Here’s a Letter Signed by Early American Presidential Executive and Civil War Era Southern Union Sympathizer

FRENCH S. EVANS

(ca. 1810 – Oct. 7, 1887)

CHIEF CLERK and ACTING COMMISSIONER OF PENSIONS IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT’S PENSION OFFICE APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON 1835-1850s,

CIVIL WAR EDITOR OF “THE BALTIMORE PATRIOT,” DRIVEN OUT OF BALTIMORE BECAUSE OF HIS EDITORIALS AS A PRO-UNION SYMPATHIZER,

POSTMASTER AT WASHINGTON D. C. APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT CLEVELAND IN 1885,

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH CLERGYMAN and REVEREND AT BALTIMORE and WASHINGTON.D.C. AT FOUNDRY CHURCH and WESLEY CHAPEL, and FOUNDED McKENDREE CHURCH,

NAVAL OFFICER AT THE PORT OF BALTIMORE, APPOINTED BY CIVIL WAR PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN 1861,

CLERK IN THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE IN 1871, WHICH OFFICE HE HELD AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH,

EDITOR OF “THE BALTIMORE PATRIOT,” DRIVEN OUT OF BALTIMORE BECAUSE OF HIS EDITORIALS AS A UNION SYMPATHIZER

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RECEIVED A COMMISSION FROM THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE AT SHAWNEETOWN, ILLINOIS FOR THE PURCHASE OF 160 ACRES OF LAND BY PRESIDENT VAN BUREN IN 1838.

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HERE’S A LETTER SIGNED BY EVANS, 1p., DATELINED “PENSION OFFICE, JULY 9, 1851” TO WILLIAM S. AMWEG, ESQ., AT LANCASTER PENNSYLVANIA, REGARDING THE CASE OF FREDERICK GAST, A PRIVATE IN COMPANY A, 2^nd PENNSYLVANIA INFANTRY, REQUIRING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BEFORE A CERTIFICATE OF PENSION CAN BE ISSUED.

PROVENANCE: This document came from the files of Colonel William S. Amweg, a pension attorney who worked in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1849-1851.  Col. Amweg specialized in procuring pensions, land warrants and other entitlements for veterans of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Mexican-American War.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES RE FRENCH S. EVANS

EVANS, FRENCH S. (Biography)…Rev. French S. Evans died at his residence, 913 R. Street , about 10 o’clock yesterday morning, at the age of 86 years. He had been suffering with kidney complaint, but the immediate cause of his death was a cold that he contracted on September 28. The deceased was born at Morgantown , W. Va. At the age of 19 he was licensed as an exhorter of the Methodist Church, and was ordained as a deacon in 1822. He became a minister in 1826, and was stationed in Baltimore until 1829, when he came to Washington and took charge of Foundry Church. He then went to Wesley Chapel, and also accepted a position in the office of the Register of the Treasury.

Evans was the father of the Washington Methodist churches. He founded McKendree Church, Waugh Chapel and Ryland. He was at one time employed under the act of 1828 in adjusting pensions, and later Chief Clerk in the Pension Office. He was appointed by President Lincoln to be a naval officer at the Port of Baltimore , and in 1871 he became a clerk in the Dead Letter Office, which office he held at the time of his death.

He was one of the best-known of the older citizens of Washington. He leaves a widow and two sons and a daughter and six grandchildren. The funeral services will be held at McKendree church until Monday, when they will be taken to Baltimore for internment in Greenmont Cemetery .   [ Critic-Record ( 8 Oct. 1887 ) transcribed by FoFG MZ ] Washington D.C. Genealogy Trails

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Temperance cause.", May 22, 1850

French S. Evans, Chairman, and James A. Kennedy & Benj. F. Pleasants, Secretaries. 2 pp. Doc. Draft.  (William & Mary College, Special Collections

What of French S. Evans, the Anti-Administration caucus nominee for Sergeant-at-Arms? Again, the evidence suggests that he was a compromise candidate, pushed by the Americans and accepted by the Republicans. Yet, his nomination, as the New York Times (2/8/1856, p. 1) suggested, “was of at least doubtful propriety.” While his American affiliation was clear, his broader background was sketchy. Some contended that he was firmly opposed to slavery extension, others that he supported the pro-slavery Twelfth Section of the American national platform. This latter possibility induced many Republicans to ignore the caucus bond and either sit out the Sergeant-at-Arms votes or support Glossenbrenner’s candidacy on principle.

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French S. Evans, now an employee in the post office department, is the oldest sub-clerk who has President Jackson’s signature to his commission. He and Mr. Marr are great cronies. The latter has been in the public service 54 years and is now nominally chief clerk to the first assistant postmaster general but is really incapacitated for any clerical labor. These old gentlemen frequently meet and exchange stories of the stirring times along in the forties.

Source: Portland Daily Press, Sept. 5, 1885

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On April 13, 1861, Salmon P. Chase had recommended French S. Evans, formerly editor of the Baltimore Patriot, who had been driven out of Baltimore because of his Union sympathy (DLC-RTL). Evans is listed as deputy naval officer at Baltimore as of September 30, 1861.

April 11, 1861  [President Lincoln] “I wish French S. Evans to be deputy collector, or deputy Naval officer.”

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