max Brumfield, in the Marine Corps, stationed at Quantico, Va., and his two sisters, Mrs. W. A. Bilbo of Magnolia and Mrs. George H. Gulley of Brookhaven.

 

For a long period of years the young flyer’s father was chancery clerk of Pike county, during which time the family resided in Magnolia.

 

He was popular among the students while attending Millsaps and Southwest Junior College and was a young man of rare ability.

 

His life’s ambition was fulfilled when he received his wings ass an army pilot and he had proved his ability as a skillful pilot by the successful way in which he performed his duties in the Ferry Command.

 

Formerly stationed at Memphis, Tenn., in the Ferry Command, he was recently transferred to Evansville, Ind.

 

 

Source: Lieut. Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr. Dies in Crash of Plane. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 12 Feb 1944) 1; digital image, Newsspapers.com: accessed April 2021.

Related Posts:

• Part 1, Lost in a Swamp
• Part 2. Wedding & Happy Times
• Part 3. World War II

3. World War II, Charles Becomes a Pilot, 1940 MS

Searching through Newspapers.com has led me to many interesting discoveries related to our family. Charles Brumfield appears in several newspaper articles. I will be sharing 5 posts about this young man, in the order they appeared in the newspaper: 1. Lost in a Swamp; 2. His Wedding & Happy times; 3. World War II; 4. A tragic Crash, 5. A Memorial. 

3. World War II 

Charles wanted to fly. These newspaper articles tell us when he earned his flight certificate in 1940 & give us some details of his time in the US Army Air Corps in 1943. These articles about flying are a foreshadowing of what was to come.

 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

18 December 1918 MS – 10 February 1944

Son of Charles Edgar Brumfield & Katie Leona Freeman

Husband of Virginia Rawls

 

C. E. Brumfield Jr. Receives Private Flying Certificate

 

Magnolia. Charles E. Brumfield Jr., Millsaps college student, was the first of a group of 19 flying students at Millsaps and Hinds Junior college to receive a private certificate in the government sponsored air training program.

 

Brumfield was also the first student of the two groups to make a solo flight.

 

His test for a private flying certificate, which will allow him to carry passengers on a non-commercial basis, was given by an inspector for the Civil Aeronautics Authority. Training was conducted by Mississippi Airways.

 

Young Brumfield is a graduate of Magnolia high school and during his boyhood lived here with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield Sr. He is a brother of Mrs. W. A. Bilbo of Magnolia.

 

Source: C. E. Brumfield Jr. Receives Private Flying Certificate. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 9 May 1940) 1; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed May 2021.

 

 

Mississippians at War

 

Lieutenant Charles E. Brumfield, Jr., of the 4^thFerrying Group, Air Transport Command, Memphis, is just back from his first ferry trip across – to Africa.

 

He got a distinct thrill from flying across the Atlantic and going through and over so many foreign places. Considerable excitement was added to the trip by his being bombed at two stops. He had to get out in ditches.

 

He and his crew participated in plenty of “action” against flies, fleas and all sorts of crawling things. The flies according to Lt. Brumfield are the kind that don’t “scare” and have to be “picked” off the food.

 

Brumfield found that our boys are getting along fine everywhere he went in spite of hardships, lessening food supplies and much homesickness. But they are plenty mad about the strikes over here. They can’t understand the attitude of the home front in allowing these strikes, and not stringing up John L. Lewis.

 

Lt. Brumfield just spent a short furlough at home with his wife and children and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, Sr., North State Street. 

 

 

Source: Mississippians at War. (Jackson, MS: Clarion – Ledger, 25 June 1943) 10; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed May 2021.

Related Posts:

• Part 1, Lost in a Swamp
• Part 2. Wedding & Happy Times

 

 

2. Wedding: Brumfield – Rawls, 31 March 1939 MS

Searching through Newspapers.com has led me to many interesting discoveries related to our family. Charles Brumfield appears in several newspaper articles. I will be sharing 5 posts about this young man, in the order they appeared in the newspaper: 1. Lost in a Swamp; 2. His Wedding & Happy times; 3. World War II; 4. A tragic Crash, 5. A Memorial.

2. Wedding & Happy Times.  

In these newspaper articles about Charles Brumfield, we discover that he is married. It is September and the newspaper announces that he has been married since March. In fact, he was married when he was lost in the swamp in August. That article, however, never mentioned his wife who must have been worried about him. It only described him as a college student whose father was worried about him. Why? Was there something about the marriage that needed to be hidden? Or was it just an oversight? 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

18 December 1918 MS – 10 February 1944 TN

Son of Charles Edgar Brumfield & Katie Leona Freeman

 

&

 

Virginia Rawls

 

A wedding announcement claiming wide interest in this section was made known Sunday, September 10, when Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, Jr., announced their marriage which took place March 31 in Wesson, the Rev. A. W. Duck officiating.

 

Before her marriage Mrs. Brumfield was Miss Virginia Rawls, the charming young daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Rawls of Clinton.

 

Mr. Brumfield is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, Sr., formerly of Magnolia, now of Jackson. He received his early education in the Magnolia schools and is now a senior at Millsaps College.

 

The happy young couple are now at home to their friends at 643 Eagle Drive, Jackson, where Mr. Brumfield will complete his course at Millsaps. 

 

 

Source: Marriage of Popular Couple revealed Sunday. (McComb, MS: Daily Journal, 11 Sept 1939) 3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed April 2021.

Their wedding was followed by happy times for Charles &  Virginia. The couple is mentioned many times in society columns when they visited friends & family. The birth of their son was also documented in the newspapers.

[The couple also had a daughter but I have been unsuccessful is finding an announcement for her birth.]

Charles Brumfield, III

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr., 2531 North State street, announce the birth of a son, Charles Edgar Brumfield, III, on December 1, at Baptist hospital. The baby’s grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, and Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Rawls all of Jackson.

 

 

Source: Charles E. Brumfield, III. (Jackson, MS: Clarion – Ledger, 13 Dec 1942) 25; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed May 2021.

Related Post:

• Part 1, Lost in a Swamp

1. College Student Lost in Swamp Aug. 1939 MS

Searching through Newspapers.com has led me to many interesting discoveries related to our family. Charles Brumfield appears in several newspaper articles. I will be sharing 5 posts about this young man, in the order they appeared in the newspaper: 1. Lost in a Swamp; 2. His Wedding & Happy times; 3. World War II; 4. A tragic Crash, 5. A Memorial.

1. Lost in a Swamp 

August 1939. In this first article we discover that Charles was a college student who went into the swamp to find "specimens",  fell from a tree and wandered "dazed" for hours while locals, bloodhounds and his father searched for him.

 

 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, Jr.

18 December 1918 MS – 10 February 1944

Son of Charles Edgar Brumfield & Katie Leona Freeman

 

 

Son of Former Pike Clerk Hurt,

Wanders in Swamp

 

Charles Edgar Brumfield, 20, Millsaps College student, was recuperating at the Baptist hospital Tuesday afternoon after a night of wandering in a dazed condition through the wilds of Pearl river bottom.

 

Out on an expedition for zoological specimens, young Brumfield was injured in a fall from a tree at 3 o’clock Monday afternoon, and it was not until 12:15 Tuesday morning that he stumbled into a gas-pipe line station ten miles north of Highway 80 in Rankin county on the Fannin road.

 

The youth, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brumfield, Jackson, left home at 1:15 o’clock Monday afternoon to seek specimens in connection with his work at Millsaps College. Frequently he had made similar trips. The youth’s father was for many years chancery clerk of Pike county.

 

At 3 o’clock he spied a crow’s nest high in a tree, and up he went to find what matter of zoological interest it might contain. A limb gave way however, and young Brumfield plummeted to the ground. Then commenced to his dazed wandering.

 

Prior to leaving he had made an agreement with his father, executive secretary of state elementary institutions, to meet him at the water plant, where he had crossed the Pearl River into Rankin county, at 5 o’clock.

 

The father was there at five, but the zoological student failed to show up. As the son had not returned by 8 o’clock, Mr. Brumfield notified A. H. Jones, assistant director of the highway patrol drivers’ license bureau and a relative of the youth. By 9 o’clock nine members of the patrol, Mr. Brumfield, and bloodhounds from Brandon were ready to take up the search in the Rankin county Pearl river swamp. For hours the search continued and young Brumfield remained unfound. Finally, as searchers prepared to spend the night in the woods to await daylight, sirens on patrol cars waiting at the water plant announced that the Millsaps student had been found.

 

He had finally staggered into the pipeline substation, where an attendant hurriedly put in a call to city police. Rushing quickly to the scene, a squad car picked up the injured youth and rushed him back to the Baptist hospital here.

 

Tuesday morning he was recovering and no ill effects will be suffered from the harrowing experience.

 

One city policeman describing the dash ten miles up Fannin road for the injured boy said “We received the call from the sub-station at 12:15. At 12:20 we were on the scene ready to bring him back to a hospital here.”

 

Highway patrol officers participating in the four-hour search were Mr. Jones, Chief of Patrol Webb Burke Lieut. H. T. Lee, Patrolman Glen Krohn, Henry Cook, Patrolman G. L. Stennis, Corporal R. V. Richardson, Capt. P. L. McMillan and George Carl.

 

Source: Son of Former Pike Clerk Hurt, Wanders in Swamp. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 24 Aug 1939) 1 & 3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed April 2021.

 

 Related Posts:

• Part 2, Wedding & Happy Times

 

Forget Me Not: Mary Emma Brumfield Leggett, 1950 MS

Mary Emma was a part of the Brumfield Pioneer Family. She lived 93 years. She lived longer than three of her children: Bertha Bonita Leggett Crum, George Hansford Leggett & Natalie Nanette Leggett. 

Be sure to read the Related Post about a reunion between Mary & her six sisters!

 

 

Mary Emma Brumfield Leggett

15 April 1857 LA – 23 September 1950 MS

Daughter of: Henry Sims Brumfield & Martha E. Bickham

Wife of: William Wright Leggett

Mother of 7 children

Mrs. Leggett is Mourned at Age of 93

Member Of One Of Vicinity’s Pioneer Families Laid to Rest Sunday

 

A great host of old friends and admirers joined her loving family Sunday afternoon at sorrowful last rites for one of the most beloved ladies, Mrs. Mary Emma Brumfield Leggett, aged 93 years. 

 

Mrs. Leggett, who was known to almost everyone in and around Magnolia as “Grandma” Leggett, succumbed at the residence of her son, A. T. Leggett, in Magnolia, at 2:30 Saturday afternoon. She had been in declining health for some time, during which her family and friends continued their loving ministrations and care. 

 

Born in 1857

 

Mrs. Leggett was born in Pike County April 15, 1857.

 

Funeral services were said from the Leggett residence at 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon, with Rev. Tom Douglas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Magnolia, officiating, and Rev. O. W. Wardlow, of Magnolia Presbyterian Church, assisting. Serving as pallbearers were Messrs. Hinton Andrews, Oscar Coney, Jr., Barton Lampton, John R. Goza, Jr., Dr. Claude Petty and B. D. Statham.

 

She leaves two sons, Dr. A. E. Leggett, Louisville, Ky. And A. T. Leggett, Magnolia; two daughters, Mrs. John E. Ladd, Kingston, R. I., and Mrs. James L. Taylor, Peoria, Miss.; four brothers, Charley Brumfield, Brookhaven; Henry and Dud Brumfield, both of McComb, and John Brumfield, Tylertown; three sisters, Mrs. J. J. Lee, Walker’s Bridge; Mrs. Myrt Thigpen, Biloxi, and Mrs. Will Mackey, Rogers, Ark.; nine grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

 

Burial was in Magnolia Cemetery with Magnolia Funeral Home in charge of services.

 

 

Mrs. Leggett is Mourned at Age of 93. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 25 Sept. 1950) 1; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2021. 

Related Post:

• Seven Sisters Reunion, 1927 MS

A First Class Saw Mill in Pike County, 1887

This is an interesting newspaper clipping about a saw mill in Pike County. The S. E. Ott mentioned is, I believe, Samuel Edward Ott. I am unsure how vegetables relate to a saw mill’s operations but it sounds lucrative. 

 

 

Samuel Edward Ott

6 December 1830 LA – 9 June 1922 Pike, MS

 

Son of Charles Ott & Margaret Ann Tate

Husband of Elenor Esther Addison

Father of 12 children

 

 

 

Messrs. Bridewell & Co. and S. E. Ott & Son, have now a first class saw mill, each, and are bringing in large quantities of very fine lumber, which is putting a good deal of money in circulation. The vegetables shipped from here have also brought in somewhere near six thousand dollars. What will it bring in next season?

 

Source: Osyka Notes. (Magnolia, MS: The Magnolia Gazette, 10 June 1887) 2; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed Sept. 2021.

Forget Me Not: John E. Brumfield, 2011 MS

I have seen John's middle name as both Edward or Edwin and the same for his father. There are two obituaries posted here. Each uses a different middle name. In my records, I use John E. Brumfield because I do not know which is correct.

 

John E. Brumfield

10 February 1916 MS – 3 September 2011 LA

Son of: John Edward Brumfield & Ada Beatrice Fortenberry

Husband of: Mildred Fortenberry

My 1st cousin, 2x removed

 

 

John Edwin Brumfield, 95, of Manderville, La. And formerly of McComb, died Sept. 3, 2011, at Pontchartrain Health Care.

 

Visitation is 5 at 8 pm Thursday at Hartman Sharkey Funeral Home in McComb and 10 am Friday until services at 11, with the Rev. Rick Kennedy officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Pike Memorial Gardens.

 

Mr. Brumfield was born Feb. 20, 1916, in Tylertown to John Edwin and Ada Fortenberry Brumfield. 

 

He was a retired self – employed automobile mechanic. He was a member of East McComb Baptist Church, now New Heights Baptist Church. He was a U. S. Navy veteran of World War II.

 

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Mildred Fortenberry Brumfield; four brothers, Baxter, Albert, Selwyn and Wendall Brumfield; and three sisters, Fannie Holmes, Claudia Fortenberry and Olga Pittman. 

 

Survivors include his son and daughter-in-law, Harold and Shan Brumfield of the Woodlands, Texas; his daughter, Elaine Simon of Manderville; three grandsons, Hal Brumfield, Chad Simon and Grant Simon; a granddaughter, Bran Noble; four great – grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

 

Source: John E. Brumfield. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 7 Sept. 2011) A3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2021.

John E. Brumfield

John Edward Brumfield, 95, of Manderville, La., and formerly of Progress and McComb, died Sept. 3, 2011, at Pontchartrain Helath Care, Arrangements are incomplete with Hartman-Sharkey Funeral Home in McComb.

Source: John E. Brumfield. (McComb, MS: Enterprise - Journal, 4 Sept. 2011) A3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2021.

76 Years Ago: Wedding of Simms – Fortenberry, 1945 MS

 

 

Arlea Fortenberry

Born c 1926

Daughter of Willis Franklin Fortenberry & Ivy May Smith

Wife of Otis Simms, Jr.

&

Otis Simms

Simms – Fortenberry Nuptials Said in Progress Recently

 

Progress, Sept. 27. – A wedding much to the interest of the Progress community was that of Miss Arlea Fortenberry of Progress to Otis Simms, Jr., of the U. S. Navy.

 

The ceremony was performed Saturday evening, September 22 in the home of Mrs. Mallie Fortenberry with the Rev. Clyde Jones officiating. The attendants were Mrs. Edwin Blades and Mrs. Frances Ramano.

 

Mrs. Simms is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Fortenberry and a 1945 graduate of Progress High School.

 

Mr. Simms is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Simms of Tylertown and is on leave until the 9^thof October.

 

Source: Simms – Fortenberry Nuptials Said in Progress Recently. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 28 Sept. 1945) 7; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2021).