Biographical Sketch of Hon. Ellis G. Evans, Crawford County, Missouri >From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888. ********************************************************************** Hon. Ellis G. Evans, well known to the citizens of Missouri, and especially of the southeastern portion of the State, is deserving of honorable mention in the present volume, as the following necessarily brief sketch of his life will indicate. Born in St. Francois County, MO., July 10, 1824, he was the third of eight children of William and Mahala (George) Evans, natives, respectively, of Tennessee and Virgin- ia. The former came to Missouri in 1802 with his maternal grandmother Mrs. Sarah (Barton) Murphy, who, it may be mentioned, taught the first Sunday School west of the Mississippi River; she was a woman of rare natural instincts and force of character, and after the sudden death of her husband, Rev. William Murphy, a Baptist minister, brought her family, slaves, possessiions, etc., to this then Territory of Louis- iana, and settled on land which Mr. Murphy had previously purchased from the Spanish Government. Her arrival was on June 12, 1802, at which time Roman Catholicism was the only religion tolerated, but in 1803 free privileges were secured, and she offered the first public prayer in this vicinity. She was the aunt of David Barton, Missouri's first United States Senator, and was president of the first constitu- tional convention of Missouri. The grandfather of Ellis G. Evans, Thomas George, was a zealous worker of the Methodist faith, and an enthusiastic Christian, often shouting. His two children were Rhoda and Mahala, the latter of whom married William Evans July 27, 1818. He (William) was an agriculturist and farmed until engaging in the milling business with his father-in-law. It was on the site of this mill, known now as Big River Mills, that Ellis was born, receiving his primary school instruction from his father, a man of high moral stand- ing, and who occasionally taught school for the community. When eight- een years of age he commenced to learn the carpenter's trade, first at Farmington and afterward at St. Louis, in which city he cast his first vote. He has since worked at his trade in various places in the State. In 1851 he opened a general store at Steelville, which, after being conducted under different firm names, was discontinued in 1857. Sub- sequently he followed his trade until the outbreak of the war, in the meantime having erected several buildings of importance at St. James, where, on the occasion of the arrival of the first train, he was chosen to present a flag to its conductor. While at Steelville he assisted in building up the Steelville Academy (belonging to the Cumberland Presby- terian Church), and was made trustee and secretary of the board. August 20, 1850, Mr. Evans was married to Miss Emily M. Treece, daughter of Jacob Treece and Martha, nee Bail, natives, respectively, of Pennsyl- vania and Ohio. Four children blessed this union: Eugene A., married Miss Lellie K. Simpson, and now resides at Springfield, MO; Horace Dell of St. Louis, recently married Miss Annie Towl, of Annapolis, MO. and is now postal clerk on the fast train from St. Louis to Kansas City; Inez and Lettie, the two daughters, reside at home with their father, who located in Cuba in 1862, soon after which he was appointed post- master of that place. He was also made commercial agent, and later deputy United States assessor for this division, and when a draft was ordered he was appointed on the enrolling board, and also deputy pro- vost marshal. In 1864 he was elected a delegate to the State Constitu- tional Convention, represented the Twenty-second Senatorial District, and aided very materially in framing a constitution (elsewhere refer- red to) which was adopted by a vote of the people at the suceeding election. Subsequently he was appointed aid-de-camp of the staff of Gov. Fletcher, was paymaster of the militia with the rank of major, and in 1866 he was nominated by the Republicans and elected State Sen- ator, representing the same district (Twenty-second) for four years. During his term of service he was mainly instrumental in defeating the project of locating the agricultural college at Columbia, until the projectors agreed that a branch called School of Mines might be located in his district. While the Senate was not in session Mr. Evans was editor-in-chief of the State Times, published at Jefferson City. Soon after leaving there (owing to the owner of the paper having bolted the Republican nominations) he was appointed register of the United States land office, at Boonville, serving nearly four years. In 1874 he lost the use of a lower limb by paralysis, supposed to have been caused by injury of the spine from a fall, and early in the following year the other leg began to weaken, the result of which was that, despite medi- cal treatment, he has been a confirmed cripple since July, 1875, and is obliged to use a wheel chair as a means of locomotion. Although the crash of 1873-74 ruined him financially he is never idle, and for sev- eral years he has been United States commissioner, notary public, land agent, etc., acting in these different capacities with a care and judiciousness reflecting no little credit on his business ability. Since his afflictioin numerous acquaintances have show their sympathies in various ways; his sons have nobly assisted him, but his greatest protector was a devoted wife, who was given the postoffice at Cuba and served the people with great acceptability, giving universal satisfac- tion, until, in a change of administration, a voter claimed the office as a supporter of Cleveland, and she was removed, notwithstanding the protests of the most prominent Democrats in the community. On Monday, December 27, 1886, while attending to her household duties, Mrs. Evans was the victim of a most distressing accident, which resulted fatally. Her clothing catching fire in an unusual manner, she was soon enveloped in flames, and died the same night after intense suffering. She was a lady of kind heart and excellent judgement, and loved by every aquain- tance, and the many expressions of sympathy upon her untimely death warmly attested the strong friendships held by her in life. As indica- ted, Mr. Evas has always been a stanch Republican. He became a news- paper correspondent before he was of age, and has had considerable experience in the journalistic field besides the enterprises referred to. In 1876 he was editor of the Rolla Eagle, and also wrote for the Carthage Banner, when it started as a daily. He has ever advecated advance measures in all things, supporting the measures of female suf- frage and negro suffrage. He is a strong Prohibitionist, never used liquor or tobacco himself, and in religion is a Methodist, to which church he has belonged for forty-five years, and is now (March, 1888) a layman delegate to the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which is being held at Sedalia. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================