168 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



recently erected on the Hudson River, near the present city 

 of Troy. Here he remained three years, much to the 

 satisfaction of his employers. 



After his return from Troy he resumed the milling 

 business at the homestead mill, and in 1819 married Ann, 

 the daughter of Benjamin Brown, of Radnor, by whom he 

 had six children. 



He subsequently engaged in the business of sawing 

 lumber for the Philadelphia market, which he continued 

 to do until near the close of his life. 



Up to about the year 1827 or 1828, though industrious 

 in the acquisition of knowledge, John Evans had not shown 

 a great preference for any particular branch of science. 

 About this time he received a visit from his kinsman, 

 Alan ^Y. Corson, of Plymouth, Montgomery County, who 

 was on his return home, with his daughter, from the West- 

 town boarding-school. The visitors remained over night, 

 and had with them a copy of Dr. Darlington's " Florula 

 Cestrica," then lately published and used in AVesttown 

 School. This was the first knowledge John Evans had of 

 any work descriptive of our local flora. He had then some 

 practical acquaintance with plants and their culture, but it 

 was the opportune visit of his relative Corson, and this early 

 publication of Dr. Darlington, that first opened the way for 

 him to enter upon the study of botany systematically. 

 From this time until the close of his life, the study of 

 botany became with him a primary occupation. 



The tastes of his visiting kinsman were congenial 

 with his own. They often visited each other, and frequently 

 made botanical excursions together. What one had acquired 

 was freelv communicated to the other, till they both became 



