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A. P. EVANS

 

A. P. Evans, who for many years has been numbered among the prominent business men and agriculturists of Taylor county, was one of the early pioneers who settled in Iowa while this state was still under territorial rule.  Born in Illinois, near Chicago, in 1840, he is a son of the Rev. Jesse Evans, a native of Virginia.  The latter was reared and educated in his native state and there wedded Priscilla Cade, who was born in Ohio.  On leaving the Old Dominion, he removed (page 568) to Illinois and in 1840 came to Iowa, locating in Davis county, where he followed farming for a time.  Later he engaged in business in Bloomfield and in 1854 came to Taylor county, establishing the second store in the village of Bedford.  He became a prominent figure in community affairs and was a pioneer preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church in Taylor county.  He served two or more terms as probate judge and also as postmaster of Bedford, taking an active interest in all matters of public moment.  He continued a resident of that village for twenty-five years and then removed to Oregon, where his remaining years were passed.

 

Coming to Iowa in infancy, A. P. Evans was here reared and acquired his education in the common schools of Bedford.  He remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when, hearing and heeding his country's call for aid, he joined the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry as a member of the regimental band in the fall of 1861 and served until discharged on account of disability, the whole band being mustered out in 1862.  Returning to his home he clerked in the post office until 1864, and in that year, deciding to try his fortune in the west, he went to California, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber and also in mining for about four years.  At the expiration of that period he returned east by way of Nicaragua and New York.  After arriving home he clerked in a store in Bedford for some time and then established a hardware store in that village, being engaged in this line of business for about sixteen years.  He was very successful in this undertaking, being accorded a large and lucrative patronage, and he was recognized as one of the leading business men of the town.  In 1886, however, he sold his hardware interests in Bedford and purchased a farm on section 35, Bedford township, where he now makes his home.  He later added to his holdings until at present his home farm consists of four hundred and twenty acres, the property adjoining the Taylor county fair grounds.  He has greatly improved the place, erecting upon it a large and attractive residence and two substantial barns, while he has also set out a fine orchard of fruit trees.  Aside from general farming he devotes much time to the raising and feeding of stock, the high grade of which insures a ready sale upon the market.

 

On the 3d of June, 1869, in Bedford, Mr. Evans was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Fordyce, a daughter of Alfred Fordyce her birth occurring in Pennsylvania, where she was reared and educated.  In their family are two children, namely: Edna V., the wife of B. E. Paschal, a business man of Ingersoll, Oklahoma; and George R., who married Mabel Archer, a daughter of Dr. Archer of Bedford.

 

Mr. Evans still has a large number of friends in Bedford and is well known in financial circles of that town as the vice-president and also a stockholder and director of the Citizens Bank of Bedford.  He is a member of the Baptist church and formerly belonged to the Masonic lodge but was recently demitted.  His political allegiance is given to the republican party, upon which ticket he was elected township trustee and also a member of the city council, and he has been closely identified with school interests for several years.  Coming to Iowa when he had scarcely completed his first year, almost his entire life has been spent in Taylor county, where he has witnessed the work of transformation that has been steadily and rapidly carried on, converting Bedford, which at the time of his arrival consisted of only a few log cabins into a city with all the semblance of a  (page 569) growing and flourishing town.  During his early residence here the people used to take up a collection and hire some one to go to Hawleyville for mail, as a post office had not been established in Bedford.  Mr. Evans brought the first mail directed to the town.  He has at all times borne his full share in the work of improvement and development and is recognized as one of the public-spirited citizens of this community.  Upright and honorable in all of his dealings with his fellowmen, he has gained the confidence, respect and good will of all with whom he has been associated.