A. S. J. Evans, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************

A. S. J. Evans, of West Feliciana parish, in the vicinity of St. Mary's, on the Oakland
plantation, resides on one of the finest plantations in the parish.  It is one of the oldest
settled places, having been entered from the Spanish government by Samuel Hutchinson; then it
was purchased by the grandfather of our subject, Nathaniel Evans, who was a native of Ireland
and came to the United States about 1798.  He landed in New York city, where he became
connected with the United States army, coming to Fort Adams, Miss., with General Wilkinson's
army, where he remained for two years.  He then moved to West Feliciana parish, where he
remained until his death, which occurred in 1819 when he was forty-four years of age.  He was
also connected with the commissary department.  He was elected to the legislature from this
parish, and was president of the Feliciana bank at St. Francisville.  He was an ardent
supporter of the Federal party, and was a man of considerable educational ability.  He was a
member of the Episcopal church.  He owned a large amount of property, consisting of several
plantations.  His wife, the grandmother of our subject, was Miss Sarah Spencer, the daughter of
Col. Oliver Spencer, of New Jersey and an old Revolutionary soldier, in which war he held the
rank of a colonel, and Anna Ogden of the old New Jersey family of Ogden.  Colonel Spencer
settled in Cincinnati, where he died.  His daughter, Sarah Spencer, survived her husband a
number of years, dying some time in the fifties, at the age of seventy-five years.  They were
the parents of three children who grew up.  The father of our subject, John N., was the second
child.  Francis Evans lived, and died on his plantation near that of our subject, in 1873,
leaving several children.  Mrs. Cornelia De Hart was the wife of John De Hart, a sugar planter
and the captain of a steamboat on the Tech.. She died in St. Mary's parish in 1880, leaving
four children, one daughter of whom married but who is now deceased, leaving at her death one
son, Dr. Robert McNair, now of Philadelphia, Penn., where he is engaged in the practice of his
profession.  The father of our subject was born in 1809 at Fort Adams, Miss., and with his
parents came to the place where our subject at present lives.  He came here in 1811 and passed
the remainder of his days here, engaged in planting, stockraising, etc.  He was educated at a
college in Cincinnati, after having attended private schools of the Pinckneyville neighborhood.
After leaving college in Cincinnati he went to Exeter, N. H., where he attended school for
about three years, taking a special course and becoming well versed in Greek and Latin.  On
returning home, he settled down to plantation life, and was the inventor of the "Evans Land
Level" and of several agricultural implements.  He was very energetic and became well to do,
owning many slaves and several large tracts of land.  Before the war he was a whig and in 1880
became a Douglas democrat.  The only office he ever accepted was that of president of the
police jury, which he held for a number of year.  He was a Union man until the state adopted
the ordinance of secession, when he took sides with his people.  He was a believer in the
Christian religion, though not a member of any church.  While he had the means he was very
charitable, always having a ready hand for the poor and needy.  He was also a liberal supporter
of all public enterprises of merit.  He was a man of original ideas.  Personally he was of a
noble, commanding appearance; he had a large, full, open countenance, blue eyes, large broad
forehead and weighed about 150 pounds.  He was strongly opposed to the lottery company, and was
president of a local organization formed for the purpose of suppressing the evil, as he termed
it.  He died on the 4th day of November, 1890.  He was first married to Miss Mary Chandler, of
West Feliciana parish, by whom he had three children who survived him: Rev. Frank Evans, of
Donaldsonville, La., and Mrs. Connelia Evans, who married her cousin John Evans, and Mr.,
Corrinne, the wife of Edward McGehee, of this parish.  The mother of these children died in
1854 and Mr. Evans married Miss Marian Darcy, a native of New York city, where she lived a
short time, coming then to New Orleans, where she was reared.  She was educated at
Crawfordsville, Ind., and is now living with the subject of this notice.  She is a member of
the Presbyterian church and is a lady of fine attainment, and is highly educated.  To this
union there were born four children, two of whom survive: our subject and a younger brother,
Eugene A. Evans, both of whom live on the home place, engaged in planting, stockraising, etc.
The two deceased were Margaret and Estelle, both of whom died when young. Mr. Evans and his
brother are both unmarried and live with their mother.  They enjoy a pleasant home, which is
surrounded by a grove of beautiful oaks, magnolias and walnuts. The brothers are members of the
Anti-Lottery league, of which our subject is the secretary from the Seventh and Eighth wards.
Our subject is a member of the parish school board.  Politically he is a democrat.  He is a
member of the Presbyterian, and ha brother of the Episcopal church.  They are regarded as
honorable, upright citizens and enjoy the respect of their neighbors.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), pp. 404-405.  Published by the
Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.