JOHN
FLOYD EVANS
JOHN FLOYD
EVANS, farmer, Banks county, Ga., (postoffice, Gillsville, Hall
county), son of David and Mary(Toney) Evans, was born in Jackson county, Ga.,
in 1833. His paternal grandparent,
John Evans, was a native of North Carolina, migrated to Georgia in 1800, and
settled in Franklin county. He was
a farmer and served as a soldier in the patriot army during the revolutionary
war. Mr. Evans' father was born in North Carolina
and was a small child only a year or two old when the family came to Georgia.
He followed farming all his life.
His mother was a daughter of John and Nancy Toney, early settlers in
Franklin county. He served as a wagoner during the revolutionary war .
Mr. Evans was
raised on the farm and received a very limited education at the old-time log
school-house. On reaching manhood
he commenced farming and continued it until the war. In 1862 he enlisted in Company E, Capt. A.T. Bennett, Thirty-fourth
Georgia regiment, and participated with it in all it's campaigns and battles
until the Vicksburg campaign. In that
he was very severely wounded and had to use crutches eighteen months.
When he came home from the war he was very poor and had to borrow meal
for his family. But he bravely met the emergency, went to work
earnestly, worked early and late and saved what money he could. In 1872 he bought his first "patch",
to which he has gradually added until he owns 650 acres; is in comfortable
circumstances and is regarded as one of the most reliable citizens of the
county. He is a justice of the peace and has held the office very many years.
Mr. Evans was
married in 1860 to Miss Mary A(born in Mississippi in 1845), daughter of James
and Saltania(Brooks)Bell. He was born
in Hall county, was a well-to-do farmer and moved to Mississippi, where he
died. Of the children which blessed
this union three survive; Erastus P., James and Sandy F. Mr. and Mrs. Evans are devoted members of the
Baptist church.
Source: Memoirs of Georgia, Volume I, Southern Historical
Association, 1895
Copy and Copyright 2003 by Jacqueline King
