William Fox Evans was born on January 15, 1831, in Pulaski County, Kentucky, his father, Josiah Evans, was 43 and his mother, Kizziah, was 29. He married Josephine (Graham) Evans on July 16, 1852, in Lincoln, Kentucky. They had two children during their marriage, Jennie Evans Farris and Robert Graham Evans. He died on December 9, 1889, at his home a farm in Boyle County, Kentucky, at the age of 53, and was buried there in the Danville or Bellevue Cemetery as it is known.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky,/10 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
Mrs. J. E. Farris and Mrs. G. C. Keller, Jr. went to Danville yesterday, called thither by a dispatch saying that Mr. W. F. Evans, who hag been suffering with abscess of the liver, ' wag sinking very fast and death was but a question of a short time. He is a splendid citizen and his loss will be felt in all this section.-Interior Journal.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 13 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 5
DEATHS
Col. Wm. F. Evans died at his home, in the western suburbs of Danville, at 12:30 o'clock Monday afternoon, after an illness of several weeks. Col. Evans illness was contracted during a recent visit to the West, where he had large and valuable interests. His illness was not thought to be of a serious nature when he was first taken down, but it gradually developed, and even then his friends hoped that his naturally strong constitution would enable him to recover. All that loving hands and fond friends and relatives could do did not keep that terror to all of the living death from claiming him and casting gloom and sorrow over a fond wife, a loving daughter, and a devoted son, who, in their grief, have the undivided sympathy of the entire community.
Col. Wm. F. Evans was born January 15, 1831, in Pulaski county. He was raised on a farm and educated in the Western Military Institute, at New Castle. In this institution he and the Hon. Jas. G. Blaine were teachers for a year or more. He was a man of broad reading and exceptionally line literary attainments, being a well versed and well read all-around scholar in English literature and the classics. When only ten years old he went to Missouri with his mother and they lived in the first house built on the present Bite of St. Louis. Five years later he returned to Lincoln county. On July 16, 1852, at Crab Orchard, he married Josephine Graham, daughter of the late R. W. Graham, and to them were born two children, Jennie now the wife of Mr. M. J. Farris and Robert Graham Evans, all of whom survive him. Col. Evans was a successful business man and during his life amassed a handsome estate. A poor boy, by his own pluck and business sense he became rich. He was a kind and indulgent father, a charitable gentleman, and in his death the county and State have lost a valuable citizen. In 1865, Col. Evans moved to this county, having purchased the beautiful tract of land upon which he died. Since making Boyle county his home he has been largely interested in live stock, but during the last years of his life he gave his attention to larger business transactions. Col. Evans was a member of the Baptist church and contributed largely to its support. No object of charity, if it was deserving of assistance, ever asked of him and was refused. The many deeds of kindness which he did will never be known in this unappreciative world, but they will shine like jewels in that one which sets this one right. In this great and irreparable loss which his family and large circle of friends have sustained, there is no consolation which this world can give, but an all-wise Providence, who notes even the fall of the sparrow, will bind up the broken heart. The funeral will take place Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the family residence. Burial in the Danville cemetery.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 17 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
The-will of the late Col. W. F. Evans was probated Monday with Messrs. R. G. Evans and M. J. Farris as executors of the same. The first provision of the will is for his wife, to whom he bequeaths fifty thousand dollars. Next he bequeaths to his son, Robert Graham Evans, the farm he lived upon at the time of his death, valued at forty-one thousand dollars. . Next he bequeaths to his daughter, Jennie, wife of M. J. Farris, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars in trust, Mr. M. J. Farris being the trustee, this sum to go to the child or children surviving her. In addition to this sum, she was given six thousand absolutely, making an amount equivalent to forty-one thousand dollars, equal to the value of R. G. Evans' farm. In addition to this, $6,883.20, amounts owed to her, in consideration of which he surrenders to her notes of her husband, M. J. Farris, equal to eleven thousand dollars, the amount that had been advanced to Robt. G.Evans. The residue of the estate is divided between the son and daughter. Col. Evans' estate will amount to between one hundred and seventy-five and two hundred thousand dollars. The will was dated Dec. 1, '89, with W, C. Price and J. S. Roberts as witnesses.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 20 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 7
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Late W. F. Evans.
We publish with pleasure the following tribute to the memory of the late Col. W. F. Evans, who died at his home in this county on the 9th inst., mention of whose death was made in our issue of the 10th. The writer was one of his most intimate friends, and knows whereof he speaks.
Death has again invaded our community and has hit "a shining mark." Col. W. F. Evans, one our most wealthy, large-hearted, broad-minded, useful and honored citizens has fallen. He was born in Pulaski county, Ky., January 15th, 1831. His early life was spent on the farm, but his later studies were prosecuted in the Western Military Institute, then located at New Castle, Ky., where he acquired a liberal English and classical education. July 16th, 1852, he was married to Miss Josephine Graham, who, with two children, survive him. He was a man well qualified by nature to fill successfully any calling or profession which he might have chosen, but his retiring disposition sought and enjoyed most the quiet pursuits of agriculture. It is scarcely worth while to say that in this he was successful, as we have already said he would have succeeded in any calling which he might have chosen.
Recognizing while but a youth the advantages which culture of the mind brings to the aid of mature years, he availed himself of the best opportunities at his command, and under the tuition and companionship of such men as Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson and James G. Blaine, he laid the foundations of scholarship and taste for general reading which qualified him in after life to practically apply or test the theory of any proposition which presented itself plausibly to his mind. He undertook nothing without having first mapped out mentally the general plan of the work. Then, like a General handling an army, or an engineer in the field, his details were all arranged before the action was precipitated, and he seldom deflected his lines except in the face of unforeseen difficulties. He neglected no detail and overlooked no contingency. He was careful in preparation and prompt in execution, patient in council and cautious in conclusion. His attention to details often appeared to small minds as timid or hypercritical, but to those in his confidence it was the separate parts of a general plan. His motto, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well" was closely followed and his rule was to do nothing by proxy which he could better do in person. These qualities made him not only valuable in council but an associate to be desired.
He was true to his friends but wasted little time on his enemies, if he had any, for he neither persecuted or pursued any one with malice. He desired to make money, not to hoard, but to enjoy it. He was penurious in nothing. He owned one of the finest farms in the county, in the development and improvement of which he took great delight, and toward which most of his energies were directed in the last few years of his life. His elegant home, supplied with the luxuries and conveniences which money could command, told of the uses he had for it but not all: his hand was ever open for unostentatious charity, of which he seldom spoke, except to his most intimate menus, among whom it was the privilege of the writer to be reckoned for more than thirty years. With a delicate sense of propriety, he had fitted up a room near his residence for the entertainment of the wayfaring poor, where the worthy recipient might not feel embarrassed by luxurious surroundings, and his family spared the impertinent demands of the professional tramp but none were ever turned away.
He was a man of genial temperament, social disposition, marked for his appreciation of the humorous, with a keen sense of the ridiculous, a varied store of anecdote, broad reading and general in formation; he was a companion delightful for an evening and desirable for a journey.
Had he chosen one of the learned professions he would have found a place near the top. Had he chosen politics, he would have been the peer of many who stood on the topmost rounds of fame. But he persistently refused "all overtures for office, enjoying most his family and farm house, and upon these he centered his best energies and affections.
In early life he tried to build a system upon reason rather than upon faith in the simple gospel plan of salvation, forgetting that a plan suited to all must he simple in its nature, yet his judgment told him that there must be in himself an immortal nature and a future responsibility. Always respectful of public opinion he rarely spoke of his difficulty in this direction, and then more with hope of obtaining light than in a spirit of criticism. Only to his most intimate friends did he speak of his yearnings for a better life and his desire to become a true believer. When he lost confidence in the flesh and rested his hope upon the atonement of the Crucified One, a light shone upon his pathway that reason could not discover. He died possessed of an ample fortune and best of all, in the Christian faith and hope of which he spoke freely and voluntarily during his last illness and his resignation was a surprise, self, for he said "I had always expected to be greatly alarmed at this hour, but if this be death I do not fear it." A host of friends mingle their sympathies and tears with the stricken family.
J. W. P.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky,/10 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
Mrs. J. E. Farris and Mrs. G. C. Keller, Jr. went to Danville yesterday, called thither by a dispatch saying that Mr. W. F. Evans, who hag been suffering with abscess of the liver, ' wag sinking very fast and death was but a question of a short time. He is a splendid citizen and his loss will be felt in all this section.-Interior Journal.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 13 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 5
DEATHS
Col. Wm. F. Evans died at his home, in the western suburbs of Danville, at 12:30 o'clock Monday afternoon, after an illness of several weeks. Col. Evans illness was contracted during a recent visit to the West, where he had large and valuable interests. His illness was not thought to be of a serious nature when he was first taken down, but it gradually developed, and even then his friends hoped that his naturally strong constitution would enable him to recover. All that loving hands and fond friends and relatives could do did not keep that terror to all of the living death from claiming him and casting gloom and sorrow over a fond wife, a loving daughter, and a devoted son, who, in their grief, have the undivided sympathy of the entire community.
Col. Wm. F. Evans was born January 15, 1831, in Pulaski county. He was raised on a farm and educated in the Western Military Institute, at New Castle. In this institution he and the Hon. Jas. G. Blaine were teachers for a year or more. He was a man of broad reading and exceptionally line literary attainments, being a well versed and well read all-around scholar in English literature and the classics. When only ten years old he went to Missouri with his mother and they lived in the first house built on the present Bite of St. Louis. Five years later he returned to Lincoln county. On July 16, 1852, at Crab Orchard, he married Josephine Graham, daughter of the late R. W. Graham, and to them were born two children, Jennie now the wife of Mr. M. J. Farris and Robert Graham Evans, all of whom survive him. Col. Evans was a successful business man and during his life amassed a handsome estate. A poor boy, by his own pluck and business sense he became rich. He was a kind and indulgent father, a charitable gentleman, and in his death the county and State have lost a valuable citizen. In 1865, Col. Evans moved to this county, having purchased the beautiful tract of land upon which he died. Since making Boyle county his home he has been largely interested in live stock, but during the last years of his life he gave his attention to larger business transactions. Col. Evans was a member of the Baptist church and contributed largely to its support. No object of charity, if it was deserving of assistance, ever asked of him and was refused. The many deeds of kindness which he did will never be known in this unappreciative world, but they will shine like jewels in that one which sets this one right. In this great and irreparable loss which his family and large circle of friends have sustained, there is no consolation which this world can give, but an all-wise Providence, who notes even the fall of the sparrow, will bind up the broken heart. The funeral will take place Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the family residence. Burial in the Danville cemetery.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 17 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
The-will of the late Col. W. F. Evans was probated Monday with Messrs. R. G. Evans and M. J. Farris as executors of the same. The first provision of the will is for his wife, to whom he bequeaths fifty thousand dollars. Next he bequeaths to his son, Robert Graham Evans, the farm he lived upon at the time of his death, valued at forty-one thousand dollars. . Next he bequeaths to his daughter, Jennie, wife of M. J. Farris, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars in trust, Mr. M. J. Farris being the trustee, this sum to go to the child or children surviving her. In addition to this sum, she was given six thousand absolutely, making an amount equivalent to forty-one thousand dollars, equal to the value of R. G. Evans' farm. In addition to this, $6,883.20, amounts owed to her, in consideration of which he surrenders to her notes of her husband, M. J. Farris, equal to eleven thousand dollars, the amount that had been advanced to Robt. G.Evans. The residue of the estate is divided between the son and daughter. Col. Evans' estate will amount to between one hundred and seventy-five and two hundred thousand dollars. The will was dated Dec. 1, '89, with W, C. Price and J. S. Roberts as witnesses.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 20 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 7
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Late W. F. Evans.
We publish with pleasure the following tribute to the memory of the late Col. W. F. Evans, who died at his home in this county on the 9th inst., mention of whose death was made in our issue of the 10th. The writer was one of his most intimate friends, and knows whereof he speaks.
Death has again invaded our community and has hit "a shining mark." Col. W. F. Evans, one our most wealthy, large-hearted, broad-minded, useful and honored citizens has fallen. He was born in Pulaski county, Ky., January 15th, 1831. His early life was spent on the farm, but his later studies were prosecuted in the Western Military Institute, then located at New Castle, Ky., where he acquired a liberal English and classical education. July 16th, 1852, he was married to Miss Josephine Graham, who, with two children, survive him. He was a man well qualified by nature to fill successfully any calling or profession which he might have chosen, but his retiring disposition sought and enjoyed most the quiet pursuits of agriculture. It is scarcely worth while to say that in this he was successful, as we have already said he would have succeeded in any calling which he might have chosen.
Recognizing while but a youth the advantages which culture of the mind brings to the aid of mature years, he availed himself of the best opportunities at his command, and under the tuition and companionship of such men as Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson and James G. Blaine, he laid the foundations of scholarship and taste for general reading which qualified him in after life to practically apply or test the theory of any proposition which presented itself plausibly to his mind. He undertook nothing without having first mapped out mentally the general plan of the work. Then, like a General handling an army, or an engineer in the field, his details were all arranged before the action was precipitated, and he seldom deflected his lines except in the face of unforeseen difficulties. He neglected no detail and overlooked no contingency. He was careful in preparation and prompt in execution, patient in council and cautious in conclusion. His attention to details often appeared to small minds as timid or hypercritical, but to those in his confidence it was the separate parts of a general plan. His motto, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well" was closely followed and his rule was to do nothing by proxy which he could better do in person. These qualities made him not only valuable in council but an associate to be desired.
He was true to his friends but wasted little time on his enemies, if he had any, for he neither persecuted or pursued any one with malice. He desired to make money, not to hoard, but to enjoy it. He was penurious in nothing. He owned one of the finest farms in the county, in the development and improvement of which he took great delight, and toward which most of his energies were directed in the last few years of his life. His elegant home, supplied with the luxuries and conveniences which money could command, told of the uses he had for it but not all: his hand was ever open for unostentatious charity, of which he seldom spoke, except to his most intimate menus, among whom it was the privilege of the writer to be reckoned for more than thirty years. With a delicate sense of propriety, he had fitted up a room near his residence for the entertainment of the wayfaring poor, where the worthy recipient might not feel embarrassed by luxurious surroundings, and his family spared the impertinent demands of the professional tramp but none were ever turned away.
He was a man of genial temperament, social disposition, marked for his appreciation of the humorous, with a keen sense of the ridiculous, a varied store of anecdote, broad reading and general in formation; he was a companion delightful for an evening and desirable for a journey.
Had he chosen one of the learned professions he would have found a place near the top. Had he chosen politics, he would have been the peer of many who stood on the topmost rounds of fame. But he persistently refused "all overtures for office, enjoying most his family and farm house, and upon these he centered his best energies and affections.
In early life he tried to build a system upon reason rather than upon faith in the simple gospel plan of salvation, forgetting that a plan suited to all must he simple in its nature, yet his judgment told him that there must be in himself an immortal nature and a future responsibility. Always respectful of public opinion he rarely spoke of his difficulty in this direction, and then more with hope of obtaining light than in a spirit of criticism. Only to his most intimate friends did he speak of his yearnings for a better life and his desire to become a true believer. When he lost confidence in the flesh and rested his hope upon the atonement of the Crucified One, a light shone upon his pathway that reason could not discover. He died possessed of an ample fortune and best of all, in the Christian faith and hope of which he spoke freely and voluntarily during his last illness and his resignation was a surprise, self, for he said "I had always expected to be greatly alarmed at this hour, but if this be death I do not fear it." A host of friends mingle their sympathies and tears with the stricken family.
J. W. P.
William Fox Evans was born on January 15, 1831, in Pulaski County, Kentucky, his father, Josiah Evans, was 43 and his mother, Kizziah, was 29. He married Josephine (Graham) Evans on July 16, 1852, in Lincoln, Kentucky. They had two children during their marriage, Jennie Evans Farris and Robert Graham Evans. He died on December 9, 1889, at his home a farm in Boyle County, Kentucky, at the age of 53, and was buried there in the Danville or Bellevue Cemetery as it is known.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky,/10 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
Mrs. J. E. Farris and Mrs. G. C. Keller, Jr. went to Danville yesterday, called thither by a dispatch saying that Mr. W. F. Evans, who hag been suffering with abscess of the liver, ' wag sinking very fast and death was but a question of a short time. He is a splendid citizen and his loss will be felt in all this section.-Interior Journal.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 13 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 5
DEATHS
Col. Wm. F. Evans died at his home, in the western suburbs of Danville, at 12:30 o'clock Monday afternoon, after an illness of several weeks. Col. Evans illness was contracted during a recent visit to the West, where he had large and valuable interests. His illness was not thought to be of a serious nature when he was first taken down, but it gradually developed, and even then his friends hoped that his naturally strong constitution would enable him to recover. All that loving hands and fond friends and relatives could do did not keep that terror to all of the living death from claiming him and casting gloom and sorrow over a fond wife, a loving daughter, and a devoted son, who, in their grief, have the undivided sympathy of the entire community.
Col. Wm. F. Evans was born January 15, 1831, in Pulaski county. He was raised on a farm and educated in the Western Military Institute, at New Castle. In this institution he and the Hon. Jas. G. Blaine were teachers for a year or more. He was a man of broad reading and exceptionally line literary attainments, being a well versed and well read all-around scholar in English literature and the classics. When only ten years old he went to Missouri with his mother and they lived in the first house built on the present Bite of St. Louis. Five years later he returned to Lincoln county. On July 16, 1852, at Crab Orchard, he married Josephine Graham, daughter of the late R. W. Graham, and to them were born two children, Jennie now the wife of Mr. M. J. Farris and Robert Graham Evans, all of whom survive him. Col. Evans was a successful business man and during his life amassed a handsome estate. A poor boy, by his own pluck and business sense he became rich. He was a kind and indulgent father, a charitable gentleman, and in his death the county and State have lost a valuable citizen. In 1865, Col. Evans moved to this county, having purchased the beautiful tract of land upon which he died. Since making Boyle county his home he has been largely interested in live stock, but during the last years of his life he gave his attention to larger business transactions. Col. Evans was a member of the Baptist church and contributed largely to its support. No object of charity, if it was deserving of assistance, ever asked of him and was refused. The many deeds of kindness which he did will never be known in this unappreciative world, but they will shine like jewels in that one which sets this one right. In this great and irreparable loss which his family and large circle of friends have sustained, there is no consolation which this world can give, but an all-wise Providence, who notes even the fall of the sparrow, will bind up the broken heart. The funeral will take place Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the family residence. Burial in the Danville cemetery.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 17 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
The-will of the late Col. W. F. Evans was probated Monday with Messrs. R. G. Evans and M. J. Farris as executors of the same. The first provision of the will is for his wife, to whom he bequeaths fifty thousand dollars. Next he bequeaths to his son, Robert Graham Evans, the farm he lived upon at the time of his death, valued at forty-one thousand dollars. . Next he bequeaths to his daughter, Jennie, wife of M. J. Farris, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars in trust, Mr. M. J. Farris being the trustee, this sum to go to the child or children surviving her. In addition to this sum, she was given six thousand absolutely, making an amount equivalent to forty-one thousand dollars, equal to the value of R. G. Evans' farm. In addition to this, $6,883.20, amounts owed to her, in consideration of which he surrenders to her notes of her husband, M. J. Farris, equal to eleven thousand dollars, the amount that had been advanced to Robt. G.Evans. The residue of the estate is divided between the son and daughter. Col. Evans' estate will amount to between one hundred and seventy-five and two hundred thousand dollars. The will was dated Dec. 1, '89, with W, C. Price and J. S. Roberts as witnesses.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 20 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 7
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Late W. F. Evans.
We publish with pleasure the following tribute to the memory of the late Col. W. F. Evans, who died at his home in this county on the 9th inst., mention of whose death was made in our issue of the 10th. The writer was one of his most intimate friends, and knows whereof he speaks.
Death has again invaded our community and has hit "a shining mark." Col. W. F. Evans, one our most wealthy, large-hearted, broad-minded, useful and honored citizens has fallen. He was born in Pulaski county, Ky., January 15th, 1831. His early life was spent on the farm, but his later studies were prosecuted in the Western Military Institute, then located at New Castle, Ky., where he acquired a liberal English and classical education. July 16th, 1852, he was married to Miss Josephine Graham, who, with two children, survive him. He was a man well qualified by nature to fill successfully any calling or profession which he might have chosen, but his retiring disposition sought and enjoyed most the quiet pursuits of agriculture. It is scarcely worth while to say that in this he was successful, as we have already said he would have succeeded in any calling which he might have chosen.
Recognizing while but a youth the advantages which culture of the mind brings to the aid of mature years, he availed himself of the best opportunities at his command, and under the tuition and companionship of such men as Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson and James G. Blaine, he laid the foundations of scholarship and taste for general reading which qualified him in after life to practically apply or test the theory of any proposition which presented itself plausibly to his mind. He undertook nothing without having first mapped out mentally the general plan of the work. Then, like a General handling an army, or an engineer in the field, his details were all arranged before the action was precipitated, and he seldom deflected his lines except in the face of unforeseen difficulties. He neglected no detail and overlooked no contingency. He was careful in preparation and prompt in execution, patient in council and cautious in conclusion. His attention to details often appeared to small minds as timid or hypercritical, but to those in his confidence it was the separate parts of a general plan. His motto, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well" was closely followed and his rule was to do nothing by proxy which he could better do in person. These qualities made him not only valuable in council but an associate to be desired.
He was true to his friends but wasted little time on his enemies, if he had any, for he neither persecuted or pursued any one with malice. He desired to make money, not to hoard, but to enjoy it. He was penurious in nothing. He owned one of the finest farms in the county, in the development and improvement of which he took great delight, and toward which most of his energies were directed in the last few years of his life. His elegant home, supplied with the luxuries and conveniences which money could command, told of the uses he had for it but not all: his hand was ever open for unostentatious charity, of which he seldom spoke, except to his most intimate menus, among whom it was the privilege of the writer to be reckoned for more than thirty years. With a delicate sense of propriety, he had fitted up a room near his residence for the entertainment of the wayfaring poor, where the worthy recipient might not feel embarrassed by luxurious surroundings, and his family spared the impertinent demands of the professional tramp but none were ever turned away.
He was a man of genial temperament, social disposition, marked for his appreciation of the humorous, with a keen sense of the ridiculous, a varied store of anecdote, broad reading and general in formation; he was a companion delightful for an evening and desirable for a journey.
Had he chosen one of the learned professions he would have found a place near the top. Had he chosen politics, he would have been the peer of many who stood on the topmost rounds of fame. But he persistently refused "all overtures for office, enjoying most his family and farm house, and upon these he centered his best energies and affections.
In early life he tried to build a system upon reason rather than upon faith in the simple gospel plan of salvation, forgetting that a plan suited to all must he simple in its nature, yet his judgment told him that there must be in himself an immortal nature and a future responsibility. Always respectful of public opinion he rarely spoke of his difficulty in this direction, and then more with hope of obtaining light than in a spirit of criticism. Only to his most intimate friends did he speak of his yearnings for a better life and his desire to become a true believer. When he lost confidence in the flesh and rested his hope upon the atonement of the Crucified One, a light shone upon his pathway that reason could not discover. He died possessed of an ample fortune and best of all, in the Christian faith and hope of which he spoke freely and voluntarily during his last illness and his resignation was a surprise, self, for he said "I had always expected to be greatly alarmed at this hour, but if this be death I do not fear it." A host of friends mingle their sympathies and tears with the stricken family.
J. W. P.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky,/10 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
Mrs. J. E. Farris and Mrs. G. C. Keller, Jr. went to Danville yesterday, called thither by a dispatch saying that Mr. W. F. Evans, who hag been suffering with abscess of the liver, ' wag sinking very fast and death was but a question of a short time. He is a splendid citizen and his loss will be felt in all this section.-Interior Journal.
~~
Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 13 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 5
DEATHS
Col. Wm. F. Evans died at his home, in the western suburbs of Danville, at 12:30 o'clock Monday afternoon, after an illness of several weeks. Col. Evans illness was contracted during a recent visit to the West, where he had large and valuable interests. His illness was not thought to be of a serious nature when he was first taken down, but it gradually developed, and even then his friends hoped that his naturally strong constitution would enable him to recover. All that loving hands and fond friends and relatives could do did not keep that terror to all of the living death from claiming him and casting gloom and sorrow over a fond wife, a loving daughter, and a devoted son, who, in their grief, have the undivided sympathy of the entire community.
Col. Wm. F. Evans was born January 15, 1831, in Pulaski county. He was raised on a farm and educated in the Western Military Institute, at New Castle. In this institution he and the Hon. Jas. G. Blaine were teachers for a year or more. He was a man of broad reading and exceptionally line literary attainments, being a well versed and well read all-around scholar in English literature and the classics. When only ten years old he went to Missouri with his mother and they lived in the first house built on the present Bite of St. Louis. Five years later he returned to Lincoln county. On July 16, 1852, at Crab Orchard, he married Josephine Graham, daughter of the late R. W. Graham, and to them were born two children, Jennie now the wife of Mr. M. J. Farris and Robert Graham Evans, all of whom survive him. Col. Evans was a successful business man and during his life amassed a handsome estate. A poor boy, by his own pluck and business sense he became rich. He was a kind and indulgent father, a charitable gentleman, and in his death the county and State have lost a valuable citizen. In 1865, Col. Evans moved to this county, having purchased the beautiful tract of land upon which he died. Since making Boyle county his home he has been largely interested in live stock, but during the last years of his life he gave his attention to larger business transactions. Col. Evans was a member of the Baptist church and contributed largely to its support. No object of charity, if it was deserving of assistance, ever asked of him and was refused. The many deeds of kindness which he did will never be known in this unappreciative world, but they will shine like jewels in that one which sets this one right. In this great and irreparable loss which his family and large circle of friends have sustained, there is no consolation which this world can give, but an all-wise Providence, who notes even the fall of the sparrow, will bind up the broken heart. The funeral will take place Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the family residence. Burial in the Danville cemetery.
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Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 17 Dec 1889, Tue • Page 3
The-will of the late Col. W. F. Evans was probated Monday with Messrs. R. G. Evans and M. J. Farris as executors of the same. The first provision of the will is for his wife, to whom he bequeaths fifty thousand dollars. Next he bequeaths to his son, Robert Graham Evans, the farm he lived upon at the time of his death, valued at forty-one thousand dollars. . Next he bequeaths to his daughter, Jennie, wife of M. J. Farris, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars in trust, Mr. M. J. Farris being the trustee, this sum to go to the child or children surviving her. In addition to this sum, she was given six thousand absolutely, making an amount equivalent to forty-one thousand dollars, equal to the value of R. G. Evans' farm. In addition to this, $6,883.20, amounts owed to her, in consideration of which he surrenders to her notes of her husband, M. J. Farris, equal to eleven thousand dollars, the amount that had been advanced to Robt. G.Evans. The residue of the estate is divided between the son and daughter. Col. Evans' estate will amount to between one hundred and seventy-five and two hundred thousand dollars. The will was dated Dec. 1, '89, with W, C. Price and J. S. Roberts as witnesses.
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Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 20 Dec 1889, Fri • Page 7
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Late W. F. Evans.
We publish with pleasure the following tribute to the memory of the late Col. W. F. Evans, who died at his home in this county on the 9th inst., mention of whose death was made in our issue of the 10th. The writer was one of his most intimate friends, and knows whereof he speaks.
Death has again invaded our community and has hit "a shining mark." Col. W. F. Evans, one our most wealthy, large-hearted, broad-minded, useful and honored citizens has fallen. He was born in Pulaski county, Ky., January 15th, 1831. His early life was spent on the farm, but his later studies were prosecuted in the Western Military Institute, then located at New Castle, Ky., where he acquired a liberal English and classical education. July 16th, 1852, he was married to Miss Josephine Graham, who, with two children, survive him. He was a man well qualified by nature to fill successfully any calling or profession which he might have chosen, but his retiring disposition sought and enjoyed most the quiet pursuits of agriculture. It is scarcely worth while to say that in this he was successful, as we have already said he would have succeeded in any calling which he might have chosen.
Recognizing while but a youth the advantages which culture of the mind brings to the aid of mature years, he availed himself of the best opportunities at his command, and under the tuition and companionship of such men as Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson and James G. Blaine, he laid the foundations of scholarship and taste for general reading which qualified him in after life to practically apply or test the theory of any proposition which presented itself plausibly to his mind. He undertook nothing without having first mapped out mentally the general plan of the work. Then, like a General handling an army, or an engineer in the field, his details were all arranged before the action was precipitated, and he seldom deflected his lines except in the face of unforeseen difficulties. He neglected no detail and overlooked no contingency. He was careful in preparation and prompt in execution, patient in council and cautious in conclusion. His attention to details often appeared to small minds as timid or hypercritical, but to those in his confidence it was the separate parts of a general plan. His motto, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well" was closely followed and his rule was to do nothing by proxy which he could better do in person. These qualities made him not only valuable in council but an associate to be desired.
He was true to his friends but wasted little time on his enemies, if he had any, for he neither persecuted or pursued any one with malice. He desired to make money, not to hoard, but to enjoy it. He was penurious in nothing. He owned one of the finest farms in the county, in the development and improvement of which he took great delight, and toward which most of his energies were directed in the last few years of his life. His elegant home, supplied with the luxuries and conveniences which money could command, told of the uses he had for it but not all: his hand was ever open for unostentatious charity, of which he seldom spoke, except to his most intimate menus, among whom it was the privilege of the writer to be reckoned for more than thirty years. With a delicate sense of propriety, he had fitted up a room near his residence for the entertainment of the wayfaring poor, where the worthy recipient might not feel embarrassed by luxurious surroundings, and his family spared the impertinent demands of the professional tramp but none were ever turned away.
He was a man of genial temperament, social disposition, marked for his appreciation of the humorous, with a keen sense of the ridiculous, a varied store of anecdote, broad reading and general in formation; he was a companion delightful for an evening and desirable for a journey.
Had he chosen one of the learned professions he would have found a place near the top. Had he chosen politics, he would have been the peer of many who stood on the topmost rounds of fame. But he persistently refused "all overtures for office, enjoying most his family and farm house, and upon these he centered his best energies and affections.
In early life he tried to build a system upon reason rather than upon faith in the simple gospel plan of salvation, forgetting that a plan suited to all must he simple in its nature, yet his judgment told him that there must be in himself an immortal nature and a future responsibility. Always respectful of public opinion he rarely spoke of his difficulty in this direction, and then more with hope of obtaining light than in a spirit of criticism. Only to his most intimate friends did he speak of his yearnings for a better life and his desire to become a true believer. When he lost confidence in the flesh and rested his hope upon the atonement of the Crucified One, a light shone upon his pathway that reason could not discover. He died possessed of an ample fortune and best of all, in the Christian faith and hope of which he spoke freely and voluntarily during his last illness and his resignation was a surprise, self, for he said "I had always expected to be greatly alarmed at this hour, but if this be death I do not fear it." A host of friends mingle their sympathies and tears with the stricken family.
J. W. P.
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