John Evans (abt. 1644 - bef. 1704)

Born about 1644 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1704 before about age 60 in Deerfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

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Biography

According to the Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, John Evans of Roxbury Massachusetts married Mary _____ and had a son John christended 1671; Peter christened in 1673 and another son Peter christened 1674.^[1] John's first wife Mary died soon after Peter's birth. It is believed that John served during King Philip's War and settled at Hatfield Massachusetts 1677 right after the war. In Hatfield John married his second wife, Mary Hawkes daughter of John Hawkes and widow of Experience Hinsdale (who died with Captain Turner at "The Falls Fight" during King Philip's War).^[2] John and his second wife Mary had three children at Hatfield: Elinor 1678, Jonathan 1680, and Randal 1682. John moved his family 1685 to nearby Deerfield Massachusetts where his wife had lands.^[3]

John Evans likely died at Deerfield before 1704. Accounts of the 1704 Deerfield Massacre omit any mention of this family, but John’s son, Peter Evans, married Deerfield’s Mercy Allen in 1708. Her father Edward Allen became town clerk when the previous clerk died in the Massacre.^[4]

Additional note

King Philip is the name given to an Indian Chief. Experience Hinsdale’s father and three brothers had died in 1675. Robert Hinsdale and three of his sons, Samuel, John, and Barnabas, were slain in the Bloody Brook massacre at Deerfield on September 18, 1675. Some 700 Indians under the command of King Philip attacked and killed nearly every one of the little band of settlers led by Captain Thomas Lathrop.

Unsourced information

• Father: Thomas Evans b: 1620 in Dorcester, England
• Additional Children: Ann Evans; Sarah Evans; William Evans b: 30 MAR 1676 in might be Roxbury, Mass, Child of the first wife?

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7787/124/141313474
2. ↑ Sheldon, George. A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts (E.A. Hall & Co., Greenfield, Mass., 1895) page 153 of the Genealogies
3. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1862) volume 2 page 127 entry for John of Roxbury found between John of Wethersfield and John of Dover
4. ↑ newspaper article about Evans’s “Evans Pioneers Remembered”. In Thousand Islands Sun, Alexandria Bay, NY, July 14, 2010.

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