William M. EvansOne of the most prosperous planters, as well as one of the largest landowners in the county of Itawamba, is William M. Evans, who was born in Georgia in the year 1818. He is a son of William and Sela (Dunn) Evans, who were members of old families of Georgia, his ancestry having settled there about the beginning of the present century. He was reared on a plantation and given the advantages of a common-school education in his native state. He began to do for himself at an early age, and has been so successful that he is regarded as one of the self-made, wealthy men of the county. In 1844 he married Sarah A. Pierce, a daughter of John and Betsey (Skinner) Pierce, and she was a native of Georgia. Her parents were also natives of Georgia and members of well-known families there. To Mr. and Mrs. Evans seven children have been born 00 two sons and five daughters -- of whom two died young. Those living are Martha A., Elizabeth, John T., Susan F. and William D. Mrs. Evans died in 1862. She was a model wife and mothers, and for long years a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1863 Mr. Evans enlisted in Col. John M. Simonton's regiment, but was soon sent home on account of disability and detailed to provost duty, which he continued till the close of the war. Politically he is a democrat, standing high in the estimation of his party and fellow citizens generally, which is attested by the fact that he has been five times elected a member of the board of supervisors of Itawamba County. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and is liberal in his contributions to schools, churches and to all worthy objects. he is the oldest settler in his part of the county, and has lived on his present plantation since 1865. He is the owner of four thousand six hundred acres of land, the largest amount owned by any one man in the southern part of the county of Itawamba.Abstracted from an 1891 edition of Goodspeed's History of Mississippi
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