BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



461 



plant, and soon enabled it to take care 

 of itself. 



The extent of the " Evans collection " 

 is not exactly known. Thouj^li urjred, 

 while in health, by more than one of 

 his friends, to make out a complete ca- 

 talogue of his plants, he postponed the 

 task till declining health rendered it an 

 impossibility. In the number of dis- 

 tinct species of trees and shrubbery, 

 this collection may, without doubt, be 

 set down as the largest in this country, 

 while in herbaceous plants it has very 

 few equals. To many of the rare trees 

 and shrubs, appropriate leaden labels 

 have been appended by their late 

 owner, but this is not the case with a 

 vast number of the herbaceous plants. 



With John Bartram and Humphrey 

 Marshall, John Evans completes a trio 

 of self-taught American botanists, all 

 born within the limits of old Chester 

 county, and the first and last within 

 the bounds of the present county of 

 Delaware. They were men of like 

 tastes, and were alike in their indus- 

 trious and frugal habits. Thej' were 

 all men of the strictest integrity and 

 highest moral worth, and especially 

 were they alike as devoted students of 

 the vegetable kingdom. Each reared 

 his own monument in the large collec- 

 tion of growing plants he left behind 

 him. 



John Evans lived in an age when bo- 

 tanical knowledge was more readily 

 acquired, and rare specimens of plants | 

 more easily collected than in the times 

 of his predecessors. Hence, the vastly 

 greater extent of his collection, while 

 it is so highly creditable to him, is no 

 disparagement to them. But his atten- 

 tion was not like theirs, confined to 

 plants alone. He had acquired a good 

 knowledge of Mineralogy, Geology and 

 Zoology. On the 27th day of Decem- 

 ber, 1834, John Evans became a mem* 

 ber of the Delaware County Institute, 

 and it is probable that the study of 

 these sciences commenced about that 

 period. 



John Evans was eminently a think- 

 ing man. His opinions were fully 

 formed on every subject presented to 

 his mind, and no one who knew him, 

 however different his own sentiments 

 might be, could, for a moment, enter- 

 tain a doubt, that these opinions were 

 honestly entertained. 



He was liberal, almost to a fault, in 



the distribution of plants among such 

 of his friends, as he believed wouhl 

 properly care for them. All who held 

 that relation to him, can be in no want 

 of numerous floral mementoes around 

 their dwellings, of this profuse libe- 

 rality. 



More than a year past, exposure in 

 his garden, developed the consuming 

 disease, which ended his days on earth. 

 His sufferings were not great, a favor 

 for which he expressed his thankful- 

 ness. He fully understood the nature 

 of his malady and the certainty of the 

 result. For months he had predicted 

 that he would not live many days be- 

 yond the first of April ; and as the fatal 

 period approached, he more clearly felt 

 that his prediction would be realized. 

 He retained his senses unimpaired to 

 the last, and after having given specific 

 directions for the preservation of his 

 favorite trees and shrubbery against 

 damage from the horses of those who 

 might attend his funeral, he firmly met 

 his fate, and quietly passed from time 

 to eternity. 



On the Sunday following his decease, 

 being the 7th of April, his remains 

 were interred in the family cemetery, 

 under evergreen trees planted by him- 

 self, and surrounded by choice shrub- 

 bery and flowers that had been culti- 

 vated with his own hands. Besides 

 his neighbors who flocked around his 

 grave, there were those present from a 

 distance, who had known him long and 

 well — who were familiar with his many 

 virtues. They were there to pay a last 

 homage to his sterling integrity and 

 great moral worth. 



[The foregoing notice of John Evans 

 is chiefly extracted from a paper read 

 before the Delaware County Institute 

 of Science, by the author, May 3d, 

 1862.] 



EvAX, Stephen, yeoman, with his 

 wife, Elizabeth, and two children, John 

 and Phebe, came from the parish of 

 Llanbister, county of Radnor, Wales, in 

 1G83, and settled in Radnor township, 

 in that or the following year. They 

 had several children born in this coun- 

 try; one named ''Stephen Slejj/img,'' 

 another ' Evan Stephens," which naming 

 was in accordance with the custom of 

 many Welsh families at that time. He 

 was a Friend, and, at the time of his 

 emigration, had 'owned the truth for 



