Nathan Evans

!REFERENCE:A History of Marion County, South Carolina From Its Earliest Times to the Present, 1901, by W. W. Sellers, Esq., of the Marion Bar. 1902. pp. 125-135.

Evans.—The next family the writer will notice, is the Evans family. Bishop Gregg says, on page 75 : "Nathan Evans was a Welshman, and settled on Catfish. He either came from the Welsh Neck above, soon after his arrival there, or was one of those who went first to the lower part of the Welsh tracts, and remained: there. Lands in the neighborhood of Tart's Mill (now Moody's) were granted to Nathan Evans." Bishop Gregg, in a note on same page, says : "Nathan Evans was the grand-father of the late Thomas Evans and General William Evans, of Marion. The father of General Evans was also named Nathan, and was a man of upright character through life.” Nathan Evans' arrival and settlement on "Catfish" was soon after the arrival and settlement of John Godbold, in 1735. Gregg further says: "David Evans, a son of Nathan, was a Captain in the Revolution, and a man of note. He died child- less. About the same time, two families of James and Lucas came down the river and settled on Catfish ; with the latter of these the Crawfords and Evans intermarried. Soon after a family of Bakers came from Newbern, N. C, to Pee Dee. One of this name married a daughter of Nathan Evans. William Baker was prominent in the Revolution, and marked for his devotion to the cause of liberty." Thus the foundation of the Evans family, so far as Marion County is concerned, is laid in old Nathan Evans. We are not informed whether he had sons other than David and Nathan, and no account of any daughter, except that one of the name of Baker married a daughter of Nathan Evans. His son, Nathan, was the only one to perpetuate the name. The writer thinks he married twice (the second Nathan). His first wife was a Godbold, by whom he had a son, the late Thomas Evans, and two daughters, Mrs. R. J. Gregg and Mrs. Colonel Levi Legette, there may have been other children of the first marriage. Nathan Evans' second wife was a Miss Rogers (first name not known), a daughter of old Lot Rogers, of upper Marion. By his second wife he had three sons and a daughter. The sons were the late General William Evans, Nathan Evans and Gamewell Evans; the daughter, Elizabeth A., married Alexander Murdock, of Marlborough County. The late Thomas Evans married a Miss Daniel, a Virginia lady, a most excellent woman, and a woman of more than ordinary culture for her day and time ; the fruits of this marriage were ten sons and one daughter. The father, Thomas Evans, was quite a prominent man in his day—Representative and Senator from his county in the State Legislature, Commissioner in Equity, and a useful man generally ; he died' in middle life— I think, in 1845 ; the names of his sons, as remembered, were Chesly D., Thomas, Nathan G., James, Beverly, Jackson, William, Asa, Alfred and Woodson ; the daughter, Sarah, who married R. L. Singletary, on the west side of Great Pee Dee, who has children grown and married. Chesly D. Evans graduated at the South Carolina College, I think, in 1839, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841 ; went into practice, and was electedl Commissioner in Equity, which position he held for years ; he was a delegate to the Secession Convention in i860, was quite a scholarly man and a good lawyer, though not much of an advocate ; he married, in 1850 or 1851, Miss Jane Haselden, and reared a family of seven sons and one daughter. The sons were Junius H., Chesly D., Walker, Samuel, Frank, Leon, Nathan and David (called Tris Magistas) ; and a diaughter, Bettie. Of these, Junius is a practicing lawyer at Marion ; married Miss Florence Durant, and has three or four children. Chesly D. married a Miss Wells ; he is dead, and left three children. Samuel Married an English lady, and is dead; he left two children. Walker married a Miss McDougal, in upper Marion, and is farming and doing well. Frank is in Spartanburg at the head of a graded school, and is highly esteemed. Where the other two, Nathan and David, are unknown, having left Marion. L,eon died when a youth. Chesly died in May, 1897, at the advanced age of eighty years, being born loth January, 1817. Thomas Evans, second son of Thomas Evans (senior), grew up, studied law, practiced for several years, and was appointed (I think, by President Pierce,) United States District Attorney for South Carolina, which position he filled for four years with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. He married late in life (don't rememiber whom), settled down in Britton's Neck at a place called' Oakton, and soon thereafter removed West and died there. Nathan G. Evanfe, and third son of Thomas Evans (senior), was educated at West Point and went into the regular army of the United States, and when the war between the States broke out, loyal to his section, he threw himself on the sidfe of the South and was soon appointed by President Davis a Brigadier General, and won distinction on many fields, and especially at the battle of L,eesburg or Ball's Bluff, where he pursued the Federals to the river, completely routed them, and besides killing many, others sprang off the bluff into the river and were either drowned or killed in the water. (Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, i vol., 437.) General N. George Evans (called Shanks at home), married about the close of the war a Miss Gary, of Edgefield, or Abbeville, and by her had sons and daughters, the number and names unknown, think three sons; one of whom, John Gary Evans, is now an ex-Governor of the State ; he removed to Edgefield after his marriage, and died there several years ago. A true South Carolinian and a gallant soldier, his face was ever to the front. James E. Evans, another son of Thomas Evans (senior), was a doctor, and did service in the war as a surgeon; married a Virginia lady, and after the war returned to South Carolina, located as a physician at Little Rock, in his native county, and remained there doing a good practice for several years ; then removed to Florence, and continued his practice there till the present time. He is eminent in his profession, is Secretary to the State Board of Health, and President of the State Board of Medical Examiners for the examination of applicants to practice in the State, as required by law — quite a distinguished position; he is a man of high character and of excellent morals; has a- family, children grown, the number and names unknown; has a daughter married to Hon. F. B. Gary, present Speaker of the House of Representatives of the South Carolina Legislature, and at present a candidate for Governor of the State. Another son of Thomas Evans (senior), William, who was in the navy under Admiral Semmes on the Alabama, during the war, and an officer of what rank is now unknown, and was perhaps a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. ; he was a brave Carolinian, and a staunch supporter of the Confederacy he never married, and died some years ago and was buried in his native town. Two other sons of Thomas Evans (senior), Jackson and Beverly, left this country years ago and went West; they were unmarried when they left Marion; don't know what has become of them. Another son. Captain A. L. Evans, now Deputy Clerk of the Court, of Thomas Evans (senior), volunteered early in the war, and remained in it to the last, a gallant soldier, contending for the rights of his section ; he was Adjutant in his brother's, N. G. Evans, brigade, and went through all the battles in which it was engaged during the war, from Virginia to Mississippi, always at his post and did his full duty; he married a daughter of the late Horatio McClenaghan, and by her has had five children, two sons and three daughters; one daughter married. Two other sons of Thomas Evans (senior), were Alfred and Woodson. Soon after the war, Alfred, a young man, went West; I have lost sight of him, and cannot say what has become of him. Woodson, the youngest son, just as he was entering into manhood, sickened and died. That family of Evans did much for the "lost cause ;" their whole soul was in it and went down with it, not whipped, but simply overcome by the number and resources of the enemy.

General William Evans, a son of Nathan, the second, by his second marriage, was bom in 1804, grew up to manhood and married Miss Sarah Ann, Godbold, daughter of General Thomas Godbold; settled down at the place just north of Marion, and went to farming ; he succeeded well in his chosen occupation and amassed a large property; he' had only two sons, James Hamilton and William Thomas ; the latter is now the Sheriff (second term) of the county; and seven daughters, viz: Catharine, Mary, Eliza Jane, Louisa, Ann M., Rosa and Margaret. The oldest son, James Hamilton, was a gradtiate of the University of North Carolina. He married Miss Amelia Legette, daughter of Rev. David Legette, and lived to a. ffew years back and died childless. William Thomas grew up to manhood, just in time to strike the war ; he was in college, left it and came home, volunteered and went into the war and made a good soldier, remained in it till the last; came home and married a Miss Stith, of Wilson, N. C. ; by her he had one child, a daughter ; soon after his wife died ; he has not remarried; his daughter, however, grew up, raised by her grandmother, Evans, and married Henry I. Gasque ; had two children for him, a daughter and a son; she died three or four years ago, leaving her two children and husband. Thus it appears that the name of Evans, so far as the sons of the General are concerned, will become extinct, unless the Sheriff, W. T. Evans, should- marry again and thereby perpetuate his name. General Evans' oldest daughter, Catharine, died not long after reaching her womanhood, unmarried; his daug'hter, Mary, married A. J. Requier, a lawyer, who afterwards moved to Mobile, where Requier became distinguished as a lawyer, a man of erudition ; his wife, Mary, died in Mobile, Ala., I think, childless ; his daughter, Eliza Jane, married Dr. Dixon Evans, of Fayetteville, N. C. ; by the marriage she did not change her name, but preserved' her identity as an Evans. Dr. Dixon Evans died at Marion a few years ago, leaving three sons and three daughters; of the sons, Charles E. Evans, now of Marion, is the eldest, who married Sophie Miles, daughter of Dr. D. F. Miles, Clerk of the Court. The next son, William A., grew up and went West; his whereabouts is unknown to the writer. The third and last son of Dr. Dixon Evans is named Joseph, a young man, unmarried. Of Dr. Evans' daughters, the eldest is the wife of B. R. Mullins, of Marion; the second daughter, Kate, married W. H. Cross, Cashier of the Merchants and Farmers Bank at Marion; she died three or four years ago, and left two or three children. Another daughter, Amelia, married a Mr. Glover, of Fayetteville, N. C. General Evans' daughter, Louiza, married, first, a Mr. McEachern, of North Carolina; by him she had two daughters, when McEachern died.' The widow, in a few years, married Rev. W. C. Power, an itinerant Methodist minister, and by him, I think, she has six children, three sons and three daughters; one daughter and two sons, W. C. and John M., married, but do not know to whom. Rev. W. C. Power married in 1867. He has continued in the itinerancy thence to the present time ; stands high in the Conference, has filled many important stations, has been a Presiding Elder for twenty years ; he is a close thinker and an able minister, a very methodical man. I have heard it remarked by several that he ought to have been a bank president—he is a good financier. The two McEachern daughters both married; the eldest, Lilly, married John M. Power, a nephew of the Rev. W. C. Power; I do not know what has become of them; the younger McEachern daughter, Mary, married a Mr. Tesky, of Charleston; he is a merchant in his home city, and is said to be a prosperous man. General Evans' daughter, Anna M., married Colonel John G. Blue, of North Carolina ; he was a graduate of the University of North Carolina and a lawyer ; Colonel Blue was a man of good sense and mentally much above the ordinary, and especially when aroused ; and had he applied himself to his profession, as some do, he doubtless would have attained an enviable position in the profession ; he would have been where there is always room plenty —that is, at the top ; he went into the war early as a private, and rose by successive steps to a Lieutenant Colonelcy; be was brave and patriotic; bad a high sense of duty; very temperate in all his habits except one, and in that was very intemperate, and that was in the use of tobacco, and its excessive use probably shortened his life; he was a candidate for the Legislature in 1876 and was elected and was a member of the famous "Wallace House" of that year, and was re-elected for several terms thereafter, and was a very useful member of that body ; he was very cool and deliberate, and his judgment good ; he had the confidence of his fellow-members. Some ten or twelve years ago his health failed him, and after lingering for several months he died in Richmond County, N. C, his old home place, to which he had gone for recuperation; he died rather unexpectedly; his widow and the younger members of her family live on their homestead, near Marion. Colonel Blue raised three sons and five daughters ; his eldest son, William E. Blue, is yet single and lives with his mother, and carries on the farm, and is now County Treasurer; he is a young man of fine talents and of good character. Another son, Rupert, is a doctor, and has for several years been a surgeon in the United States Army, and stands well as such ; he is, or was, somewhere in the West, attending to the duties of his position. Another son, Victor, graduated some years ago, in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and has been in the navy ever since his graduation, and is now Flag Lieutenant, and has gone, it is said, in the newspapers, on a war ship to China as Flag Lieutenant. He acquired celebrity and distinction by heroic deeds in the late Spanish-American War, and is well on the road to an Admiralship, the highest honor that can be attained in that branch of his country's service—a Marion boy, of whom Marion and the whole State are justly proud; be is a fine specimen of manhood physically ; he recently married a daughter of some naval Captain. Of Colonel Blue's daughters, one. Miss Sallie, married Peter John, of Marlborough .County ; another. Miss Ida, married Mr. James John, of North Carolina, a brother to Peter. The Johns are good men and well-to-do. Another daughter. Miss Effie, married Edward B. Wheeler, of Marion, a very worthy native and citizen. The two other daughters. Miss Kate and Miss Hettie, are unmarried—worthy of some good man. Miss Kate has obtained some celebrity as a writer, and is quite literary in her taste. Another daughter of General Evans, Miss Rosa, married Captain Duncan McIntyre; did not live long, after her marriage, and died childless. The youngest daughter of General Evans, Miss Margaret, or Maggie, as she was called, married in the latter part of the war the late Major S. A. Durham, and by him she had three children, two daughters and a son. The son, Cicero A. Durham, now living in Marion, married' Miss Kate McKerall, daughter of the late Captain W. J. McKerall; they have no children. The two daughters of Major S. A. Durham, Miss Eunice and Miss Marguerette, are unmarried.

General William Evans was a prominent man in his day. He was a large and active man, handsome and of fine address, and much of a man physically. He was chosen as one of the delegates to the Nullification Convention in 1832, and was one of the signers to the Ordinance of Nullification passed by that body. About that time he was elected Brigadier General of the militia. In 1838, he was elected to the House of Representatives from his county and served a term; he was again elected to the same position in 1846, and served another term. General Evans was a man of fine sense, but not a scholar ; he devoted himself almost exclusively to his farm', at which he succeeded well, made a large property in lands and slaves, and kept out of debt. At the time of emancipation he owned over one hundred slaves. It seemed that everything he touched "turned to gold"— it prospered in his hands. He died sitting on the steps of his front piazza, suddenly, on the 6th June, 1876, at the age of seventy-two years.
Nathan Evans, a younger brother of General Evans, and a grand-son of the first old Nathan, was 'born in 1805 ; was a worthy man and an excellent citizen ; a gentleman of fine taste, affable and very popular with everybody; he married a Miss Baker, below Marion, a daughter of William and. Annise Baker ; by whom he had four children, two sons, William B. and Nathan, and two daughters, Lizzie and Ann Eliza. The Baker wife died. After a reasonable time, he married again. Miss Harriet Braddy, of upper Marion; by her he had four children, two sons, Julius and Lawrence, and two daughters, Martha, called "Pat," and Fannie. His second wife died about 1878 or 1879, of cancer; she suffered for a long time the most intense agonies. He married no more, lived on his farm until 12th February, 1885, when he, too, passed away. His son, William B. Evans, was a Captain in the war, a true and valiant soldier. In one of the battles in Virginia he was badly wounded, shot through one of his lungs—which at the time was thought to be mortal; but to every one's surprise, he recovered. After recovery he returned to his command and continued therein to the surrender of Johnston's army, 26th April, 1865. He came home and soon after married Miss Maggie Haselden, a daughter of Major James Haselden; she lived but a short while and died childless. He afterwards married Miss Sue Berry, a daughter of Elihu Berry, a niece of his first wife, by whom he has had three sons and five daughters. The sons are William Boyd, James Aubrey and Thomas Baker; the daughters are Mamie, Emma, Nellie, Lucy and Gary Lee, all unmarried, except his oldest son, William Boyd Evans, who has recently married a Miss Heyward, in Charleston. W. Boyd Evans is a graduate of Wofford College; he was Private Secretary to Governor Ellerbe up to the death of the Governor, 2d June, 1899 ; he has also recently graduated in the law department of the South Carolina College. With it all, including his recent marriage, he is well equipped for life, and sets out on its tempestuous sea with ballast, rudder and sails. The other children, sons and daughters, of Captain Evans, are all with him ; the sons and two eldest daughters are grown, the rest are small. Captain Evans is a very worthy citizen, a man of good morals, and a good man in his family—in short, he is a high-toned gentleman; he is a farmer.

Nathan Evans' daughter, Lizzie, by his first wife, married the late W. W. Braddy, and by him had several children ; they are all dead, except two—Sue, the wife of Professor Coleman, in the Citadel Academy, in Charleston, .and a son, Wightman Braddy, a young man just grown. Mrs. Lizzie Braddy had a daughter named Walker, who married J. W. Davis, of Marion. They moved to Alabama, where Walker died, as is said, and left three sons, Willie, Hicks and Elbert. Their father, J. W. Davis, has married twice since his first wife. Walker Braddy, died. These three Davis boys are direct descendants of Nathan Evans, whose family we are now noticing. Nathan Evans had another son by his Baker wife, named Nathan ; he grew up to manhood and died unmarried. He had also another daughter by the Baker wife, named Ann Eliza; she married a man by the name of Cole and died childless. As already stated, Nathan Evans (the third) had by his second wife, Harriet Braddy, two sons, Julius and Lawrence; and two daughters, Martha (called Pat) and Fannie. Julius grew up to manhood, merchandised a few years at Marion, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Richard Jordan, who had married his sister, "Pat." The firm was not successful. In the meantime, he had married a Miss _____ by whom he has had four sons and a daughter. He removed to Tallahassee, Florida, where he now resides.

Richard Jordan, of Horry, married Miss "Pat" Evans, ana after the failure of the mercantile firm of Jordan & Evans, as above indicated, Mr. Jordan remained' in Marion a few years, variously engaged, and then removed to Georgia and started a business there (turpentine and merchandise) , at which, it is said, he has succeeded well. He has a considerable family, seven daughters and one son. Mr. Jordan is a first-rate business man, full of push and energy —'by no means an idler ; if he cannot succeed at one thing, he tries another ; he tries again and does not give up. Nathan Evans (the third) son, Lawrence, married some girl in Horry County some years ago, and has been lost sight of. Miss Fannie, the youngest daughter of Nathan Evans, by second wife, went out to Georgia with her brother-in-law, Jordan, and married a Mr. Applewhite ; she has also been lost sight of.

Nathan Evans (the third) was one of nature's noblemen; had great good sense, was energetic and upright in every respect ; always lent his ear to a tale of suffering; had a kind and sympathetic heart, and would help his neighbor in distress, if it was in his power, often to his own injury; he injured himself and family by becoming surety for others. He lived on his splendid farm, which he managed to keep, till his death; he was a very popular man, more so than his brother, the General yet he never aspired to the honors of office but once, and then not of his own motion; but being urged by his numerous friends, he became a candidate for Representative in the State Legislature in 1858, and though the contest was heated, he was triumphantly elected at the head of the ticket, and served a term in the House. Faithful to his trust, he retired from public life in the full confidence of his people, and could never after be induced to become a candidate again—he loved his home and family too well ; the pursuits of home life were more congenial to his nature.

!JURY LIST:1778 Georgetown District, SC
Petit Jurors for the Parish of Prince George 1778
From [HorryGenWeb]
...
Nathan Evans;

Marty and Karla Grant

www.martygrant.com