Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/30

 EVANS

EVARTS

zensliip. William I. then ilevised a si^ecial order for Doctor Evans. France made him grand com- mander of the Legion of Honor. His ordei's re- ceived from the different comitries of Europe nimibered over two hundred. He refused many titles offered him because of his intense love for his country. He attended, as a friend, Prince Frederick in his illness at San Remo, and his skill in the operation of tracheotomj- prolonged the patient's life until after the death of William I., Frederick thus succeeding to the throne. In August, 1897, Dr. Evans brought to Woodland cemetery, Philadelphia, the body of his wife who had died in Paris, June 17, 1.S97. While in America on this occasion he planned various pro- jects for founding and maintaining educational institutions in different cities in the United States. His will, dated at Davos-Platz, Switzer- land, Aug. 26, 1896, provided for the erection in Philadelphia. Pa., and endowment of "The Thomas W. Evans Museum and Dental Insti- tute ' ■ and for a mausoleum to cost not over §300. - 000 for his family. Some of his heirs, including his brother Rudolph H., contested the will. He was the proprietor of the American lieyister, a Paris weekly journal, and he published several books including The ilemnirs of Heinrich Heine (1884). He died in Paris. France, Nov. 13, 1897.

EVANS, Walter, representative, was born in Barren county, Ky., Sept. 18, 1842, son of Joseph W. and Matilda (Ritter) Evans; and grandson of Alexander Evans and of John Ritter. He was edu- cated at Harrodsburg, Ky, served in the Union army, 1861-63, and was admitted to the bar in 1864, in Christian county, Ky. He was a Repub- lican representative in the state legislature in 1871 and in the state senate, 1873-74. He was a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1868, 1872, 1880, and 1884. In 1874 he removed to Louisville, Ky., and in 1876 was the unsuccess- ful candidate for representative in congress. He was nominated for governor in 1879 and was de- feated by Luke P. Blackburn. He was appointed by President Arthur commissioner of internal revenue, and served from May 21, 1883, to April 20, 1885. He was a representative from the fifth Kentucky district in the r)4th and .5.ith con- gresses, 189.J-99. On March 4. 1899, President McKiuley appointed him judge of the LT.S. dis- trict court for the district of Kentucky.

EVARTS, William Maxwell, statesman, was born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 6, 1818; son of Jere- miah and Mehetabel (Sherman) Evarts, and grandson of James and Sarah (Todd) Evarts and of Roger and Rebecca (Prescott) Sherman. His father (1781-1831) was a graduate of Yale in the class of 1802; a lawyer, 1806-10: editor, ■1810-31; treasurer A.B.C.F.M., 1812-21, and corre- sponding secretary, 1821-31. William Maxwell

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studied at the Boston Latin school, was gradu- ated at Yale in 1837 and was one of the four founders of the Yale Literary Magazine in 1836. He studied law at Harvard, and in New York city under Daniel Lord, and became a practising law- yer in New York in 1841. He was assist ant U.S. district at torney, 1849-53. As chairman of the New Y'ork delegation in the Rei^ublican na tional convention of 1800 he presented to that convention the name of William H Seward for the pres- idential nomination, and cast the seventy votes of the delega- tion for him at every roll-call. The vote

of the state was never changed to Mr. coin, although Mr. Evarts moved his unani- mous nomination and was one of the committee to notify him of his selection, then first meet- ing Mr. Lincoln at his home in Springfield, 111. He was a candidate before the state legislature of 1861 for U.S. senator, his rival being Horace Greeley, and after a protracted and close contest Mr. Evarts's name was withdrawn that his friends might support Ira Harris who was elected. In 1868 President Johnson made him his chief counsel in the impeachment trial before the U.S. senate, and on July 15, 1868, made him attorney -general in his cabinet. In 1872 he was thecounsel

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decision in favor of his client. In 1877 he was the advocate of the Republican party before the electoral commission, and President Hayes made him his secretary of state. In 1881 he was delegate from the United States to the Inter- national monetarj- conference in Pans. He was a U S. senator from New Y'ork, 1885-91, and at the close of his term he resumed the practice of his profession with the law firm of Evarts, Choate & Beaman in New York city. Among his more notable law cases are: the prosecution of the Cuban filibusterers on board the Cleopatra (1851) ; the Lemmon slave case in which he opposed

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