Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/29

 EVAXS

EVANS

nial exposition in Philadelphia. In September, 1876, he was given signal duty in the navy de- jiartment at Washington, and in Xoveniber of the same year was placed in command of the train- ing ship Samtiirja, serving till 1880. He was eijuipment otticer at the Washington navy yard, 1880-81 . then a member of the first advisory board, and upon a resolution offered by himto that board, steel was adopted as the material for the con- struction of all future war vessels built by the United States. He was inspector of the 5th light- house district. 1882, 1884; inspector of bridge ma- terial with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 188-1; and again inspector of the 5th lighthouse district, 1885-87. In 1887, when Secretarj^ Whitney began the building of the new navy, Evans was detailed as chief inspector of steel, made out specifica- tions, and organized and put into operation the scheme for government inspection of all material going into the new ships. He was then appointed secretary of the lighthouse board and to superin- tend the construction of the U.S. battle-ship JI/(»'«e. In 1-889 he obtained leave of aKsence and erected a sulphite fibre mill at Appleton, Wis., for the manufacturing investment company of New York. He commanded the Os.iipee for a short time, then the i'di-k-toicn, in command of Bering Sea fleet, and on July 19, 189-1, was assigned to the cruiser Xetr Turk: On Nov. 20, 1895. he was jilaced ill command of the battle-ship Imlinna, and superintended the completion of that vessel. From the Indiana he went to the lighthouse board in January, 1897, where he remained till JIarch 25, 1898, when he was placed in command of the bat- • ■-lOWA---

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tie-ship lova. with wiiicli vessel he took an impor- tant part in the blockade of the Cuban ports and in the destruction of Cervera's fleet, July 3. 1898. He was advanced five numbers for his services at Santiago, and on Feb. 11, 1901, was promoted to rear-admiral. He married Cliarlotte. daughter of Frank Taylor, of Washington, D.C. ; great-grand- daughter of Gen. Daniel Morgan, and a sister of Capt. Harry Taylor, who in 1898 was commander of the battle-ship Indiana ; and of Capt. Daniel Morgan Taylor of the ordnance department, U.S. A. Of their children, Charlotte was married to Charles C. Marsh, flag secretary to Admiral Samp- son on the New York (1898); and Frank Taylor

was a midshipman on the Massachtisetts. Their two daughtei-s, Sirs. Marsh and Miss Virginia Evans, became vohinteer nurses in 1898. He published liis memoirs in 1901.

EVANS, Thomas William, dentist, was born in Philadelphia. Pa.. Dec. 23, 1823; .son of Maj. William M. and Catharine Ann (Wiltburger) Evans. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, and when fourteen years of age found employment with a silversmith who was also a dealer in dental aiipliances. He was a student in dentistry under Dr. .John De Haven White, and in medicine at the Jefferson medical college. He practised dentistry in Pennsylvania and was the pioneer in the use of gold leaf in filling cavities in teeth. He made an exhibition of his achievements at Franklin institute, re- ceiving the first gold medal issued for such work. He .settled in Paris in 1848 where he had the pat- ronage of the Emperor and his family, extending his practice to all other royal families of Eu- rope, the first to introduce American dentistry in the old world. He invested in real e.state in the neighborhood of the Bois de Bou- logne in Paris, the im- provements of which park he helped the Emperor to design and carry out, and he soon acquired an immense fortune. He was married to Agnes Doyle, daughter of Jolin Doyle of Phila- delphia. He clothed the arm}- of the Po- tomac the fir.st winter of the war of the rebel- lion. In 1864 he visited the United States and inspected the U.S. sanitarj' commission, and later introduced the American ambulance into the French army. At Washington he received from President Lincoln assurances of the ulti- mate results of the civil war, which, communi- cated to Louis ISapoleon, determined the French emperor not to recognize the Southern Confed- erac}-. During the Franco-Prussian war he or- ganized and personally directed an ambulance service and carried it on at his own expense. He also instituted the Red Cross society and aided in the work by his money and in person in both armies. He effected the escape of the Empress Eugenie from Paris, France, at the time of the destruction of the Tuileries preceding the fall of the second empire. After peace was restored the German Emperor offered to bestow on him the order of the Black Eagle which the doctor re- fused, declining to surrender his American citi-