San
Joaquin County
Biographies
THOMAS EVANS
A most interesting veteran of the
Civil War, and among the most highly esteemed members of the Grand Army of the
Republic, is Thomas Evans, a native of Niles, in Trumbull County, Ohio, where
he was born on March 19, 1837, the son of Thomas Evans, a member of a
well-known Pennsylvania family who had migrated to Ohio. He was of Welsh descent, and he married Miss
Nancy McCallister, of Scotch-Irish lineage, both
families long resident in the United States, the great-grandfathers having
crossed to the New World. There were
nine children in the family, among whom he was the fifth in order of birth; and
of all these only one brother, now in Missouri, has
survived.
Thomas Evans commenced his education
in a district school in Ohio; and since his father was both a blacksmith and a
farmer, he worked with him in the shop and learned the blacksmith’s trade. In the fall of 1860, he went to La Porte,
Indiana, leaving his parents, who lived to be each fifty-six years of age, and
thereafter he soon enlisted in the 5th Volunteer Indiana Regiment,
Battery of Light Artillery, commanded by Captain Simondson. He trained for about two months in
Indianapolis, and then went to Louisville, with the Army of the Cumberland; and
he was in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Chattanooga, or
until the Fall of Atlanta, in the autumn of 1864. He served as private, and was No. 1 on the
gun crew. He handled the loading of the
cannon, and was twice severely injured:
once by the kick of the cannon, due to the premature explosion of the
powder, and the other time by the kick of a mule! At the end of a loyal service of three years
and two months, he was honorably discharged on November 23, 1864, when he came
back to Indiana.
He took up again the trade of the
blacksmith; but soon turned aside to farming, and for many years followed
agriculture in Indiana, cultivating at times from 40 to 160 acres. From La Porte he removed to Michigan and
farmed in that state for six years; and then he went to Kansas, and again on to
Missouri, and in 1883 he came to California and settled at Visalia. He farmed for four years, when he again moved
on to Stockton, and in 1887 lived here for one summer. He then moved onto the Barnhart ranch at
Woodbridge, and for four years conducted their farm of 300 acres. After this, he moved onto the Sharp orchard
of twenty acres east of Lodi, and took care of this for one year; when he again
moved, to the Drury orchard below Woodbridge, which he ran for about one
year. He next came to Acampo, where he
bought a home place of one acre; and there he lives today.
Mr. Evans has been twice
married. Near La Porte, Indiana, in
1858, he was united with Miss Rosana Williams, who
was born in Indiana, near La Porte, the daughter of Joseph Williams; and nine
years later she closed her beautiful, useful life. In the same vicinity, near La Porte, on June
15, 1872, Mr. Evans married Miss Sarah E. Davis, who was born at La Porte, the
daughter of Caleb and Sarah (Wagner) Davis.
Her father came from a family of Indiana frontiersmen, and was of Welsh
descent, and far back in 1832 he went from Wheeling, Virginia, to La Porte. Miss Davis was one of ten children, four of
whom are living today; she was the ninth child of the family. One of her brothers is Eugene Davis, who is
hale and hearty at the age of 91. Mr.
and Mrs. Evans have four children.
Franklin is at Minneapolis; Hattie is Mrs. Winifred Sims, of Merced;
Mamie is Mrs. Atchinson, of Acampo; and Luther is in
Trinity County. Mr. Evans is a
Republican, and a member of the G. A. R. at Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1069. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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