USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 72
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Eden Evangelical Church, on Hamilton and Bartmer Avenues, was organized by Rev. F. W. Esser, in 1890. It has forty members, and property worth $8,000. The present pas- tor is Rev. O. Baltzer.
Trinity Evangelical Church, on Neosho Street and Michigan Avenue, was organized by Rev. H. W. Booch, in 1892. It has fifty
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members and property worth $3,000. The present pastor is Rev. F. H. Bosold.
St. Stephen's Evangelical Church of Baden was organized, in 1896, by Rev. K. Struck- meier. Its church, parsonage and school buildings are worth $10,000, and the congre- gation numbers thirty-five members.
Jesus Evangelical Church was organized by Rev. L. G. Nollau, in 1894. The present pastor is Rev. J. J. Fink. It has eighty mem- bers, and a Sunday school with 275 scholars. Its property at Twelfth and Victor Streets is worth $15,000.
Emmaus Evangelical Church was organ- ized by Rev. Charles Pleger, in Rock Springs, in 1897. It has fifty members and property worth $4,000.
C. G. HAAS.
The sketch above given deals chiefly with the introduction and development of the Evangelical Church in St. Louis, where the large and intelligent German element of the population not only demanded it, but made its presence indispensable. But it has been little less fortunate and effective in other parts of Missouri than in St. Louis. The German population of the State is large and intelligent, and much of the greater part of it is firmly grounded in the Christian faith; and it is no wonder that the growth of this church in Missouri has been healthful and sturdy. It has wielded a great influence for righteousness. The adherence of the Ger- mans of the State to their native language and habit rendered them, in a measure, in- accessible to English-speaking evangelists and missionaries, however zealous; and it is a signal proof of the fidelity of the Evangel- ical Church that it was as prompt to meet this necessity as it was to recognize it. Through its faithful and zealous labors and sacrifices, a large portion of the German population has been held fast to the Christian faith, and while its ministers and teachers are esteemed for their piety and learning, its communicants are among the best of Mis- souri citizens. In the year 1900 it had in Missouri 152 congregations, 126 ministers and 24,416 communicants, 127 Sunday schools, with 1,069 teachers and 10,873 schol- ars. It had the Eden Theological Seminary at St. Louis; the Good Samaritan Hospital in St. Louis; the German Protestant Or- phans' Home in St. Louis; the Evangelical
Deaconess Home in St. Louis, and the Emmaus (Epileptics') Home at Marthasville. It had 22 churches in St. Louis, 2 in Kansas City, 2 in St. Joseph, 2 in Macon, 2 in St. Charles, 2 in Boonville, 2 in Cape Girardeau, 2 in Chamois, 2 in California, 2 in Con- cordia, 2 in De Soto, and one in each of the following places : Allenville, Altheim, Augusta, Arrow Rock, Bay, Bem, Bellefon- taine, Berger, Big Berger, Big Spring, Bill- ings, Bland, Billingsville, Blackburn, Cabool, Cappeln, Casco, Case, Catawissa, Cedar Hill, Charlotte, Cooper Hill, Cottleville, Clear Creek, Dexter, Dittman's Store, Drain, Dutchtown, Dykes, Elk Creek, Femme Osage, Ferguson, Fredericksburg, Fulton, Florence, Hartsburg, Henry, Higginsville, Horman, High Hill, Highbridge, Hochfeld, Holstein, Jackson, Indian Camp, Independ- ence, Jamestown, Jefferson City, Jeffriesburg, Lamb, Levasy, Lee's Summit, Lexington, Little Rock, Landrum, Lippstadt, Manches- ter, Marthasville, Mehlville, Mexico, Milo, Morrison, Moscow Mills, Mayview, Moni- teau, Napoleon, Norbonne, Neosho, New Haven, Normandy, Oakfield, Oakville, Old Monroe, Owensville, Pacific, Pierce City, Pinkney Pitts, Progress, Parkville, Pleasant Grove, Rhineland, Rush Mill, Sappington, Schluersburg, Shotwell, Spring Bluff, Spring- field, Steinhagen, Stolsse, Stony Hill, Swiss, Stratman, Sulphur Springs, Sedalia, Tilsit, Troy, Union, Verona, Warrenton, Washing- ton, Welcome, Weldon Springs, Wellington, Wenzville, Willow Springs, Woollam and Wright City.
The oldest German Protestant Church in Kansas City is St. Peter's German Evangel- ical Church, founded in 1865. In 1867 a frame building was erected on Walnut Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. In 1883 a substantial church edifice was built at Oak Street and Irving Place, at a cost of $13,000. This had been dedicated but a few days when it was entirely destroyed by a tornado, the calamity occurring only a few minutes after the Sunday school scholars had left the build- ing. Rebuilding was accomplished almost immediately. The first pastor was the Rev. J. C. Feil, who served from 1865 until 1874, when he removed to Marthasville, Missouri, and was succeeded by the Rev. H. F. Kirch- hoff. In 1878 Mr. Feil again became pastor, and served until May, 1895, when he retired from active work. His successor was the
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Rev. John Sauer, the present minister. About 300 families attend the church; the Ladies' Aid Society numbers 150 members, and the Young People's Society twenty mem- bers.
Evans, Charles, organizer of the Un- derwriters' Salvage Corps, of St. Louis, was born in Fayette County, Indiana, January 29, 1845, son of Joshua and Ann (Thankful) Evans. He was reared in Indiana and edu- cated in the public schools of that State, con- tinuing to reside there until his enlistment in the Union Army during the Civil War car- ried him out of the State and changed the course of his life. In June of 1861, when the war clouds from which the lightning had flashed at Fort Sumter, continuing to grow darker and blacker, alarmed and aroused the friends of the Union throughout the North, he enlisted in the Sixth Indiana Battery, but failing to meet the military requirements upon examination, was rejected. September 16th of that year he again enlisted, and this time was duly enrolled and mustered into Company L of the Second Indiana Cavalry Regiment. In this regiment he served until October of 1864, and then re- enlisted in the United States secret service, under Captain Jim Blue, of New York. He was engaged in this ad- venturous and perilous service for more than a year, being finally mustered out November 22, 1865. After revisiting his old home in Indiana, he then went to Chicago, and from there went to Boston, where, in the year 1866, he became connected with the East India shipping service, having headquarters in that city. Sailing on the vessel "Adrian," in charge of East India and Liverpool ship- ments, he had a varied and interesting expe- rience of a year or more as a sea-faring man. Tiring of this life, he returned to Chicago in 1868 and became a member of the Chicago Fire Department, with which he was con- nected for four years. At the end of that time he severed his connection with the fire department, and February 1, 1872, becarre a member of the Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol, with which he was conspicuously identified until 1874. He was then invited to go to St. Louis and organize the Under- writers' Salvage Corps of that city. Accept- ing the invitation, he went to St. Louis, June 19th of that year, and July 3d following com-
pleted the organization of the salvage corps, the existence of which as an active and potent factor in preventing fire losses dates from that time. Captain Evans was made chief of the salvage corps at its inception, and has ever since occupied that position.
Evans, Edwin Chalmers, physician and surgeon, was born in Washington, D. C., October 29, 1828, son of Dr. Thomas and Dorothy (Chalmers) Evans. His father, born in the District of Columbia, in 1800, was a son of John Evans, a native of Wales, who came to America before the Revolution and located on a farm in what is now the Dis- trict of Columbia. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1824, practiced medicine in Washington until 1832, then removed to Missouri and located in Boonville. A year or two later he located on a farm in Cooper County, and twelve years afterward settled on a farm in Pettis County, where he spent the balance of his life in professional labor, dying in 1875. His wife, a native of Washington, was a direct descendant of Dr., Chalmers, the great Pres- byterian divine of Scotland. Her father and grandfather, both of whom bore the name of John, were converted to Methodism by John Wesley, became ministers and worked with the early builders of the church in this coun- try. Mrs. Evans' father's remains are buried under the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bladensburg, Maryland. Edwin C. Evans read medicine with his father, was graduated from the St. Louis Medical Col- lege in 1854, and took a degree at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1858. In 1865-6 he took a course in Bellevue Hospital Medical College and a special course on the eye and ear in the New York Ophthalmic College, graduating from the ophthalmic school in 1866. During the war he served as contract surgeon for the Union Army at Boonville. While he has given special atten- tion to surgery and ophthalmology, he has always done a general practice, in which he has been very successful. He has performed many important and difficult operations, among them being two successful lithotomies (in which he used instruments made by a blacksmith) performed years before antisep- sis had been suggested. He performed a number of tracheotomies in diphtheritic croup, with only 50 per cent of fatalities. He
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now has a record of 100 per cent in the treat- ment of malignant diphtheria by the use of antitoxine, having recently administered it to the fifty-eighth case without a fatality. He was the first to administer chloroform in Pet- tis County, which he did in 1849, while his father amputated an arm. He performed the first military surgery west of the Missis- sippi in the spring of 1861 at the battle ground of what has been termed the "Cole Camp Massacre," and made the first ampu- tation ever made in Sedalia. He is credited with having been the first to suggest laparot- omy for the relief of obstruction of the bow- els, which he did in his graduating thesis in St. Louis. During the fifty years Dr. Evans has been in the harness he has had but four weeks recreation. He feels the greatest pride in his successes in his cataract opera- tions and his uniform success in the use of antitoxine in diphtheria. He has been using chloroform in all his surgical work since 1849 and without a fatality ; and has never been so unfortunate as to have a patient die upon the operating table. Dr. Evans has been president of the Pettis County Medical So- ciety several terms, and is also identified with the Central District and the State and American Medical Associations. He is a third-degree Mason, and for twenty-five years has been an elder in the Broadway Presbyterian Church. Always a Democrat, he was elected mayor of Sedalia in 1880, though against his expressed wish. Dr. Evans was married June 6, 1854, to Elizabeth Jop- lin, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Jesse Joplin, a native of Virginia, who emi- grated to Pettis County, Missouri, in 1834, where he died the same year. They have been the parents of six children: Jessie, wife of Judge W. M. Williams, of Boonville, Mis- souri; Dorothy, wife of H. H. Allen, secre- tary of the convention bureau of Kansas City ; Thomas Chalmers, of East Las Vegas, New Mexico, an engineer on the Santa Fe Railroad ; Charles Clark, assistant treasurer of the Missouri Trust Company ; Sue, wife of W. P. Wood, of St. Louis, who died October 30, 1895. and Edwin Joplin Evans, in the fire insurance business at Sedalia.
Evans, Thomas Daniel, who was for many years one of the representative men of Cass County, was born in Cylcum, Glamor- ganshire, South Wales, August 28, 1840, and
was a son of Daniel and Sarah (Thomas) Evans. The first twenty-three years of his life were spent in his native country. After attending the schools at his home, at the age of fourteen he entered a large grocery house, called the Hong Kong store, for the purpose of learning all the details of the business. His father had intended to have him fit himself for the life of a commercial traveler, but his ambitions lay in a different direction, and he was allowed to follow his own inclinations. The wisdom of his choice is shown by the fact that so completely was he adapted to the business in which he elected to make a career that he eventually became head clerk in the store referred to, and virtually in charge of the business. In 1863, at the age of twenty- three years, he embarked for America, be- lieving that this country afforded broader opportunities for obtaining wealth and suc- cess. Arriving in New York, he soon pro- ceeded to Chicago, and afterward located at Waupaca, Wisconsin, where he found em- ployment in a banking house. There he learned all the details of the business in which he subsequently became so successful. From Waupaca he removed to St. Louis and en- tered the employ of Flint & Evans, of that city, subsequently engaging in the grocery business for himself on Market street. There he remained until 1866, when he located at Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Missouri, pur- chasing the old Sherman House, the leading hotel there, and conducting it successfully for about two years. While residing in Pleas- ant Hill he became acquainted with Miss Henrietta Miriam Briggs, a representative of one of the oldest and best known families of New England, to whom he was wedded at Harrisonville, February 22, 1869, about ten months after his removal to that place, which took place in April, 1868. Upon locat- ing in Harrisonville, Mr. Evans rented a building on the site of the operahouse, where he opened a grocery store. Soon afterward he purchased the building and there con- tinued in the same business until his perma- nent retirement in 1885. In 1870 he erected a brick store adjoining his original possession. It was burned about three years later. In 1890 and 1891 he erected the present hand- some operahouse block. Mr. Evans' connec- tion with the banking interests of Cass Coun- ty began in 1892, when he became the president of the First National Bank of Har-
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risonville, an institution which is now extinct. He was one of the incorporators of the Cass County Bank, and upon its organization, De- cember 3, 1894, he was elected its first presi- dent, retaining that position until June 13, 1899. Fraternally, he was identified with the Masons, having taken the first degrees dur- ing his residence at Waupaca, Wisconsin; and with the Knights of Pythias. Though he had always been a Democrat until 1896, in that year he cast his vote for Mckinley for President, being a firm believer in the gold currency standard. Though frequently be- sought to become a candidate for public of- fice, he would never consent to do so, preferring to devote his time exclusively to his business interests. In religion he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. September 23, 1898, while apparently in the full enjoyment of physical health, he was suddenly stricken with paralysis as he was en- tering his home upon his return from his bank. Everything possible was done for him, and his faithful wife ministered to his every want continuously, but the shock proved fatal, and he passed away on October 22, 1899, in the sixtieth year of his age. Mrs. Evans is a lady possessed of many rare graces. She was born in New Orleans, Lou- isiana, and is a daughter of Charles O. and Henrietta Eugenia (Oxley) Briggs. Her fa- ther was of French descent and her mother comes of English ancestry ; her father, a na- tive of Boston, belonging to the stock from which Caleb Cushing, the great statesman, was descended. The family was represented in the Continental Army during the Revolu- tionary War. For many years the father of Mrs. Evans was a prosperous commission merchant of New Orleans, where he died when she was an infant. Mrs. Briggs passed away February 14, 1888. The education of Mrs. Evans was obtained principally in St. Joseph's and the Ursuline Catholic convent in New Orleans. During the Civil War she spent about one year in a school in Canan- daigua, New York. Upon the completion of her course there she spent a short time with her aunt at Madison, Indiana, whence they removed, in 1867, to Pleasant Hill, Missouri. After a residence of six weeks there they re- moved to Harrisonville, where Mrs. Evans has since resided continuously. In closing this memoir of Thomas D. Evans, it is fitting to refer to some of the traits which were most
conspicuous in his character. On numerous occasions he demonstrated his broad-mind- edness and liberality of heart. It may truth- fully be said of him that he never turned a deaf ear to an appeal for help from a worthy applicant. He was regarded as one of the most prudent and sagacious financiers of Cass County. Movements which had for their object the improvement of the material welfare of his community found in him a friend and promoter.
Evans, William N., lawyer and judge of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, was born in Owsley County, Kentucky, September II, 1849. When fifteen years of age and in 1864, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served in the Twelfth Tennessee Infantry and Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry until June, 1865, when surrender was made at Cumberland Gap. In 1869 he removed to Missouri and settled in Webster County, where he entered upon the study of law. In March, 1875, he was admitted to the bar by Judge R. W. Fyan, and commenced practice at Marshfield. In 1877 he was superintendent of public schools of Webster County, and at the close of his term removed to Oregon County, Missouri, where, in 1878, he was elected prosecuting attorney, and in 1880 he was re-elected. In 1885 he removed to West Plains, Howell County, which place he has since made his home. In 1888 he was a Cleveland elector for the Fourteenth Con- gressional District. March 19, 1891, under act of the General Assembly, approved March 18th, he was appointed special judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit by Governor Francis. In 1892 he was elected Judge of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, and was again elected in 1898.
Evers, John Henry, was born in Han- over, Germany, December 24, 1814. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native town, and later took a commer- cial course of study in the night schools of St. Louis. In 1833 he immigrated to the United States, landing in the city of New York, and in 1835 located in St. Louis. He first found employment as clerk in a leading commercial house, and in 1840 engaged in business on his own account with Mr. Stroh- beck, under the firm name of Strohbeck & Evers, retail grocers. In 1846 he embarked
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in the wholesale grocery trade with C. H. D. of his profession, as physician and surgeon. Block, under the firm name of Block & In 1875 the doctor married Miss Sophia Kirchner; they have five children, Helen, Louise, Emil, Edward and August Evers. Evers, their place of business being on Third, between Washington Avenue and Green Streets, for twenty-five years thereafter. In 1871 the firm dissolved partnership and Mr. Eversole, Edward Thompson, law- yer, was born in Caledonia, Missouri, March 3, 1866, son of William G. and Rebecca A. (Rutledge) Eversole, pioneers of Washington County, and both of Virginia. Edward Thompson Eversole was one of seven chil- dren. In youth he attended the Belleview Collegiate Institute in his native town, from which he graduated with the degree of bach- elor of arts at the age of twenty years, having finished the various courses, including Greek and Latin that were included in the cur- riculum of that college, which at that time was presided over by the Honorable W. D. Vandiver. Upon his graduation he entered the law school of the Washington University, at St. Louis, Missouri, and was graduated from the latter named in the spring of 1889, and in June of the same year was en- rolled in the circuit court of St. Louis. He immediately located at Potosi and formed a partnership, which has since continued, with W. S. Anthony, formerly assistant United States district attorney for the Eastern Division of Missouri. In 1895 Mr. Eversole was enrolled in the district and circuit courts of the United States at St. Louis, thus prac- ticing in all the courts of Missouri. Among the most noted cases in which Anthony & Eversole were interested as attorneys for the defense were: The State vs. Orrick, for the murder of Hiram Antis, who was sentenced to be hanged, his case appealed to the higher court, which affirmed the finding of the lower' court, and who prevented the execution by escaping from the St. Louis jail; the State vs. Mrs. Byington, for the murder of her step-child, taken to Washington County on change of venue from Ste. Genevieve, tried and acquitted; the State vs. Baldrige, for murder of one Shadrick in Washington County ; defendant acquitted; and the State vs. Compton, for the murder of his child. In the latter case acquittal was granted on the ground of insanity. In 1891 Mr. Eversole was elected mayor of Potosi, and re-elected in 1892-3 and 1894. From 1892 to 1894 he was prosecuting attorney of Washington County. From 1894 to 1896 he was judge of the probate court of Washington County, and in Evers temporarily retired from active com- mercial pursuits. In 1872 he organized the St. Louis Stone Works, of which he became president, and his son, Henry Evers, secre- tary and treasurer. They were manufactur- ers and wholesale dealers in what was known as the Sycamore stone. In 1895 the corpora- tion wound up its affairs and Mr. Evers retired permanently from active commercial pursuits. In 1883 he was instrumental in organizing the Northwestern Savings Bank, of which he became first vice president, which position he held until 1894, when he resigned, At that time he was tendered the presidency of this bank, which he declined, but remained a director until his death, which occurred April 26, 1899. He was a staunch Republican in politics. In his religious beliefs he was independent, and he was president of the Free Religious Community of North St. Louis and Bremen for many years. In fra- ternal organizations Mr. Evers affiliated with Schiller Lodge No. 98, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a past master of that lodge. He was also an honorary member of the Freier Maennerchor, which partici- pated in and sang at his obsequies. Mr. Evers was a man of strict integrity, sound judgment and remarkable executive and financial ability, and contributed liberally in aid of charity. He was successful in his bus- iness ventures and left a handsome fortune to his family. He married Miss Louisa Ritt- mann, of St. Louis, in 1848. Mrs. Evers died in 1858, leaving four children: Dr. Edward Evers, Henry Evers, Louisa, widow of Her- mann Lentz, and Annie Evers. Dr. Edward Evers, who was born in St. Louis, May 18, 1849, after graduating at Washington Uni- versity and the St. Louis Medical College, took courses in medicine at Rouen and Ber- lin, Germany, and served in the German mili- tary hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. He was later assistant surgeon of the United States navy, on the steamship "Nar- ragansett," and served under Commander George Dewey in 1873 and 1874 on the Pacific. In 1875 Dr. Evers returned to St. Louis, and has since been engaged in the line
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1898 was a candidate for judge of the circuit court. The convention before which he was a candidate was remarkable on account of being in session seven days and ballotting 1,885 times. Mr. Eversole has always been a Democrat, and at present, and for some time past, has been treasurer of the Demo- cratic county central committee, and in 1898 was a delegate to the State convention of his party. In public enterprises that tend toward the advancement of Potosi and Washington County, he is one of the fore- most, and while mayor was instrumental in bringing about much needed improvements. He was one of the chief promoters and or- ganizers of the Washington County Bank at Potosi, and since its establishment has been one of its directors. November 15, 1898, he married Miss Mary E. Bugg, daugh- ter of Richard M. and Anna M. (Cole) Bugg. Mr. Bugg is a native of Georgia and settled in Potosi after the close of the war, and is the leading merchant of the town. Mrs. Bugg is a daughter of the late Captain George B. Cole, of Potosi. Mr. and Mrs. Eversole are members of the Presbyterian Church, and are liberal in their support of other churches of the town and all charitable and moral in- stitutions.
Eversole, William Goforth, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, January 19, 1819, and died at Caledonia, Missouri, January 25, 1894. He was a son of Abraham and Barbara (Hum- phreys) Eversole, natives of Virginia. About the middle of the eighteenth century the gov- ernment of the German empire equipped an expedition for prospecting for minerals and to locate sites for mills to be run by water power in the Virginias. On this expedition were three brothers named Eversole, all civil engineers. One of these brothers settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, and reared a family of two sons. One of the sons was Abraham Eversole, who, upon reaching man- hood, married Miss Barbara Humphreys. In 1820, with his wife and family, he removed to Washington County, Missouri, and settled in the Belleview Valley, where he died about six years afterward, leaving four sons, George H., William G., Berry and Hardin N., all of whom inherited the traits of industry and good business qualities so marked in their father. Abraham Eversole was the first,
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