Vernon Dahmer - Early Life

Early Life

Dahmer was born March 10, 1908, to George and Ellen Dahmer of Forrest County, Mississippi. He attended Bay Spring High School.

In March 1952 Dahmer married Ellie Jewell Davis, a teacher from Rose Hill, Mississippi. The couple had eight children in their family and their home in north Forrest County was part of the Kelly Settlement area. Ellie Dahmer taught for many years in Richton, Mississippi and retired in 1987 from the Forrest County school system.

Dahmer was a member of Shady Grove Baptist Church where he served as a music director and Sunday School teacher. Dahmer became the owner of a grocery store, sawmill, planing mill, and 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm.

Dahmer served several terms as president of the Forrest County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and led voter registration drives in the 1960s. He kept a voter registration book in his store in late 1965 to make it easier for African Americans to register. Dahmer also helped the local African American population pay a poll tax for the right to vote. His mantra was, "If you don't vote, you don't count," and those words, which he repeated on his deathbed, were used as his epitaph.