Columbus Ezell Blackwell was the son of Columbus Felder Blackwell & Rebecca Jane (Stogner) Blackwell. He went by his middle name - Ezell. On the 13th of Feb. 1907 Ezell Blackwell married Ophelia Conerly (1888-1919), the daughter of Stephen Monroe Conerly & Margaret Wilma "Sweetie" (Magee) Conerly. He favored the Stogners with his dark hair and brown eyes. Ezell's love for Ophelia was great and his loss of her early in life greatly affected his outlook on life. It is good to learn early in life neither to murmur at nor begrudge the ways of Providence. Though we are not at a vantage point to always understand His ways, the Lord does all things well and He knows the very best time to take His children. May He grant us all grace to accept those things we cannot change.

Ezell's children by Ophelia were:

1. Olvie, b. 14 Feb. 1908, old Marion (now Walthall County), Miss. & md. Aubrey J. Ryals. Uncle Aubrey's father gave him land and had a new house built for him when he married. They lived near the Louisiana line and were members of New Zion Baptist Church.
2. Alva "Alvie," b. 15 June 1910 in Walthall County; md. 1st to Herbert L. Holmes. His father gave him the family home and farm after having also given land to his older sons. Alva md. 2nd to Troy B. Harrell. She came to live in Jackson, Louisiana where she lived her remaining days. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Jackson.
3. Columbus Felder, b. 20 May 1913 & d. 12 Feb. 1914.
4. Kenneth Lentford, b. 13 Sept. 1916 & d. 14 March 1918.

Two years after the death of Ophelia, Ezell married a second time on the 22nd of October, 1921 to a widow, Lela (Howell) Beard (1895-1941). Three children were born of this union:

1. Agnes Marie, b. 7 July 1922 & md. Irvin Stewart of Kokomo in Marion County (bro. of John Stewart);
2. Myrle, b. 11 Nov. 1926 & md. John Stewart (Captain of the "Big John" - said to have been the largest handmade cypress shrimp boat on the Gulf Coast.) They lived in Ocean Springs, Miss.; &
3. Pauline, b. 2 Oct. 1928 & d. of colitis 26 June 1930, buried in the Sartinville Cemetery in Walthall County.

Columbus Ezell Blackwell was a well known farmer and lived more than a dozen miles north of Tylertown. He was of the Baptist faith. It appears he was named after his father, Columbus Felder Blackwell, and his maternal great-grandfather, Ezell Stogner, veteran of the War of 1812. His obituary appeared in 'The Tylertown Times.'

Note: In 1914 Walthall County was created from western Marion & eastern Pike Counties.