Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/678

 602 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI other offices of distinctive public trust. He was loug one of the representative men of JMissouri and was a scion of one of the hon- ored i^ioneer families of this commonwealth. Horace Dell Evans was born at Steelville, the judicial center of Crawford county, IIis- souri, on the lltli of June, 1859, and is the fourth in order of birth of a family of six children, of whom two are now living. Wil- liam Evans, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, on the 27th of December, 1793, of sterling Welsh lineage, and the fam- ily was founded in America in the Colonial era of our national history. William Evans was about seven years of age at the time of his removal to Jlissouri with his aunt, and records show that on the 12th of June, 1800, the family located in St. Francois county, on the site of the present thriving little city of Farmington, the capital of the county. Here William Evans Mas reared to maturity under the scenes and influences of the pioneer epoch, and he gained his full quota of ex- perience in connection with life on the fron- tier. He married Miss ilahala George, and of their eight children Ellis G., father of the subject of this sketch, was the third in order of nativitj-. William Evans was a man of strong character and sterling integrity, so that he proved a potent factor in connection with the development of St. Francois county along both industrial and social lines. Here he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 31st of July, 1851, and his devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest on the 21st of September, 1872, their names meriting enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of southeastern Missoi;ri. Ellis G. Evans was boi'n on the family homestead at Big River Mills, St. Francois county, on the 10th of July, 1824, and his early education was secured in the common schools of the locality and period. His father was one of the early teachers in the schools of this county and was a prominent figure in educational aft'airs in this section of the state. Thus Ellis G. Evans had the privi- lege of receiving instruction from his honored father, who likewise was a man of superior intellectuality. His natural heritage of alert mentality was amplified b^^ his ovm appli- cation to reading and study and he became a man of exceptionally broad intellectual ken, mature judgment and well fortified opinions. As a youth he served an appren- ticeship to the carpenter's trade in the city of St. Louis, and through his work at his trade he laid the foundation for the sub- stantial success which he eventually gained in connection with the productive activities of life. It is worthy of record that he cast his fii-st vote, in 1845, in support of delegates to the convention which formulated a new constitution for the state. He finally en- gaged in the general merchandise business at Steelville, Crawford county, and he be- came prominently concerned with the in- dustrial and civic upbuilding of that section. He was one of those interested in the build- ing of the old Merrimac iron works near Steelville and his co-operation was given in the promotion of many other enterprises of impoi'tant order. ]Iajor Ellis G. Evans, both by reason of impregnable integrity and fine mental gifts, was well fitted for leadership in thought and action, and his interest in public affairs soon brought him into prominence in political af- fairs in his native state. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its pall over the na- tional horizon his loyalty to the Union was of the most perfervid order, and he became, in the climacteric period leading up to the great struggle between the north and south, one of the organizers of the Republican party in Missouri. He served as vice-president of the party's first state convention in Missouri, that of 1856, and he ever afterward con- tinued a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the "grand old party" stood sponsor. He was a member of the IMissouri constitutional convention of 1865, when the institution of human slavery was forever prohibited in the state by the provi- sions of the new constitution. He gave ef- fective service in behalf of the Union dur- ing the progi-ess of the Civil war, as he served as major on the military staff of Governor Fletcher and was provost marshal and paj'- master at Rolla, this state, during the major part of the conflict through which the in- tegrity of the nation was perpetuated. In 1866 he was elected to represent the twenty- second senatorial district of Slissouri in the United States senate, in which he served until 1870, and in which he wielded most distinc- tive influence during the period of recon- struction in the south. In 1871 JMajor Evans was appointed register of the United States land office at Booneville, and shortly after his retirement from this office he endured