Lucas-Washington-Mahaska County IA Archives Biographies.....Evans, John Putnam 1846 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 6:42 pm

Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

JOHN PUTNAM EVANS, general foreman and assistant trainmaster for the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company at Chariton, Iowa, and a man whose genuine
worth entitles him to the highest regard of his many friends and acquaintances,
is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Hamilton county, on the 7th
of October, 1846. He is one of the eight children of Samuel W. and Jane (Diller)
Evans, of whom six are yet living. One brother, Samuel W., died in the army. He
enlisted in the One Hundred and First Indiana Infantry and was killed at the
battle of Chattanooga, thus giving his life for the country and the cause which
he loved. The father was a native of Brown county, Ohio, born in 1813, and was a
tailor by trade. He followed that trade in early life and also traveled
extensively. He was married in Indiana, in March, 1843, and then resumed work at
tailoring and at school-teaching, spending several years in this manner. He then
engaged in the sawmill business until 1864, when he sold out and removed to
Iowa, locating in Brighton, Washington county, where he has since made his home.
He is an earnest, energetic man, of great force of character, uncommonly well
informed and a man of strong political convictions. He was for many years a
noted political speaker and wielded a powerful influence in support of whatever
he believed to be right. The paternal grandfather of our subject, John Evans,
was born in New Jersey and lived to the age of eighty-nine years, while his wife
reached the advanced age of ninety-eight years. Their remote ancestry were
natives of Wales and emigrated to this country prior to the Revolutionary war.

   John P. Evans spent his boyhood in the State of his nativity, and at the age
of eighteen started out in life for himself. He was first employed in a sawmill
by his uncle and during the year of his service there earned the lumber used in
the construction of his father's fine residence. He early developed an interest
in machinery and for a time ran a stationary engine in a flouring mill in
Washington county, Iowa, after which he became the engineer in a large factory
in Oskaloosa. His connection with the railroad began on his removal from
Oskaloosa to Burlington, where he secured a position as a locomotive fireman on
the Burlington & Missouri Railroad. Not long afterward he was promoted to the
position of engineer and sent to Red Oak, running from that place on the
Burlington & Missouri Railroad for six years. He was then removed to Creston,
Iowa, and ran from that place until the fall of 1882, when he was transferred to
Chariton and appointed locomotive foreman, having charge of all the men in the
motive-power department at Chariton and on all the Chariton branches. This
position he has since held, and the confidence which his employers repose in him
was shown by the fact that in 1890 an added responsibility was placed on his
shoulders by his appointment as trainmaster, having charge of the trainmen on
the road and switchmen in the yards for the St. Joseph branch, of 146 miles, the
Grant City branch of fifty miles, the Indianola branch of thirty-three miles and
of the yards at Chariton. Mr. Evans began in a humble position and by steady
advances has worked his way upward to the position of responsibility which he
to-day fills.

   It is a well known fact that with the large railroad corporations no
unfaithfulness or inefficiency will be tolerated, and that only fidelity to duty
and competent service wins promotion. His long continuance with the road and his
promotion is therefore the highest testimonial that could be given of Mr. Evans'
loyalty to the company's interests. He thoroughly understands the business which
he is called upon to superintend, and can therefore intelligently direct his
men, whose confidence and respect he has in a high degree. During his fourteen
years' service as an engineer he never ran through but one switch, a fact of
which he may well be proud. At the time of General Grant's return from his trip
around the world, Mr. Evans was in charge of the engine which pulled his train
from Omaha to Creston, and which had been decorated for the occasion at an
expense of $300. While running from Red Oak Mr. Evans distinguished himself by
an act of heroism which will never be forgotten, saving the life of a little
child at the risk of his own. While making the run down the road at the rate of
thirty miles an hour, he saw what he first supposed was an animal upon the
track, but soon the suspicion flashed upon him that it was a little child that
was playing between the rails all unconcious of his danger. To save the young
life was his first thought and with such a man to think is to act. Reversing his
engine, he climbed to the front and from the point of the cowcatcher sprang to
the track, dashed forward twenty-one feet, caught the child and started to jump.
He was partially thrown by the engine into a place of safety, while the train
passed on, at the rate of fifteen miles an hour The child, however, was saved,
and a few weeks sufficed to restore Mr. Evans to his usual health, and the brave
man quietly resumed his duty, as though nothing out of the ordinary course had
happened; but such heroic deeds never die and Mr. Evans' heroism is remembered
by many.

   He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Chariton Lodge, No.
63, F. & A. M.; Chariton Chapter and Immanuel Commandery. In his political views
he is a stalwart Republican and is now serving as a member of the City Council
of Chariton. He is public-spirited in an eminent degree, wide-awake to the best
interests of the community in which he makes his home. He is a great lover of
fine horses, and among several fine specimens which he now owns is the young
Ind-cap-i-tee, a colt of rare promise, possessing already exceedingly fine
speeding qualities. In driving he finds one of his chief sources of rest and
recreation.

   Mr. Evans was married August 22, 1871, to Miss Anna E. Clancy, a native of
New York. They have a pleasant home in Chariton, where they live surrounded by a
large circle of warm friends. Mr. Evans has led a busy and useful life, faithful
to all that is entrusted to him, and in all the relations of life he has been
the same honorable, upright gentleman that the citizens to-day know.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896

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