Richard Evans (1798 - 1872)

Born 3 Oct 1798 in Washington County, Kentucky

Ancestors

Husband of Nancy Ann Toone — married 30 Aug 1818 in Lawrence County, Indiana, USA

Husband of Sarah (Unknown) Evans — married 20 Aug 1854 (to 11 Jul 1872) in Linn, Oregon, United States

Descendants

Died 3 Nov 1872 at age 74 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon

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Wagon Train Details

"Wagon Trains", large groups of covered wagons that travelled together for safety and protection, were a common way for pioneers to travel as they migrated west. These are the known details of the wagon train this person travelled on:

For more information on wagon trains you can also check out the Trails and Wagon Trains sub-project

Biography

Born on the Kentucky Frontier

Richard was born in October of 1798 in Washington County, Kentucky, to Edward Percy Evans and his wife, Sarah Vaughn ^[1]

Fought in the War of 1812

He enlisted in the War of 1812 on 1 June 1814. He was about 16 years old. He served for one year as a private in the company of Capt. Joseph Bigger, Indiana Militia. He was discharged 1 June 1815. ^[2]

Record: Soldier: Richard Evans Widow: Sarah [his 2nd wife, widow Sarah Thompson] Marriage Date: 1854 Date Enlisted: 1 Jun 1814 Date Discharged: 1 Jun 1815 Military Service Location: Indiana Pension Number - #1: SO 18903 Pension Number - #2: SC 14905 Bounty Land Number - #1: 19061 160 50 Roll number: 31 Archive Publication Number: M313 ^[3]

Married Nancy Toone

Richard's family moved north from Kentucky to Indiana in the early 1800s. He married Nancy Ann Toone, on 30 Aug 1818 in Lawrence County, Indiana.^[4]

Lived in Indiana

In 1820, 1830 and 1840, Richard Evans is found on the U.S. Census Record for Lawrence County, Indiana. In the 1820s Richard was building and running sawmills, in the 1830s he bought a farm, and after farming for eleven years, he moved his family to Iowa in 1846.

Richard Evans was a farmer for most of his life, like generations before him. He claimed 40 acres in a cash sale from the BLM in Lawrence County, Indiana, on 1 Dec 1835. (See attached image.) He was already married for seventeen years at that point, and perhaps he had other land in Indiana that he was farming.

Richard was involved with running - and owning - saw mills in the early days of Lawrence County. According to History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana, Richard bought a sawmill on Leatherwood Creek, built by Edward Humpston, in the early 1820's.^[5] Richard ran the sawmill for about seven years before moving on.^[6] In "1826, Richard Evans built a tread power saw mill near Bedford, which he conducted until about 1830".^[7] "Richard Evans, miller", is found in a list of the first residents of Bedford.^[8]

In 1825, Lawrence County, Indiana, changed the county seat of government from Palestine to Bedford, and Richard Evans was chosen to haul the records from Palestine to Bedford.^[9]

Moved to Wapello County, Iowa

By the year 1846, Richard had moved his family from Indiana to Iowa, the new frontier, where he is named in the tax list.^[10] He used the ScripWarrant Act of 1847 (9 Stat. 123) to obtain 160 acres in Wapello County, Iowa, in a joint ownership with Caleb Bower, and they had Patent on their land on 20 Dec 1850.(See attached image.)

Traveled the Oregon Trail - twice

In 1850, Richard Evans took the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley, Oregon, where he located the land he would later claim, in Linn County, on the banks of the Willamette River. In 1851 he traveled on the Oregon Trail back to Iowa and his family. In 1852, Richard, already a grandfather, brought his family and many cousins and friends with him, over the Oregon Trail for the fourth time, to arrive in Oregon Territory in September of 1852, and claim their homesteads. In traveling 2, 170 miles round trip - twice, in order to explore his future farm, Richard had plenty of company. It was not unusual for family men to scout out their land in Oregon before bringing their family on the arduous journey. They were aware that many of the pamphlets touting the advantages of Oregon Territory were written by people with financial motivations to bring settlers to Oregon. Their writings exaggerated the benefits and minimized the dangers of claiming a farm at the end of the Oregon Trail. These family men wanted to see the trail and their potential farmland before bringing their families on the perilous journey.

Tragedy on the Oregon Trail

The journey was successful, until they reached the Powder River, which was the eastern border of Oregon Territory. While crossing the river, which had divided into two sections, the wagon that carried Nancy Evans ran into quicksand. She fell into the river as the wagon overturned, and she drowned. The family decided to travel a days journey to Round Valley, where they buried their wife, their mother. We know of this because of the questions on the Domain Land claim application, about married status.^[11]

Arrived in Oregon September 1852

The 1852 Iowa State Census record shows Richard Evans is in Wapello County, Iowa in 1852,^[12] the same year he appears in Linn County, Oregon on 17 September.^[13]

Richard Evans was involved in the westward expansion of the USA (Oregon Trail). See Trails and Wagon Trains.

304 acres on the Willamette River

Richard Evans claimed 304.57 acres of land under the Donation Land Claim Act, claim #RB1347, patented in BLM records on Mar 19, 1874, BLM #ORRAA 011447.

Married a second time

Richard Evans, widower, married Sarah Shepherd, widow, on 20 Aug 1854, in Linn County, Oregon. Sarah and her (deceased) husband Thomas had a joint land claim for Donation Land Claim #RB 1561, for which the amended DLC law gave fully vested rights to widows, so together Richard and Sarah had over 600 acres of farm land.

Death and Will

Sarah Shepherd Evans passed away on 11 Jul 1872.^[14] She was laid to rest in Pine Grove Cemetery, Peoria, Linn, Oregon, where three of Richard's children had been laid to rest. Richard and Sarah were married eighteen years before they were parted by death.

Richard Evans left a will, which was submitted to probate court 11 Nov 1872 by his close friend and executor, Jacob Thompson. Richard named as his first heir, his granddaughter Mary Westfall, bequeathing her $400 (~over $17,000 today). He left the same amount to his other three surviving grandchildren, the children of David Evans, and he split the rest of the estate equally between Mary Ann (Evans) Sherrill and Edward Evans. (David Evans having already died in 1860, back in Iowa.) The executor was also to be paid a fair amount, of ^[15]

Richard Evans passed away on 3 Nov 1872, about four months after the death of his wife Sarah, and was laid to rest beside Sarah.^[16]

A Productive Life

Richard Evans contributed to the development and prosperity of three frontier counties in his lifetime: Lawrence County, Indiana from 1818 to 1846, building sawmills and farming; Wapello County, Iowa from 1846 to 1852, farming; and Linn County, Oregon, from 1852 to his death in 1872, farming and running a ferry. When Richard claimed his 304 acre homestead in Linn County, in 1852, he signed with an X -- he was not able to read or write. Of the thousands of land claims in Oregon, a large number were signed the same - with an X. It was common for people like Richard, who grew up on the Kentucky frontier, to not have the benefit of schooling. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable when we realize that he did it all without the advantage of literacy.

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Sources

1. ↑ 1850 United States Federal Census
2. ↑ War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815
3. ↑ War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815
4. ↑ Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892, database on-line
5. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions, B. F. Bowen & co. 1914, page 61
6. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions, B. F. Bowen & co. 1914, page 180
7. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions, B. F. Bowen & co. 1914, page 180
8. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions, B. F. Bowen & co. 1914, page 176
9. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions, B. F. Bowen & co. 1914, page 75
10. ↑ Ancestry.com. Iowa Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1838-70, for 1846 citing Richard Evans.
11. ↑ Oregon Donation Land Claim No. 1347 (Roseburg Office)
12. ↑ Ancestry.com. Iowa Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1838-70 database on-line
13. ↑ Richard Evans record at Oregon State Archives of Early Oregonians' (see record of his son Edward, son-in-law James Sherrill, etc to see when the whole family arrived: 1852).
14. ↑ Early Oregonian database at the State of Oregon Archives
15. ↑ Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1849-1963
16. ↑ memorial page for Richard Evans (3 Oct 1798–3 Nov 1872), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76168570,

• Ancestry.com. War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: War of 1812 Pension Applications. Washington D.C.: National Archives. NARA Microfilm Publication M313, 102 rolls. Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group Number 15.

• Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp.. Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original Source: Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, Microfilm: 1317624 item 3 & 1317625 [30 Aug 1818; Richard Evans and Nancy Ann Toone]

• 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Lawrence, Indiana; Page: 99; NARA Roll: M33_14; Image: 136

• Ancestry.com. History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions. [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions.. Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914. pages 61, 75, 114, 175, 180,

• Year: 1830; Census Place: Lawrence, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 26; Page: 85; Family History Library Film: 0007715

• Year: 1840; Census Place: Lawrence, Indiana; Roll: 86; Page: 180; Family History Library Film: 0007727

• Ancestry.com. Iowa Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1838-70 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes. 1846 tax list citing Richard Evans, page 34.

• Ancestry.com. Iowa, U.S., State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data:Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest. Citing Richard Evans, in Wapello county, in 1847.

• Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Year: 1850; Census Place: District 13, Wapello, Iowa; Roll: M432_189; Page: 447B; Image: 414

• Ancestry.com. Iowa Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1838-70 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes. Citing Iowa State Census Richland Township Wapello County, 1852; Richard Evans, page 8.

• Notification No. 2189, 28th April, 1853; Title: Oregon Donation Land Claim No. 1347 (Roseburg Office), Note: states in part "and he further says that Nance Ann Evans his late wife died on Powder river on the Road to Oregon 23 Aug. 1852". copy in possession of author. Repository information: BLM Oregon/Washington State Office.

• Richard Evans record at Oregon State Archives of Early Oregonians, citing date of arrival in Oregon Territory: Sep 1850. [Richard traveled to Oregon to secure the early DLC benefits, traveled back to Iowa, and brought them to Oregon in 1852. Oregon lists only the earliest known date of an Early Oregonia

• "United States Western States Marriage Index", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZKC-DWP : 19 October 2018), Richard Evans and Sarah Shepherd, 1854.

• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDQK-42B : 18 February 2021), Richard Evens, 1860. Richard and his new wife Sarah are foster parents for Mary Ann Kyniston, age 15, and her brother Edwin (aka Edward) Kyniston, age 14, in this census record.

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF8B-DKB : 29 May 2021), Richard Evans, 1870. [Richard and Sarah are at home, just the two of them in this census record. Mary Ann Kyniston is next door -- she married Richard's son Edward.]

• Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1849-1963 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Oregon County, District and Probate Courts. Richard Evans left a will, submitted to probate on 11 Nov 1872. His estate was executed by the terms of his will, by his close friend, Jacob Thompson.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76168508/sarah-evans: accessed 26 September 2022), memorial page for Sarah Shepherd Evans (17 Jul 1818–11 Jul 1872), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76168508, citing Pine Grove Cemetery, Peoria, Linn County, Oregon, USA; Maintained by Indigo Falls (contributor 46887827) . (accessed 26 Sep 2022)

• Find a Grave, database and images accessed 22 September 2022, memorial page for Richard Evans (3 Oct 1798–3 Nov 1872), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76168570, citing Pine Grove Cemetery, Peoria, Linn County, Oregon, USA; Maintained by Indigo Falls (contributor 46887827) .