Thomas  Evans


          THOMAS  EVANS, a native of Saffordshire, England, was born February 28, 1829.  He is the third son of  Richard and Margaret (Butler) Evans, natives of Shropshire, England, and of Welch extraction.  Our subject and family, came to America in 1853, accompanied by his parents, two sisters and one brother, and located in Shelby County, where the father died October 1, 1856, at the age of seventy-four years.  The mother's death occurred in Illinois, July 20, 1880, at the advanced age of  eighty-one years, and William, the brother, died December 28, 1875, aged thirty-seven years.  Our subject never attended school.  At the age of eight years, Mr. Evans began an apprenticeship with his father, who was a practical engineer.  He was married to Miss Mary Ann Pitt, in July, 1847, who was born in Bumble Hole, near Dudley, Worcestershire, England, April 3, 1825, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Pierson) Pitt, natives of the same place.  Mr. and Mrs. Evans are the parents of four children, viz.:  Ann, born in the year 1848, and two daughters and one son, who were deceased in infancy.  He is the owner of 185 acres of good land, in Hanover Township, which are well improved.  He has been a member of Lodge 193, F.&A.M., for twenty-five years.  When Mr. Evans came to America, he possessed $1,000, with which to begin life in his new found home.  He immediately secured employment, with the Jefferson Railway Company, and assisted in the construction of the lateral branch of  the road, after which he went to Indianapolis, where he secured a position with Kelso & Sinker, boiler makers, with whom he continued about six months, and then located in what was ten Gwynne's Mills, where he has since resided, and until 1882, was engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, and saw milling.  Politically he is a Democrat, and usually exerts a live interest in political matters.  He is one of the most substantial men in the community in which he lives.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, "Hanover Sketches," Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, pg 633-635.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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