My Genealogy Hound

MILLER D. EVANS, a leading member of the Montgomery county bar, is almost a lifelong resident of Pottstown. He was born in Downingtown, Chester county, November 3, 1838, being a son of William and Rachel (Boomer) Evans, he a native of Delaware county and she of Chester county, this state. The couple had eight children, three sons and five daughters, of whom three are now living, as follows: Miss Mary H. and Miss Esther T. Evans, of Morgantown, Pennsylvania; and Miller D. Evans, of Pottstown. William Evans died in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, in 1855, aged sixty-three years. His wife died about 1889, aged eighty-nine years. Both were members of the Society of Friends, and although the sect is opposed to warfare, he was a soldier in the war of 1812 and held a commission as lieutenant from Governor Findlay.

William Evans (grandfather) was a native of Delaware county, of Welsh descent, and by occupation a farmer. He was a Revolutionary soldier. He died at the age of sixty-six years, leaving a family.

The maternal grandfather died in Chester County.

Miller D. Evans lived in Chester county until he was thirteen years of age, attending the public and private schools there, and following the occupation of a teacher for seven years. He began studying law in Reading with Henry W. Smith, one of the leading members of the Berks county bar. In 1865 he was admitted to the bar and began practicing at once at Reading. In 1866 he went to Montgomery county and was admitted to the bar there in that year. He has been practicing at Pottstown ever since.

He was an emergency soldier in 1862 for a short time, and in 1863 was a member of Company F, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was the first company in the field at Gettysburg.

On May 22, 1872, he married Miss Annie L. Rittenhouse, daughter of General James and Lucinda (Trexler) Rittenhouse, of Berks county. They have had two children: Lucy R., who died at the age of eight years; and James R. Evans, who is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic College, of Troy, New York, in the scientific department. Mrs. Evans is a member of the Lutheran Church of the Transfiguration of Pottstown.

Mr. Evans is a Republican although never taking a very active part in politics and holding no office except member of the Pottstown school board. He was its president for some years and solicitor of the borough of Pottstown for twenty years. He is attorney for the National Bank of Pottstown, the Pottstown Iron Company, the Warwick Iron Company, the Glasgow Iron Company and a number of other corporations.