Charles Evans (Pennsylvania philanthropist)
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- Attorney
- philanthropist
Charles Evans | |
|---|---|
![](#/media/File:Charles_Evans,_circa_1840s_(pen_and_ink_sketch,_"The_Reading_Eagle,"_March_7,_1886).jpg) Charles Evans, circa 1840s | |
| Born | March 30, 1768 |
| Died | September 6, 1847 (aged 79) |
| Resting place | Charles Evans Cemetery |
| Occupations |
|
| Notable work | Founder of the Charles Evans Cemetery; founding member of the Reading Artillerists |
| Spouse |
Mary Keene (m. 1794) |
| Children | Charles Evans and Mary Evans |
| Parent(s) | David Evans and Letitia (Thomas) Evans |
Charles Evans (1768-1847) was an American attorney, civic leader and philanthropist during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[1][2] He established the Charles Evans Cemetery, an historic, nonsectarian, garden-style, public cemetery located in the city of Reading, Pennsylvania.[3][4]
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1768, Charles Evans (1768-1847) was the ninth of ten children born to Philadelphia native David Evans and Letitia (Thomas) Evans, a native of Radnor, Pennsylvania.[5] His parents were both members of the Society of Friends.[6]
Taking up the study of law in 1788 with Benjamin Chew, a prominent Pennsylvania attorney who had served as attorney general during the state’s colonial years and then as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Charles Evans was admitted to the Berks County bar in June 1791. In August of that same year, he began dividing his legal work between his hometown of Philadelphia and the city of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where he opened a new law office.[7][8][9]
In 1794, Evans wed Philadelphia native Mary Keene (1769-1838),[10] who was a daughter of Philadelphia alderman Reynold Keene (1738-1800) and Christiana (Stille) Keene (1744-1777).[11]
![](#/media/File:Mary_Keene_Evans,_wife_of_Charles_Evans,_founder_of_the_Charles_Evans_Cemetery,_circa_1830s_("The_Reading_Eagle,"_March_7,_1886).jpg)
Evans and his wife, Mary, were both members of the Episcopal Church. They had at least two children together, Charles and Mary Evans, both of whom died young and were buried in the Episcopal graveyard, and who were later memorialized by the placement of small headstones next to their parents' graves at Charles Evans Cemetery in 1847. In a posthumous biography of the couple that was published in an 1886 edition of The Reading Eagle, a longtime friend described Mary (Keene) Evans as "a noble, educated, refined and most excellent lady, who was liked as well if not better, than any other woman in Reading." The friend went on to state that Charles and Mary Evans "were so well suited to each other, that they were frequently referred to as the model husband and wife of the town."[12]
Legal career and civic leadership
Posthumously described in an 1886 biographical sketch in The Reading Times as "the most eloquent pleader in court" and a "tall, commanding" man with "courtly bearing," Evans initially practiced law in Pennsylvania's third judicial circuit, which included, Berks, Luzerne, Northampton, and Northumberland counties, gradually building "a large practice" that "won fame and distinction." A man of "excellent health," he reportedly never missed a day in court during one thirteen-year period of his legal career.[13]
During the late 1700s, Charles Evans also played an active role in the development of the Reading Public Library, the sixth public library to have been created in the United States. A member of the library’s board of directors, he later went on to serve as the board’s president for one term.[14][15]
He was also a founding member of the Reading Artillerists, a local militia group established on March 23, 1794, according to Pennsylvania historian Morton L. Montgomery.[16][17][18][19]
In 1809, Evans served on the three-member legal defense team that represented Susanna Cox during the initial criminal trial in which she was convicted of murdering her infant.[20] In 1823, Evans was a member of the three-member legal defense team that represented John Zimmerman during the unsuccessful appeal of his conviction for the murder of his daughter, Rosina.[21][22]
As his law practice continued to grow, so did his personal wealth and reputation as a civic-minded individual. In July 1824, he delivered an address during dedication ceremonies for the opening of a new stretch of canal between Reading and Philadelphia.[23][24]
Having initially spent his winters in Philadelphia, where he and his wife lived in a "York row residence," and two months out of the year in Reading while devoting the remaining time to his travels to multiple counties for circuit work as an attorney, Evans sold his home in Philadelphia and permanently relocated to Reading in 1826 after buying a home on South Fifth Street. He then began reducing his legal travel, restricting his work primarily to Berks, Lehigh and Schuylkill counties.[25]
Although largely retired from the practice of law by 1828,[26] Evans continued to accept cases periodically. Having made his "last lengthy legal argument in 1840," he "tried his last case, at the age of 75 years," but "made no charges for his services because he was accommodating several old friends."[27]
Politically, he was a member of the Federalist Party and then the Whig Party[28] before joining the Republican Party.[29][30]
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