Kendall Family History

The Evans surname is of Welsh origin. The use of surnames did not become common practice in Wales until industrialization in the early 1800s produced  population centers and the growing bureaucracy demanded more precise record-keeping. Prior to the adoption of surnames the patronymic system had been used for generations. In this system a single name was used to identify an individual and was qualified by the father's name. Therefore a son of Evan might be referred to as Thomas of Evan. It was common for the lineage to be passed down and remembered for a number of generations. Thus Thomas might refer to himself as Thomas of Evan of David of Sayce, etc. The change from the patronymic system occurred gradually and at different times across Wales, starting on the border with England, where bureaucratic demands where greatest, and south Wales, where industrialization began. As the patronymic system was abandoned the father's name was often altered by the addition of the letter 's' to make it possessive. Therefore, in the example above Thomas of Evan may have become Thomas Evans. In the period 1813-1837 Evans was the 7th most common name in County Glamorgan. Today, Evans is the 8th most common surname in the United Kingdom.

 (last update 9 Aug 2006)

First Generation

William T. Evans [1343] was born in south Llangadog, Perverth Hundred, Carmarthenshire County, Wales on  18 April 1819. The name William is of English origin, meaning "resolute protector." Little is known of his early life in Wales. He migrated about 50 miles south east from Llangadog to Laleston (pn. lā-lis-ton) Parish, Glamorgan County before 1851. Laleston is in the south west portion of Glamorgan County, between the seashore town of Porthcawl and Bridgend.

William married Martha [last name unknown] about 1848, probably in Laleston. She was born about 1827 in Upper Cwmtwrch (pn. cum-tur) Ystradgynlais Parish, Glamorgan County, Wales. Cwmtwrch is in the upper Swansea Valley about 11 miles southwest of Llangadog and 20 miles north west of Laleston. Their first known child was Daniel who was born 23 July 1849, in Laleston. They lived in Laleston in 1851 where William worked as a coal miner. On 23 November 1868, at the time of the marriage of son Daniel, the family lived in Trehafod, Llanwonno Parish, Glamorgan County, Wales. Trehafod is a hamlet of the town of Pontypridd in the Rhondda Valley, some 20 miles north of the port city of Cardiff. They probably migrated to the Rhondda Valley in the 1850's, as many others did. Coal mining had been active in the Rhondda Valley since 1790 but the demand for coal resulted in a huge number of new collieries opening up in Glamorgan beginning in 1840. This created a need for labor that was not available in sufficient numbers locally. Farmers who earned 8 shillings a week flocked to the area from Somerset, the Forest of Dean, Carmarthenshire and elsewhere to earn from 16 to 18 shillings per week. During this time of industrial expansion mere rumor of better wages would result in large numbers making a move from one valley to the next. This transformed the Rhondda, described in 1847 as "this solitudinous and happy valley . . . where a Sabbath stillness reigns," was only three years later described as "a vision of hell" where were found "poor creatures broiling or in sweat and dirt, amid their furnaces, pits, and rolling mills."

William and his son Daniel both worked as coal miners in Trehafod. The Rhondda Valley provided coal for much of the United Kingdom and Pontypridd was the principle market town in the region. There were a number of collieries (mines) operating in the Rhondda valley in this period, including the Great Western in Pontypridd that employed over 3,000 people, but it is not known at which mine they worked or what their specific jobs were.

William and his family were Nonconformists, that is, members of a religious body separated from the official Church of Wales. Welsh Nonconformists included largely Baptists, Wesleyan, Methodists, Quakers, and Independents. No records of the Evans family can be found in Llanwonno (church of St. Gwynno) Parish and son Daniel was married in the Sardis Independents Chapel in Pontypridd. It is very likely that at that time, and possibly still today, that the services were held in Welsh.  The Nonconformist movement was strong and growing rapidly in south Wales in the mid-1800s. While some of this growth was due to dissent from the beliefs and rites of the "official" religion, much can be attributed to the failure of the Church of Wales to keep up with the population growth during industrial expansion by establishing new churches. The official "ancient" churches were often too far distant from new industrial centers, such as Pontypridd, to effectively serve their members. This resulted in Nonconformist chapels springing up in these expanding communities. In 1851 the incumbent of Llanwonno stated "The church being at a considerable distance from the Bulk of the inhabitants of the parish causes the attendance to be smaller than it should." Of the parish population of 3,253, only 56 people had been present at one service of the day in the little church and there was no Sunday School.

Martha died in 1866 in the Pontypridd district of Glamorgan County, Wales leaving William with two sons and three young daughters. On 24 November 1868, the day after son Daniel was married, the Evans family, possibly accompanied by the Morgan E. James family, left Pontypridd for the new world. There is some confusion in the record but they may have also been accompanied by the Thomas Griffiths family. He may also have come with a brother, Daniel Evans whose wife was named Gwennie and had children named Mary Ann, Rachel and Gomer. It is assumed that William must have emigrated as part of a group as he would require considerable assistance with his four unmarried children aged six to 17. He could, of course have relied on his new daughter-in-law, Jeannette Jones. But Jeannette was only 15 years old herself.

Family lore states that they went first to Canada where they stayed about a year before migrating south to Ohio in America in April 1869. The first American record found is the Summit County, Ohio census in June of 1870. The reason for the timing of this emigration from Wales and the choice of destination cannot be stated with any certainty. There was a wave of emigration to Pennsylvania in the early nineteenth century, before industrialization got underway, and again in the early twentieth century, when the increased use of fuel oil lowered the demand for coal. But in 1868 Pontypridd was thriving. Annual coal output in South Wales rose from eight million tons in 1857 to 17 million tons in 1877 and 35 million tons in 1897. So lack of work would not seem to be a factor in the decision to leave Wales. Coal mining was a dangerous occupation and paid sustenance wages. But it appears that Daniel, the eldest son, continued the coal mining trade when he arrived in Summit County, Ohio. This may have been just a bridge to new opportunities. As we will see later Daniel, his brother and father later did very well for themselves in occupations not associated with the coal industry. The decision may have been prompted by labor unrest. Coal owners reduced wages by 15 percent in 1857 and several thousand miners in Pontypridd and the Rhondda called a strike. Troops were called in to maintain order. The strike was quickly broken and hungry miners were forced to accept the coal owners' terms. In January 1868 coal owners, faced with falling coal prices, again decided to reduce wages by 15% and to introduce cheaper working methods. On 1 May Pontypridd miners joined the long strike by most pits in Monmouthshire and were supported by miners from twenty Rhondda pits. But, once again the strike collapsed and within two weeks the wage reductions had to be accepted. Perhaps this was just too much, as the Evans family emigrated six months later. Family lore states that the brothers of Jeannette Jones, who married William's son Daniel, emigrated to the United States earlier. Letters from the brothers and perhaps other recent emigrants may have influenced the decision to abandon the coal fields of Glamorgan for the eight week voyage and uncertainty of life in America.

As mentioned earlier, the first record of the Evans family in America is the 1870 census in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. William, son Daniel, and several Morgan, James and Griffiths families are found in a community with a large South Wales immigrant populations. Most of the men were coal miners. Summit County was formed in 1840. It derived its name from having the highest land on the line of the Ohio canal, originally called "the Portage Summit." Along the Cuyahoga it is uneven and hilly; elsewhere level or undulating. It has immense beds of bituminous coal and fine clay. William and his family would have felt right at home in such surroundings and could have immediately found work in the local coal mines.

They remained in Akron for about eight years. William's daughter, Mary Ann, married William A. Morgan, there in 1872. They moved to Des Moines, Iowa about 1875. William and son Joseph migrated further south to the small town of Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, possibly with the Morgan E. James family, arriving 1 February 1878. Again, the reason for this move is unknown. At the time, Clarksville had not fully recovered from the ravages of the U.S. Civil War and the subsequent lawlessness that pervaded the county. Rebuilding had begun and a railway from Little Rock was under construction. Perhaps the prospect of much new construction attracted Joseph, a stone mason. On 1 April 1878, within months of arrival, William purchased 166 acres of land in the Spadra Township for $900, apparently where the Clarksville Wal Mart store stands today (their house was across the street from the current Wal Mart store). He must have done well financially in Ohio.

In 1880 he and his two youngest daughters were living in the home of his son Joseph in the Spadra Township of Johnson County. In 1885 William was one of two Deacons and a charter member of the First Baptist Church in Clarksville. In 1887, after being a widower for at least 18 years and after his youngest child married and left home, William married the widow Amanda Ball. He became ill in 1890 and wrote his last Will and Testament. In this Will he essentially left everything to his wife and upon her death to his daughters and grandsons. Sons Daniel and Joseph were to receive nothing. This could have been due to a riff in the family regarding his remarriage or simply that his two sons were doing very well on their own. He died three years later on 23 January 1893 in Clarksville and was buried in Oakland Cemetery. He has a tall obelisk marker inscribed with "Born in South Wales." His will was probated on 31 January 1893.

 All of the children of William and his first wife were born in Wales and were:

1. Daniel John Evans, born 23 July 1849, (probably Bridgend District, Glamorgan County), Wales; died 12 July 1922, Newaygo, Michigan; married Jeannette Jones, 23 November 1868, Pontypridd, Glamorgan County, Wales.

2. Joseph Evans, born 6 August 1852, Wales; died 21 July 1919, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas; married Susanna Griffiths, 1 July 1875, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas.

3. Mary Ann Evans, born about 1856, Wales; married William Edward Morgan, 1872 in Ohio.

4. Amelia Evans, born about 1858, Wales; married [first name unknown] Brunt.

5. Gwennie S. Evans, born 8 July 1862, Wales; d. 19 March 1909, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, married George W. Kraus, 9 July 1885, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas.

Bibliography

• 1851 Census, Glamorgan County, Wales
• 1849 FreeBMD. England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983, Bridgend District, Glamorgan County, Vol 26, page 342 (birth of Daniel Evans).
• 1866-1867 FreeBMD. England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983, Pontypridd District, Glamorgan County, General Register Office, London, England (death of Martha Evans).
• 1868 Marriage Certificate, Daniel Evans and Jeannette Jones, 23 Nov 1968
• 1868 FreeBMD. England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983, Pontypridd District, Glamorgan County, Volume 11a, page 428, General Register Office, London, England (marriage of Daniel Evans and Jennet Jones).
• 1870 Federal Census, OH, Summit County, Norton Township, Akron, page 344a, William Evans.
• 1878: Johnson County, Arkansas Court Records, 1027672, Index of Deeds 1838-1899, Book S-107
• 1880 Federal Census, Spadra Township, Johnson County, Arkansas
• 1885: History of the First Baptist Church, Clarksville, Arkansas
• 1887: Marriage Records, Johnson County, Arkansas, Book Q, Page 297
• 1890: Last Will and Testament of W. T. Evans, Johnson County Will Book B, Page 213
• 1893: Index of Arkansas Wills from Earliest to 1900
• 1893 Obituary, Herald-Democrat, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, William T. Evans
• 1893: Probate Court Records - Johnson County, Arkansas,  abstracted by Mrs. R. W. Mickel
• Ella Malloy Langford, History of Johnson County, Arkansas: the First Hundred Years
• John and Shiela Roands, Welsh Family History, A Guide to Research
• Don Powell, Victorian Pontypridd, Cardiff, 1996

Research Notes: William was born in a time when the patronymic system of names was losing way to the use of surnames in South Wales. So there is some possibility that William's father was named Evan, the Welsh form of the name John, though this has not been proven. It is unlikely that William or his children used middle names or initials while living in Wales as the use of middle names was not the custom in Wales until the latter nineteenth century. Thus far, the only Welsh records found for this family, the 1851 Glamorgan census and the marriage certificate of Daniel Evans and Jeannette Jones, show no indication of middle names or initials for anyone named. They may have adopted middle names after emigration to America where their use was common place. The first occurrence of a middle name in the record is a deed to William T. Evans in 1878, nine years after his immigration.  Some Welsh immigrants selected their mother's maiden name as a middle name so William's mother's surname may have started with the letter 'T'. The most common name in Glamorgan when William was born was Thomas so there is at least a possibility that his mother's surname (or father's name if the patronymic system was still in use) was Thomas. Similarly, if Daniel is Williams first born then he may have adopted his mother's name as a middle name. Three names starting with the letter 'J' were among the top ten in use in Glamorgan in the early 1800's: Jones, John and Jenkin/s. The family of Morgan E. James is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Johnson County, Arkansas; next to the Evans family plot. The James family have grave markers similar, and in some cases identical, to those of the Evans family and all bear the inscription "Born in South Wales."  In the 1900 census Joseph James, son of Morgan E. James indicated that he immigrated from England in 1868 the year that the Evans family left Wales. The James and Evans families obviously had close ties and very likely emigrated to the United States and resettled in Arkansas together. There is no evidence of intermarriage so a possible conclusion is that Morgan E. James was somehow related to William's first wife, perhaps a brother.