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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Stephen Nathaniel Evans. Nathaniel Evans, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to North Alabama when the Tennessee River was the dividing line between the whites and the Indians, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and fought with Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and was known as one of the substantial planters of his day. In 1856 he immigrated to Mississippi, and busied himself with planting in De Soto County, remaining there until his death, which occurred in 1873, when nearly one hundred years old. Stephen M. Richards, maternal grandfather of S. N. Evans, was born in Southern Alabama, his parents coming to this territory when it was a vast wilderness, and have witnessed it rise and grow to its present magnitude. Stephen M. Richards on gaining his majority went to North Alabama, where he, in company with his son-in-law, established a mercantile business, which netted them a handsome income. He was highly esteemed and honored as a citizen, and noted for his integrity and piety, being a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church until his death. In 1860 he came to Arkansas settling in St. Francis County, where he died in 1871, when nearly eighty years old. Stephen Nathaniel Evans, named in honor of his illustrious ancestors (a short sketch of whom appears above), was born in Morgan County, Ala., in 1848, the eldest child of his parents, Nathaniel Evans and Sarah (Richards, also of Alabama). The senior Evans was a farmer by occupation, aud came to Arkansas in 1862, locating in St. Francis County, where he died in 1863, a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church. The care of his widowed mother and an infant sister falling on our subject, then a youth of but fourteen, he took up farming which he carried on till 1876, when he removed the family to Russellville to engage in the livery business, which he conducted for ten years, having a well-equipped stable and doing a good trade. Closing out the livery establishment he again commenced farming in 1886, this time settling in the Arkansas Valley opposite the town of Dardanelle, and not being able to obtain good reliable help on which the success of his farm depended, he decided to re-enter the livery business and in 1888 ran the first hack to Mount Nebo, a watering place seven miles west of Dardanelle, and the next year found him a partner in the establishment of Mr. Shinn and Col. Hughes. They built a large barn for the purpose of carrying on a general livery and hack business, handling during the year some 400,000 pounds of freight for the Summit Park Hotel. On December 1, 1889, the firm bought out the Transfer Company, now known as the Dardanelle Transfer Company, of which our subject is recognized as one of its most efficient members. This company has under its management one of the largest and best equipped livery stables in all Arkansas, owning some seventy head of horses and mules and a number of buggies and hacks, buses and transfer wagons, also doing general freighting and expressing, carrying mail, passengers, running hacks to and from the mountain, and handle on an average of 700,000 pounds of freight per month, transporting some 12,000 to 15,000 bales of cotton to the trains. He has ever been an active supporter of the Democratic party, and in local politics served as mayor of Russellville from 1878 to 1881, and was justice of the peace for four years; socially is in affiliation with the K. of H. He is counted among his fellowmen as a man of good practical sense and business ability. He was married in June, 1870, to Miss Susie B. Gray, of Germantown, Tenn., and the daughter of Dr. J. M. Gray, a physician of thirty years’ standing in Tennessee, but now residing in Texas. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Evans have been born the following interesting family: Bessie, Clara, Sallie, Lewis, Nathaniel, Charles and Stephen. Himself, wife and three daughters are worthy members of the Missionary Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Yell County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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