Rev. James Richards Evans of Pennsylvania married Hannah Mary Barlet of Pennsylvania in 1941 in Florida. Hannah a distant cousin of mine, third cousin twice removed, was married three times. She and her first husband had two children that died very young. Hannah and her second and third husbands did not have any children. When I research a subject, I like to have her full name, her parents’ full names, her children’s full names, her spouses’ full names and the parents’ full names of any spouses, especially for those unions with children. Of course, I don’t find all those names for everyone, that is just the goal.
In this case, this set of parents isn’t all that important, Mame and J. R. married in their seventies. They had no children. It is a perfect research topic for Groundhog day since Punxsutawney lies within Jefferson Co., Pennsylvania as does Clayville.
The Perfect Research Subject for Groundhog Day
Rev. James Richards Evans lived in Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio in 1940 and the 1940 census suggests he was in Springfield, Missouri in 1935. Sure enough, he is in Springfield, Greene Co., Missouri in 1930 with his first wife Elsie May (Leonard) Evans. In 1920 they are in Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregan. I have not located him in either the 1910 or the 1900 census. In 1880 he lived with his father and stepmother in Clayville, Jefferson Co., Pennsylvania, along with an older sister Armenta, and younger siblings Grace, Blanche and Mabel and a stepsister Armenta Fleming. Couldn’t find him in 1870 in the indices, so I checked 1860 and R. R. Evans, father of J. R. Evans and a man named John Evans are neighbors in Punxsutawney. A page by page review of Punxsutawney in 1870 doesn’t turn up J. R. Evans though his uncle John Evans is still there. Next, enumeration districts for Clayville, Young and Perry were searched page by page, also to no avail. I checked the Ancestry site for personal submissions and found one by KAEngle that listed four wives and various children for each one. While way too many of these children died young, Charles Carlton Evans should have been alive. Searched the indices for him, didn’t find him. Another child who should have been alive in 1870 was Armenta. Searching for a five year old Arm* in Jefferson Co., Pennsylvania was successful.
There she was “Arminta Crans” in Brookville, Jefferson Co., Pennsylvania with her father R. R. Evans, her stepmother Mary M. Evans, her sister Nancy L., her brother Chas. C. and her half-brother James R. Brookville is the county seat of Jefferson Co. about twenty miles from Punxsutawney. I might not have searched that Borough page by page.
I don’t know about the political boundary line changes and creations from townships to boroughs to cities in this small section of Jefferson Co. to know how much and how far the Evans family moved vs. how much the political subdivisions evolved. The neighbors of R. R. Evans were different during each census, but then so were his wives, children and the towns.
Comparing the submission with the census data, the third wife of Robert Richards Evans was probably Mary E. (Law?) Fleming. If I knew more about the Trippeer family, I would believe the second wife was in fact Mary Margaret Trippeer, sister of his first wife, born ca. 1836 or 1837 in Pennsylvania to Nancy (Law?) Trippeer. His third wife appears to have been a first cousin to his first two wives. His fourth wife does not appear to be connected, but I truly don’t need to know.
All in all, this was way more time and effort than I would usually spend on a very distant cousin’s third husband’s parents, but it was Groundhog Day and they did live in Punxsutawney part of the time. With finite resources, time and money, I generally spend both on questions closer to my own lines. However, sometimes you just get on a genealogical research tear and just keep on going.
