Forget Me Not: John Brumfield; Search Party Needed!

John Benjamin Brumfield

"A search party early Friday morning … the body of John Benjamin Brumfield … Walthall County farmer near his home after a hunt that continued all night. Mr. Brumfield, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Brumfield, pioneer settlers of the area, left his home 6 miles east of Holmesville in the Bridges community at about noon Thursday, en route by horseback to the home of his son, George.

He intended going with the son to Summit to the Thursday cattle sale, a member of the family said. Thus, when the horse returned home around 3:00 o’clock that afternoon still bridled but without saddle, it was thought the aged farmer had released the animal after arriving at this son’s home. However, at 7:00 that night, the son returned from Summit without knowledge of his father and a huge crowd of Walthall officers, neighbors and friends gathered to search through the woods and fields for Mr. Brumfield. At times during the night, as many as 250 or 300 persons were in the searching party, but it was not until 7 a.m. Friday that the body was discovered in woods not more than 300 yards from the home. A Mr. Magee, of the searchers, is said to have been the one who first sighted the remains. The body lay near a stump, the horse’s saddle also being discovered some 30 feet away. Conjecture is that Mr. Brumfield either suffered a heart attack before falling from his mount, or that he fell from the animal and struck his head and face on the stump and roots, suffering injuries that rendered him helpless and caused him eventually to succumb.



Mr. Brumfield leaves his wife, Mrs. Mary Gent Brumfield; a son, George Brumfield, Tylertown; three daughters, Mrs. Judge Hughes, Louisville; Mrs. Louis Moore, Natchez; Mrs. Samuel Neil, El Paso, Texas; three brothers, Charley Brumfield, Brookhaven; Henry Brumfield, McComb; and D. A. (Dud) Brumfield, Summit, Route 3; three sisters, Mrs. J. J. Lee, Walker’s Bridge; Mrs. E. E. Thigpen, Biloxi, and Mrs. H. G. Mackey, Rogers, Ark., six grandchildren and many other relatives."

Source: Magee, Zuma Fendlason. Selected Obituaries from Louisiana (Washington & Tangipahoa Parishes) and from Mississippi (Pike, Walthall & Marion Counties). Volume I. Franklinton, Louisiana: Privately printed, 1976. From Franklinton Library, LA.