Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/27

 EVANS

EVANS

cal college, and served under Dr David Dale Owen on geologk;al surveys in the Nortliwestern states. He discovered a large ueposit of fossil bones of extinct species in the bad-lands of Nebraska, of which he wrote an elaborate description which attracted wide attention from geologists. The United States government commissioned him to carry on the geological surveys of the territories of Oregon and Washington, and he was subse- quently geologist of the C'hiriqui, Central Amer- ica, commission. He left a partially prepared report of his surveys in Oregon and Washington, on which he was engageil at the time of his death, which occurred in Washington, D.C. , April i:i. ISlil.

EVANS, John, governor of Colorado, was born near Waynesville. Ohio. March 9. 1814; son of David and Rachel Evans; grandson of Benjamin and Hannah (.Smith) Evans, and great-grandson of an early Quaker settler of Philadelphia. He removed to Philadelphia in 1835 and entered Clermont academy. He received his M.D. degree in 1838 from the medical department of Cincin- nati college. In 1839 he was married to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Canby, and removed to Attica, Ind. He resided in Indianapolis, Ind., 1842-4.'). He held the chair of materia medica in the Rush medical college, Chicago, 111., 184.5-.56, and later edited the Xortlnresterit Medical and Sur- (jical Journal of Chicago. He founded the Illinois general hospital of the Lakes, and was prominent in establishing the Methodist book concern in Chicago. Ho >vas the chief instruRient in found- ing the Northwestern imiversity, in a suburb of Chicago which was named Evanston in his honor, and he endowed the ch.iirs of Latin and mental and moral philosophy in that institution with §100,000. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention in 1860, and in 1863 was ap- pointed territorial governor of Colorado, serving until 1865, when he was removed by President Johnson. In 1803 he was influential in building Colorado seminary, which afterward became the University of Denver, and to which he presented about §150,000. He was organizer and president of several railroad companies and other enter- prises. He was married in 1853 to Margaret P., daughter of Samuel Gray of Maine, and their daughter Josephine became the wife of Gov. Sam- uel Hitt Elliert of Colorado. Governor Evans died in Denver, Col., July 3. 1897.

EVANS, Josiah James, senator, was born in Marlborough district, S.C, Nov. 37, 1786. He was gi-aduated from South Carolina college in 1808, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He represented Marlborough district in the state leg- islatures, 1813-13, and Darlington district in 1816. He was state solicitor of the Northern district of South Carolina, 1817-29; circuit judge, 1829-35.

and judge of the first and last resort, 1835-58. He was elected a U.S. senator in 1853, as a state rights Democrat, and in 1856 made a speech in the senate in vindication of the state of South Carolina in reply to an attack by Charles Sumner. He died in Wasliiugton, D.C, May 6, 1858.

EVANS, Nathan George, soldier, was born in Marion, S.C, Feb. 6, 1834. He was graduated from the U.S. military academy in 1848 and served with the 1st dragoons in garrison at Jeller- son Barracks, Mo., 1848; on frontier duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 1849, and on the expedition to the Rocky mountains, 1849. He was trans- ferred to the 2d dragoons, Sept. 30, 1849, an!!ll served in Kansas and New Mexico, 1849-53, scout- ing against the AjDache Indians, 18.53, and on the frontier, 1852-55. He was promoted 1st lieuten- ant, 2d cavalry, March 3, 1855, and captain. May 1, 1856; was on the Texas frontier, 18.56-57, and scouting against the Comanche Indians in 1857. On Oct. 1, 1858, he was engaged in a hand-to- hand fight with the Comanches near W^ashita vil- lage, Indian Territory, and killed two Indians. He resigned Feb. 27, 1861, and entered the Con- federate army as colonel. He commanded a brigade at the 1st battle of Bull Run, was pro- moted brigadier-general, and was in command at the battles of Ball's Bluff, Va., James Island, S.C. and Kinston, N.C, gaining promotion to the rank of major-general. He was awarded, by the South Carolina legislature, a gold medal for his gallantry at Leesburg. Va. After the war he taught .school at Midway, Bullock county, Ala., where he died. Nov. 30, 1868.

EVANS, Oliver, inventor, was born in New- the first Episcopal minister of Philadelphia, who died in 1728. He was by trade a wheelwright, and his first effort at invention was directed to the construction of a horseless carriage, which his limited means prevented him from full}' de- veloping. He invented a machine for making the teeth for weavers' cards in 1777. In 1779 he engaged with his two brothers in the milling business; his invention of the elevator, carriei', hopper-boy and other devices, revolutionized the manufacture of flour by water power, and he obtained from the legislatures of Pennsyl- vania and Maryland the exclusive right to use his inventions in flouring mills. Maryland also protected by legislative acts his plans for a steam carriage. He was not aide, however, to construct a. working model until 1800, and then his steam- engine constructed for propelling his wagon was patented, but he found it more profitable to use it in mills than on cotmtry roads. This first high- pressure steam engine which he had formulated and of which he had sent drawings and specifica- tions 'to England in 1787 and again in 1794, was
 * )ort, Del., in 1755; a descendant of Evan Evans,