William Wyatt Simmons was born in Magnolia, Pike County, Mississippi, on April 19, 1883. He was the son of Edward Alexander and Annie Idelia McClendon Simmons. William Wyatt Simmons enlisted in the United States Army at Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi, on November 27, 1917. He was honorably discharged from the army on January 22, 1919. Simmons began serving a four-year term as district attorney of Bolivar County in 1920. He married Mary Clarke in 1922, and the couple helped to care for their two nieces, Nan and Sarah. Simmons was also an alderman and city attorney before being elected as mayor of Cleveland. He served as mayor until January of 1939. Simmons was also an avid genealogical researcher, compiling Data Pertaining to [the] Richard Simmons Family (1770-1814) and Other Families of Pike County, Mississippi, in 1955. He died in March of 1956.

This collection contains biographical and genealogical information, correspondence, research notes, lineage documentation, and reference materials of William Wyatt Simmons of Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi. The bulk of the collection consists of materials that Simmons compiled while engaging in genealogical research on the Simmons and Varnado families of Pike County, Mississippi.

1. Biographical Information. 1922-1937; 1989. 1 folder.

   This series contains handwritten notes and a typewritten narrative on William Wyatt Simmons resulting from the research of his nephew, Charles E. East. Information was gathered from issues of the Bolivar Commercial and from the mayoral minute books of Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi.

   Box 1, folder 1

2. Genealogical Material. 1937-1956. 27 folders.

   This series contains correspondence, research notes, and lineage documentation that William Wyatt Simmons accumulated while conducting genealogical research. The material concerns the Simmons and Varnado families of Pike County, Mississippi; the Sandifer family of Pike County and Washington Parish, Louisiana; the McClendon family of Pike County, Washington Parish, Louisiana, and South Carolina; and the allied Amacker, Felder, Fortinberry, Hutto, Newsom, and Newton families.

   Simmons regularly corresponded with Frank Varnado, a cousin who lived in Austin, Travis County, Texas. They often shared genealogical research and the names and addresses of potential sources of information on the Simmons, Varnado, and allied families. Included are Simmons’s notes and photocopies and typescripts of deeds, land grants, and wills pertaining to the above families. Of interest are three copies of a typescript entitled "Varnado: Mississippi Family," which was written by Simmons, and a typescript entitled "Data on Individuals Named in Membership List" containing material that was used in "Mount Zion Baptist Church, Pike County, Mississippi, Minutes, and Excerpts of Minutes, July 28, 1838-August 7, 1901," which was transcribed and indexed by Simmons. Also included are partial copies of two genealogical reference sources entitled Inhabitants of Mississippi in 1816 and Mississippi Territory in [the] War of 1812. Both copies have brief annotations that were probably written by Simmons.

   Box 1, folders 2-13
   Box 2, folders 1-15

• Box 1, folder 1: biographical information, 1922-1937; 1989.
• Box 1, folders 2-13: genealogical material, 1937-1956.

• Box 2, folders 1-15: genealogical material, 1938-1955.