Born : 18 Oct 1804, Cecil County, Maryland

David Evans

• Born: 18 Oct 1804, Cecil County, Maryland
• Baptized: 6 Apr 1833
• Ordained a Priest: 11 Apr 1833
• Attended School of the Prophets
• Ordained an Elder: 21 Jul 1833
• Marched with Zion's Camp: 1834, Ohio to Missouri
• Ordained to First Quorum of the Seventy: 27 Feb 1835 by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery
• Present at Hauns Mill Massacre: 30 Oct 1838
• Mission to Iowa, 1841
• Married to Barbara Ann Ewell: 23 Nov 1841, Illinois
• Set Apart as Bishop: 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois, Eleventh Ward, by the Prophet Joseph Smith
• Mission to Virginia, 1844
• Appointed Captain of Pioneer companies by Brigham Young, 1845
• Endowed: 30 Jan 1846
• Arrived in Salt Lake Valley: 15 Sep 1850
• Called to settle in Dry Creek (Lehi), February 1851, by Brigham Young
• Set Apart as Bishop: 1851, Dry Creek Ward by George A. Smith
• Elected to be a member of the first Territorial Legislature: Utah County
• Commissioned to Major in the Nauvoo Legion: 11 March 1852, Lehi District
• Sealed to Barbara Ann Ewell: 21 Jun 1852
• Appointed Postmaster, 1853
• Elected Mayor of Lehi: March 6, 1854, Lehi, Utah
• Elected Major of Battalion of Infantry of Lehi:March 11, 1855
• Served as Mayor until 1861
• Died: 23 Jun 1883, Lehi, Utah, Utah
• Buried: 24 Jun 1883, Lehi, Utah, Utah

Height: 6 ft.

Weight: 180 lbs.

Eye Color: Black

Hair Color: Black

Cause of Death: “General Disability”

History written by: E. Bruce Preece

"Happy is he who remembers his progenitors with pride, who relates with pleasure, to the listener, the story of the greatness of their deeds, and silently rejoicing sees himself link to the end of this goodly chain." --Goethe

It is with these thoughts in mind that I remember my great-great grandfather, David Evans, and relate to the reader of this paper some of the important deeds and experiences of a man whose name is closely identified with the early history of the church. As an associate of the prophet Joseph Smith, military officer, spiritual leader, missionary, town-planner, territorial legislator, and patriarch to his family, he deserves to be recognized as a pioneer leader by at least those people who see themselves "linked to the end of this goodly chain."

When a son was born to Israel and Abigail Evans, in Cecil County, Maryland, October 27, 1804, they chose for him the Biblical name of David. Soon after the birth of their son, the Evans family sought new opportunity in Pennsylvania, considered at that time as part of the new nation's frontier. During his early life in this primitive region, David developed the spiritual and physical ruggedness which prepared him for the trials and challenges that were to follow on other frontiers.

Conversion and Missionary Labors. In 1826 David Evans married Mary Beck and the couple purchased a large farm in Richland County, Ohio. Not far away in another section of the state, the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were intensifying proselyting efforts, in order to swell the ranks of the new church organization. Responding favorably to the message of the gospel, delivered them by the L.D.S. missionaries, David and Mary were baptized into the church on its third anniversary. Willingness to give their all for the church, the Evans sold their farm so that David would have sufficient funds to perform missionary labors.

This was the beginning of service to the church as a missionary. David later filled a mission to Iowa in 1841, being called by the Council of the Twelve for that purpose. In 1844 he went as a missionary to Virginia.

As a result of a revelation, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the School of the Prophets at Kirtland, Ohio in 1832. The main objective of the school was to prepare the membership of the church to carry the gospel to the world. David's effectiveness as a missionary was no doubt influenced by his attendance at these class sessions. When the body of the church later left for Missouri, the leaders of the church placed David in charge of a company of Saints; most of these Saints were people that he had converted and baptized.

The Call to Leadership. In Kirtland, Joseph Smith heard that hundreds of Saints were experiencing great trials as a result of expulsion from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri, in 1833-34. The prophet organized a group of some 200 volunteers to march to the aid of these distressed saints. This organization came to be know as Zion's Camp. David Evans volunteered to make the 1,000 mile march with the other members of this armed body. Even though Zion's Camp failed in its mission, the experiences gained from the march provided the participants with knowledge which proved valuable in the exodus from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains..

From among those willing to make the march, the Lord chose His First Quorum of Twelve Apostles and First Council of Seventy. Joseph Smith and his two counselors Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery set apart David Evans as a member of this First Council of Seventy on February 27, 1835.

Ten years later, in 1845, when it became apparent that the church would need to move to the west, Brigham Young appointed David as a captain of one of the pioneer companies of Saints. The training which David Evans received on the Zion's Camp march equipped him well for this particular assignment.

Persecutions in Missouri. Along with other faithful Ohio Saints, David heeded the admonition of the church leaders to move his family to Missouri during the middle 1830's. Like most of the Saints in this area, the Evans' suffered persecution at the hands of lawless mobs. Probably the best known example of brutality and murder in Missouri occurred at Haun's Mill on Tuesday, October 30, 1838. The following is taken from Joseph Young's narrative of the massacre.

It was about 4:00 o'clock, while sitting in my cabin, with by babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal Creek and saw a large company of armed men, on horses, directing their course towards the mill with all possible speed. As they advanced through the scattering trees that stood on the edge of the prairie they seemed to form themselves into a three square position, forming a vanguard in front.

At this moment David Evans, seeing the superiority of their numbers, (there being 240 of them, according to their own account), swung his hat, and cried for peace. This not being heeded they continued to advance...

During the ensuing scene of bloodshed, eighteen or nineteen lives were snuffed out. Hiding in the brush, David's wife and family escaped without harm.

On another occasion, David Evans was preaching in the home of a man named Charles Jameson who he had converted in Ohio several years previous. At the close of the meeting ten men intruded with the intent of tarring and feathering David. At this point Charles stepped between his good friend and the mob saying, "the first man that lays a hand on David Evans will have to walk over the body of Charles Jameson." The mob retreated fearfully.

Throughout the winter of 1838-39 such lawlessness continued among the scattered settlements of Mormons in northern Missouri. Unable to endure terrible treatment further, the Saints again abandoned their homes and property to the mobs and located themselves in the western part of Illinois.

Experiences in Illinois. Leaving behind their home in Missouri, the Evans family settled in Adams County, Illinois, where David actively engaged in missionary work among the local settlers. However, when death took his wife Mary, David moved to Nauvoo. On the twenty-third of November, 1841, David married my great-great grandmother, Barbara Ann Ewell, in Nauvoo. She was a girl whom he had converted and baptized in Ray County, Missouri, four years previously.

For the next forty-two years, Barbara Evans endured the trials and hardships required of the wife of a pioneer leader. She deserves to be revered as a chosen and faithful daughter of Israel, especially by those who descend from the fifteen children she bore. At the age of seventy-five, she offered this fervent testimony, "I feel thankful through all the meandering and shifting scenes of mortal life that I have been preserved thus far in the faith of the gospel, and can testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God."

Several new opportunities and experiences came to David Evans during his five years residence in Nauvoo. When Joseph Smith organized the city into ecclesiastical units, David became the bishop of the South side Eleventh Ward. He received his ordination under the hands of the Prophet on August 20, 1842. At one time Bishop Evans had to deal with a member of his ward who worked with witches devining rods and burning boards used for healing the sick. At another time he entertained Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball who visited the ward to solemnize a marriage.

Those who are acquainted with the Nauvoo period of Church History know that many outward as well as under-lying problems led to the martyrdom of the Prophet and the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo. However, the Nauvoo Expositor affair brought the trouble to a head. Shortly after this disturbance, Joseph Smith organized delegates and sent them into the surrounding towns and villages to explain the situation in Nauvoo was under control and that mob action was uncalled for. Along with several other brethren, Bishop Evans filled one of these peace-making assignments. As history records, all efforts to avert trouble failed and the Prophet Joseph Smith fell martyr to the cause of the gospel.

The death of their leader came as a blow to the Saints, but at the same time most of the church members felt that God had not forsaken them. Bishop Evans' wife expressed her feeling this way.

I saw Joseph and Hyrum Smith after their martyrdom. It was a solemn day among the Saints. We felt like a flock of sheep without a shepherd, but the Lord had another shepherd to lead his Saints. It was Brigham Young. I was present the day he was set apart to lead the church. No Saint could dispute it, for it did seem when he spoke as though it was Joseph's own voice that was addressing us. I never shall forget that day nor how the Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon the people; it came so mild, yet so penetrating that every heart beat with joy to know we had a man of God to lead the Saints. Oh, what a consolation it was to know we were not forgotten.

Along with other officers of the church, David Evans received a sustaining vote from the membership of the church as Bishop of the Eleventh Ward at the October General Conference of the church following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith.

Expulsion from Nauvoo. As it became apparent that their beloved city of Nauvoo would have to be forsaken, the Saints made preparations for the trek west. Barbara Evans gave this account.

I remained in Illinois until the exodus from that state, which was in 1846. Some of the Saints had neither teams nor wagon. The brethren united together and made wagons for those that had none; by that means all had wagons, but not teams, and we were obliged to get away, as the mob was howling around, and Nauvoo was threatened. So my husband, being bishop of the Eleventh Ward, concluded to take the teams they had and move as many as they could. We made a start with what teams we had, crossed the Mississippi River, went a day's journey, and set the families down on the prairie. The next day they took the teams and brought the rest.

When the Saints reached Council Bluffs, Iowa, the United States government asked them for soldiers to fight in the war in Mexico. Anxious to be a member of the Mormon Battalion, the Evans' eighteen year old son, Israel, got into line with the intention of joining up. The recruiting officer turned him down as being too small. Unwilling to accept this reason as valid, young Israel made his way to the other end of the line and stood on a tree stump behind a friend. This time the recruiting officer signed him up as a member of Company B. Many years later he was asked why he was so eager to enlist. He answered, "my enlistment saved some man with a family and if I had stayed my father might have been compelled to go. That would have been a tragedy."

Staying in Missouri from 1847-50 to prepare for the journey west, David Evans, at the head of fifty-four wagons, including his own, set out for Salt Lake valley on June 15, 1850 from Kanesville, Iowa. Three months to the day, the company set foot in the city of Salt Lake.

The stay in Salt Lake valley proved to be a short duration for the David Evans family. In February, 1851, Brigham Young called David to take charge of the little colony that had settled at Dry Creek in Utah Valley. Packing up their belongings in mid-winter, the family headed for the area located thirty-two miles to the south.

I, Lehi, Having Been Born of Goodly Pioneers. It would be interesting to know the thoughts of David Evans as the wagon entered the small encampment that cold February day. Would this settlement be a temporary one like those in Ohio? Would persecutions come to them as they did in Missouri? Or would they be allowed to build a beautiful city only to abandon it as they did in Nauvoo? Is it possible that David envisioned a permanent and prosperous city, ever growing from the sturdy foundations that he helped to build?

Shortly after the arrival of the Evans family, Apostle George A. Smith visited the little colony and organized Dry Creek Ward of the church. David Evans was appointed Bishop. In this capacity he faithfully performed his duties for twenty-eight years.

For awhile a ward organization sufficed in taking care of civil and ecclesiastical demands. Later on the citizens felt that a town should be properly organized and named. Accordingly, early in 1852, David Evans, elected member of the first territorial legislature for Utah County, presented a petition to the legislature requesting that Dry Creek be incorporated. With the granting of this petition came also the christening of Lehi, the sixth city in Utah to be incorporated.

Knowing well that a city must grow out of more than mere legislative action, the Lehi citizens considered their most important needs. The town desperately required more water. Dry creek was just what its name implied. In February of 1852, Bishop Evans steered a bill through the territorial legislature granting to the people of Lehi one third of the waters of American Fork Creek.

Under the direction of David Evans, the mammoth task of digging a canal the seven miles from American Fork Creek to Lehi began. With poor tools, the job of digging in the cobblestone formation was difficult. Poorly fed and clothed, the workers would have abandoned the project except for the "good humor and tact of their leader." Water began pouring into Lehi before the summer's end, insuring future growth and development of the city.

Not so long out of Nauvoo that they couldn't remember the beautiful physical arrangement and order of that city, the Lehi settlers wanted as much for their own community. Lack of proper instruments did not prevent them from having their wish granted. Bishop Evans with the aid of a pocket compass, carpenter's square, and tape line, laid out the city in blocks and lots.

Passing through Lehi in May of 1854 on a return trip from making a peace treaty with the Ute war chief Walker, Brigham Young advised the people of Lehi to build a fort. Following this counsel, Bishop Evans supervised the construction of a fort and stationed guards at all gates for protection against marauding Indians. This guard lasted for two years. It must have been effective since the very night that it stopped, an Indian broke into the fort and stole two of the best horses.

Early in 1853, Lehi made communication with the outside world when the citizens established a post office in the community. They appointed David Evans as Postmaster with an office conveniently located in one part of his home. The town residents rejoiced when, in 1870, Lehi broadened its communication facilities with the initiation of the telegraph. Until it was discontinued two years later, due to financial troubles, Bishop Evans' residence house the telegraph. His daughter Barbara operated the telegraph. She employed the special training that she had learned in Lehi and Farmington.