My Genealogy Hound

OLIVER M. EVANS. The first ancestor of the Evans family in this country was John Evans, who came from Wales and settled in Philadelphia in 1696, removing later to Chester county. He married, and among his children was a son John, born in 1700 and died in 1738. This John Evans married Jane, daughter of Robert Howell, and among their children was a son, Peter Evans, born in 1722. He was a well-known physician, and during the Revolutionary war was a commissioner of supplies for the Continental army, the depot being where is now North Wales, in Montgomery county. He was a justice of the peace, and tried the cases of the members of the Hilltown Baptist church who refused to bear arms during the Revolution. He married Rachel Evans, a daughter of David Evans, of Gwynedd township. The couple had several children, among them John (grandfather). David Evans died September 18, 1763, aged seventy-three years. Dr. Peter Evans was evidently well to do, as he was taxed in 1776 for two hundred acres of land, two negroes, four horses and eight cattle. David Evans is rated in the list of the landholders and tenants of Montgomery township prepared in 1734 by order of John and Thomas Penn, sons of William Penn, as the owner of a hundred acres of land.

The Evans family were among the earliest settlers of Montgomery township. Jenkin Evans, who came from Wales, in 1717, purchased 108 acres of land of Thomas Shute. This tract lay in the north corner of the township, adjoining the Hatfield line, and between what is now the Bethlehem turnpike and the Bucks county line. Jenkin Evans may have been a brother of David Evans, who bought a large tract of land in Hatfield about the same time, and who through the marriage of his daughter Rachel with Dr. Peter Evans became the ancestor of a numerous and prominent family in Hatfield, Montgomery and adjoining townships of what is now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Rachel was the only child of David Evans.

John Evans (grandfather of Oliver M. Evans) was born February 13, 1767, and was a farmer by occupation. He married Elizabeth Evans, of the Chester county family of that name, his wife having been a relative of Hon. Henry S. Evans, at one time a senator representing Chester and Montgomery counties at Harrisburg. John Evans died October 15, 1824.

The Evans family furnished several physicians in the course of two centuries. Jonathan Evans, son of John and Elizabeth Evans, was one of them. He was the father of Oliver M. Evans, subject of this sketch. Jonathan Evans was born January 28, 1793, on the homestead in Hatfield township. He attended the neighboring schools, which supplied the elementary instruction he needed. After completing these studies he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania and took the course then prescribed at that institution. He graduated with credit, and returned to his home in Hatfield township, where he practiced medicine for some time, and then removed to the city of Philadelphia, where he was continuously engaged in practice until his death, which occurred July 7, 1851. Dr. Evans was a Whig in politics, and took an active interest in the success of that organization. He was a man whose ideas were broadened by a liberal education and by contact with the world. His honesty and other admirable qualities gained for him the esteem and respect of all who knew him. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah, daughter of Rev. Joseph Mathias, of Bucks county. There was one child by the first marriage, Julia, long since deceased. The second wife of Dr. Evans was Jane, the daughter of Owen Jenkins, of another old Montgomery county family of Welsh descent, being among the earliest settlers of Hatfield and adjoining townships. Dr. Jonathan and Jane Evans had two children, Oliver M. Evans, and Sarah J., who married Dr. John S. Jenkins. It is somewhat remarkable that the members of the Evans family in different generations adhered so persistently to intermarriages with persons of kindred stock. Two of the ancestors of Mr. Evans married Evanses, and his mother was a Jenkins, whose frequent intermarriages with the Evans family had already established a sort of connection between them.

Oliver M. Evans was born in Hatfield township, April 28, 1831. He was educated in neighboring schools until his removal with his parents to Philadelphia, where he became engaged in mercantile pursuits. He gave up business on account of ill health, and went west for the benefit of his impaired constitution, remaining there for some time until he had fully recovered his strength. He then returned to Hatfield township, where he conducted a store for three years, and in 1874 removed to Lansdale, then a mere village, where he accepted the position of teller in the First National Bank of that place. Mr. Evans filled that position acceptably for a period of nearly thirty years, when ill health made it necessary for him to resign, and he is now living retired in a beautiful home in that borough of which he has been so long a resident. In politics he is a Republican, and has always shown an active interest in the promotion of the principles and policy of that organization. Like his father, Mr. Evans married a member of the Jenkins family, his wife being Ella, daughter of Charles Todd Jenkins, and sister of J. P. Hale Jenkins, of Norristown. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver M. Evans: Jennie, born January 25, 1872, married Arthur Drake; Evelyn, born January 8, 1874; Oliver Morris, Jr., born March 17, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were married January 31, 1871. He and his family are members of the Baptist church.

Mr. Evans has filled every position in the borough government of Lansdale. He was a burgess for several years, and is now president of the board of health, a member of the borough school board, and a member of town council. He has also been borough treasurer. His integrity, business-like methods and progressive ideas in local government fit him peculiarly for the positions he has held from time to time, besides gaining him the confidence and respect of the entire community. He has a brief military record, having gone to the front during the Rebellion with a regiment of one hundred day men.