Evans, John Nathaniel

[Goodspeed lists the title as Evans, A.S.J, however the information they gave is about John Nathaniel Evans. Nathaniel Evans is the father, not the grandfather of John Evans.*]

*Added by Marsha Bryant

John Nathaniel Evans, of West Feliciana parish, in the vicinity of St. Mary's, on the Oakland plantation, resides on one of the finest plantations in the parish. It is one of the oldest settled places, having been entered from the Spanish government by Samuel Hutchinson; then it was purchased by the grandfather of our subject, Nathaniel Evans, who was a native of Ireland and came to the United States about 1798. He landed in New York city, where he became connected with the United States army, coming to Fort Adams, Miss., with General Wilkinson's army, where he remained for two years. He then moved to West Feliciana parish, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1819 when he was forty-four years of age. He was also connected with the commissary department. He was elected to the legislature from this parish, and was president of the Feliciana bank at St. Francisville.

He was an ardent supporter of the Federal party, and was a man of considerable educational ability. He was a member of the Episcopal church. He owned a large amount of property, consisting of several plantations. His wife, the grandmother [*this is his mother, not his grandmother] of our subject, was Miss Sarah Spencer, the daughter of Col. Oliver Spencer, of New Jersey and an old Revolutionary soldier, in which war he held the rank of a colonel, and Anna Ogden of the old New Jersey family of Ogden. Colonel Spencer settled in Cincinnati, where he died. His daughter, Sarah Spencer, survived her husband a number of years, dying some time in the fifties, at the age of seventy-five years. They were the parents of three children who grew up. The father of our subject, John N., was the second child. Francis Evans lived, and died on his plantation near that of our subject, in 1873, leaving several children. Mrs. Cornelia De Hart was the wife of John De Hart, a sugar planter and the captain of a steamboat on the Tech.. She died in St. Mary's parish in 1880, leaving four children, one daughter of whom married but who is now deceased, leaving at her death one son, Dr. Robert McNair, now of Philadelphia, Penn., where he is engaged in the practice of his profession.

The father [*Not the father, it is John Evans] of our subject was born in 1809 at Fort Adams, Miss., and with his parents came to the place where our subject at present lives. He came here in 1811 and passed the remainder of his days here, engaged in planting, stockraising, etc. He was educated at a college in Cincinnati, after having attended private schools of the Pinckneyville neighborhood. After leaving college in Cincinnati he went to Exeter, N. H., where he attended school for about three years, taking a special course and becoming well versed in Greek and Latin. On returning home, he settled down to plantation life, and was the inventor of the "Evans Land Level" and of several agricultural implements. He was very energetic and became well to do, owning many slaves and several large tracts of land. Before the war he was a whig and in 1880 became a Douglas democrat. The only office he ever accepted was that of president of the police jury, which he held for a number of year. He was a Union man until the state adopted the ordinance of secession, when he took sides with his people.

He was a believer in the Christian religion, though not a member of any church. While he had the means he was very charitable, always having a ready hand for the poor and needy. He was also a liberal supporter of all public enterprises of merit. He was a man of original ideas. Personally he was of a noble, commanding appearance; he had a large, full, open countenance, blue eyes, large broad forehead and weighed about 150 pounds. He was strongly opposed to the lottery company, and was president of a local organization formed for the purpose of suppressing the evil, as he termed it.

He died on the 4th day of November, 1890. He was first married to Miss Mary Chandler, of West Feliciana parish, by whom he had three children who survived him: Rev. Frank Evans, of Donaldsonville, La., and Mrs. Connelia Evans, who married her cousin John Evans, and Mr., Corrinne, the wife of Edward McGehee, of this parish. The mother of these children died in 1854 and Mr. Evans married Miss Marian Darcy, a native of New York city, where she lived a short time, coming then to New Orleans, where she was reared. She was educated at Crawfordsville, Ind., and is now living with the subject of this notice. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and is a lady of fine attainment, and is highly educated. To this union there were born four children, two of whom survive: our subject and a younger brother, Eugene A. Evans, both of whom live on the home place, engaged in planting, stockraising, etc. The two deceased were Margaret and Estelle, both of whom died when young. Mr. Evans and his brother are both unmarried and live with their mother. They enjoy a pleasant home, which is surrounded by a grove of beautiful oaks, magnolias and walnuts. The brothers are members of the Anti-Lottery league, of which our subject is the secretary from the Seventh and Eighth wards. Our subject is a member of the parish school board. Politically he is a democrat. He is a member of the Presbyterian, and ha brother of the Episcopal church. They are regarded as honorable, upright citizens and enjoy the respect of their neighbors.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), pp. 404-405. Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.

Information below is from "The Ogden Family in America: Elizabethtown Branch and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pil"