Bios.Tulsa,OK EVANS, Joseph H. 
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Posted by Jacque Hopkins Wolski on Fri, 30 Oct 1998
Surname: EVANS, KISER, DONALDSON
JOSEPH H. EVANS
Vol. 3, p. 1209-1210 
From his youth to the present time Mr. EVANS has been closely and prominently identified with the oil industry, of which he first became a representative in his native State of Pennsylvania, and during a period of virtually forty years he has continued a prominent and influential figure in the developing of oil and gas fields in different sections of the Union, his long experience having made him a recognized authority in this line of industrial enterprise of which he has become one of the prominent and successful exponents in Oklahoma. Mr. EVANS has been concerned with the development of important and extensive oil and gas enterprises in Oklahoma since 1904, and has the distinction of having been the first person to initiate operations in the practical exploiting of the natural-gas fields of this state. He is one of the progressive, well known and highly esteemed citizens of Tulsa, in which city he maintains his business headquarters at 11 1/2 South Main Street, and his residence at 410 South Denver Street. He is first vice president of the Devonian Oil Company, with headquarters in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he was one of the organizers of the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, of which he is first vice president, his holdings in connection with oil and gas development work in Oklahoma being of broad scope and importance. 
Joseph H. EVANS was born in the Village of President, Venango County, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of May, 1851, and is a son of John and Mary (KISER) EVANS, the former of whom was born at Courtney, Washington County, that state, and the latter at Elk City, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. The father died in 1867, at the age of fifty-five years, and his widow attained to the age of seventy-two years. Of the eleven children four are living, the subject of this review having been the sixth in order of birth. John EVANS was a representative of a family early founded in Pennsylvania, and the lineage traces back to sterling Welsh origin. He became a successful farmer and lumberman in the old Keystone State, where for many years he operated a sawmill and manufactured lumber upon a substantial scale, besides having been the owner of a well improved farm. In politics he was aligned with the whig party until the organization of the republican party, when he transferred his allegiance to the latter, of the principles and policies of which he thereafter continued a staunch advocate. 
Joseph H. EVANS gained his early education in the public schools at Snydersburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and at the age of sixteen years he found employment as a teamster in the hauling of oil products from wells in the field about Shamburg, Venango County, that state, where later he assisted in the operation of the oil pumps and the dressing of tools. In 1871, at the age of twenty years, Mr. EVANS engaged in contracting for the putting down of oil wells, and after devoting his attention to independent operations in this enterprise about one year in Pennsylvania, he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in which city he obtained a position as a timber cruiser for one of the leading companies engaged in lumbering operations in that state. In this capacity he made extended trips of inspection through the wilds of Northern Minnesota, along the course of the Mississippi River and as far north as Lake Itasca. He thus gained much experience in connection with pioneer lumbering operations in the Gopher State, where he continued his services as a cruiser and inspector until 1876. In this, the Centennial year, he returned for a visit to the old home of his mother, at Elk City, Pennsylvania, and there resumed his association with oil operations. In that year he put down, on the farm of his maternal grandfather, Joseph KISER, the first oil well in that locality. This well gave a production of 125 barrels a day and the output was placed on the market at prices ranging from $3.50 to $4.25 a barrel. In 1877 Mr. EVANS removed to Bradford, McKean County, that state, where he continued to be identified with the drilling of oil wells and the developing of the oil fields in the vicinity of Lima, Ohio, but in the following year he returned to Pennsylvania and established his residence in the City of Beaver, the judicial center of the county of the same name. In 1891 Mr. EVANS became one of the organizers of the Devonian Oil Company, at Pittsburgh, and was made the first secretary of the company upon its incorporation. Of this position he continued the incumbent until 1909, since which time he has served as first vice president of the company, the operations of which have been of large and important order. As an active executive and practical authority Mr. EVANS assisted in the driving of wells and the developing of the oil business for this company in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with headquarters in the City of Pittsburgh, where he continued to maintain his residence until the spring of 1904, when he came to Oklahoma Territory and established his residence at Tulsa. He has been one of the able and influential pioneers in the developing of the excellent and valuable oil and natural-gas fields of Oklahoma, and was the very first to initiate the development of natural gas within the borders of the present state, as intimated in the opening paragraph of this article. This notable work was accomplished by his opening of the gas well in the Hogshoot District, in Washington County, from which locality the gas was piped to the City of Muskogee. In 1905 Mr. EVANS here organized the Caney River Gas Company, and in 1907, the year that marked the admission of the state to the Union, he organized the Oklahoma National Gas Company, of which he has since served as first vice president. This corporation has extensive and valuable holdings and its producing properties are among the best in the Southwest. At Tulsa Mr. EVANS is a director of the Exchange National Bank and vice president of the McEwen Manufacturing Company, which represents one of the important industrial enterprises of the city. 
In politics Mr. EVANS has never swerved in his allegiance to the republican party, and though he is liberal and loyal in all that makes for good citizenship he is essentially a man of business and has had no predilection for the honors or emoluments of public office or for participation in the turbulence of so called practical politics. Mr. EVANS has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity since 1874, when he became an entered apprentice in Sherburne County Lodge, No. 96, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Elk River, Minnesota, a lodge in which he remained until after being raised to Master Mason. In the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he retains his affiliation with Pittsburgh Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, and with the consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he has received the thirty-second degree. 
In June, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. EVANS to Miss Jennie M. DONALDSON, who was born in the State of New York, and they have two children -- Harry C. and May D. 
Transcribed by Jacque Hopkins Wolski on 10-29-98