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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Mrs.
Joanna Valentine Evans The
name of this estimable lady is a familiar sound to the people in Washington and
surrounding Townships, and the brief record of her life outlined in the
following paragraphs will doubtless be read with interest by many friends and
acquaintances who have learned to prize her for her beautiful character and
useful life, which has been as an open book in which there are no pages marred
or soiled by conduct unbecoming true womanhood, and whose influence has always
made for the good of the large circle of friends with whom she has associated. Mrs.
Evans was born on January 28, 1839, in Warren County, Pennsylvania,
the daughter of Edmund and Hannah Valentine, her father a native of Pennsylvania
and her mother of New York. Mr.
Valentine grew up in Pennsylvania and there engaged in the lumber business,
working in the timber many years, cutting, rafting and sawing.
He is now deceased. The
daughter Joanna grew up and was educated in Pennsylvania and she was married in
Warren County, that state, on June 3, 1855 at Enterprise, to George Evans, who
was born March 21, 1828, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and there he grew to
manhood and when young followed teaming in the town of Franklin. The week after his marriage he and his bride moved to Henry
County, Illinois, locating in the town of Cambridge and there farmed in the edge
of town for three years; then Mr. Evans managed a hotel in the town of Atkinson,
Illinois, for several years. Later
he teamed for different companies in Geneseo, that state.
He hauled telegraph poles for the Rock Island Railroad Company when they
built through Iowa. In 1875 he and his wife came to Polk County, Iowa, and
conducted a hotel in the town of Mitchellville for a year, and also followed
teaming there. The next year
he bought one hundred and fifty-three acres in Washington Township, Jasper
County, and moved to the same. Although he had to pay seventeen per cent
interest on the money with which he paid for the land and met with various
drawbacks, he persevered and succeeded, living on the place ten years.
Then he bought three hundred and twenty acres in Washington Township,
just west of the city of Colfax, for which he paid twenty-six dollars per acre.
It is now worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
He met with increasing success as a general farmer and stock raiser.
He always kept a great number of dairy cows and made large quantities of
butter. He established a pleasant home and left a comfortable competency. Mr. Evans was a Democrat, but he was not an aspirant for public office. He was a man whom everybody liked, being sociable, honorable and neighborly. His death occurred on March 4, 1905. Seven
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Evans, named as follows: Mrs. Mary De
Long, Mrs. Georgia Rose. Mrs. Mattie Rose, Mrs. Lou Stonehawker, Mrs. Ida
Stamper, John and Fred. The youngest son, Fred, lives with his mother on the
home place and has the active management of the entire farm, successfully
carrying out the plans inaugurated there by his father.
They have gone extensively into butter making during the past few years.
During the year 1910 they made two tons and eight hundred pounds from
their cows. They have a separator
and churn run by gasoline engine, in fact, have every modern convenience about
the place. Fred
Evans is a progressive, energetic and capable young farmer, for whom the future
promises much. He attended school in Colfax, but has been managing the home
place since 1901. He is a Democrat,
a member of the Eagles Lodge and the Improved Order of Red Men. He was married on May 24, 1905, to Mary Carroll, who was born
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, the daughter of John Carroll, a railroader. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 741. |
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