In an article about DeSoto’s first African American Sheriff, it mentions R.E. Doggett https://www.desototimes.com/news/desoto-county-s-first-african-american-sheriff-was-a-formerslave/article_d510df2a-cd45-11ec-8d74-9b2de2d54689.html Evans was born into slavery in 1844 on the DeSoto County plantation of white landowner R.E. Doggett, Sr. According to U.S. Census records, Doggett owned 151 slaves, including Evans and his immediate family members.