Eleazar was the son of John and Elizabeth Evans of Loudoun County, VA.
For decades descendants of Eleazar had no clue as to his parentage. Family tradition said he was orphaned young, and there was no record of his parents, any siblings, or of who raised him. His father was believed to have been killed in the Revolution.
Some referred to him as Eleazar II, but there was no known connection to any other Eleazar who could have been his father.
Eleazar moved his family to Goshen Twp, Belmont County, OH in 1803. In 1839 he settled at the south fork of Captina Creek in Wayne Twp. The house he built there burned in 1884, but was re-built on the same spot by his grandson Lee Evans, who lived in it at that time. (The house was still there and occupied, though not by anyone from the Evans family, when I photographed it in 1985.)
There are no tombstones at Hunter Cemetery for Eleazar or his wife, though they are supposed to be buried there. One descendant says the church was destroyed by fire and re-built, perhaps at a different location. This could account for there not being any tombstones at its present location. (The date on this Cemetery photo is 1897, but there are some stones dating back to the 1830s.)
In the last decade, researchers have found evidence indicating that John Evans was the father of Eleazar. He had two wives and many other children, but the family structure is not clear. I am speculating that Eleazar was the only child of his first wife Elizabeth, who perhaps died in childbirth, and the child was raised by someone else. The remaining children seem to be much younger, and probably belonged to the second wife Deborah.
For decades descendants of Eleazar had no clue as to his parentage. Family tradition said he was orphaned young, and there was no record of his parents, any siblings, or of who raised him. His father was believed to have been killed in the Revolution.
Some referred to him as Eleazar II, but there was no known connection to any other Eleazar who could have been his father.
Eleazar moved his family to Goshen Twp, Belmont County, OH in 1803. In 1839 he settled at the south fork of Captina Creek in Wayne Twp. The house he built there burned in 1884, but was re-built on the same spot by his grandson Lee Evans, who lived in it at that time. (The house was still there and occupied, though not by anyone from the Evans family, when I photographed it in 1985.)
There are no tombstones at Hunter Cemetery for Eleazar or his wife, though they are supposed to be buried there. One descendant says the church was destroyed by fire and re-built, perhaps at a different location. This could account for there not being any tombstones at its present location. (The date on this Cemetery photo is 1897, but there are some stones dating back to the 1830s.)
In the last decade, researchers have found evidence indicating that John Evans was the father of Eleazar. He had two wives and many other children, but the family structure is not clear. I am speculating that Eleazar was the only child of his first wife Elizabeth, who perhaps died in childbirth, and the child was raised by someone else. The remaining children seem to be much younger, and probably belonged to the second wife Deborah.
Eleazar was the son of John and Elizabeth Evans of Loudoun County, VA.
For decades descendants of Eleazar had no clue as to his parentage. Family tradition said he was orphaned young, and there was no record of his parents, any siblings, or of who raised him. His father was believed to have been killed in the Revolution.
Some referred to him as Eleazar II, but there was no known connection to any other Eleazar who could have been his father.
Eleazar moved his family to Goshen Twp, Belmont County, OH in 1803. In 1839 he settled at the south fork of Captina Creek in Wayne Twp. The house he built there burned in 1884, but was re-built on the same spot by his grandson Lee Evans, who lived in it at that time. (The house was still there and occupied, though not by anyone from the Evans family, when I photographed it in 1985.)
There are no tombstones at Hunter Cemetery for Eleazar or his wife, though they are supposed to be buried there. One descendant says the church was destroyed by fire and re-built, perhaps at a different location. This could account for there not being any tombstones at its present location. (The date on this Cemetery photo is 1897, but there are some stones dating back to the 1830s.)
In the last decade, researchers have found evidence indicating that John Evans was the father of Eleazar. He had two wives and many other children, but the family structure is not clear. I am speculating that Eleazar was the only child of his first wife Elizabeth, who perhaps died in childbirth, and the child was raised by someone else. The remaining children seem to be much younger, and probably belonged to the second wife Deborah.
For decades descendants of Eleazar had no clue as to his parentage. Family tradition said he was orphaned young, and there was no record of his parents, any siblings, or of who raised him. His father was believed to have been killed in the Revolution.
Some referred to him as Eleazar II, but there was no known connection to any other Eleazar who could have been his father.
Eleazar moved his family to Goshen Twp, Belmont County, OH in 1803. In 1839 he settled at the south fork of Captina Creek in Wayne Twp. The house he built there burned in 1884, but was re-built on the same spot by his grandson Lee Evans, who lived in it at that time. (The house was still there and occupied, though not by anyone from the Evans family, when I photographed it in 1985.)
There are no tombstones at Hunter Cemetery for Eleazar or his wife, though they are supposed to be buried there. One descendant says the church was destroyed by fire and re-built, perhaps at a different location. This could account for there not being any tombstones at its present location. (The date on this Cemetery photo is 1897, but there are some stones dating back to the 1830s.)
In the last decade, researchers have found evidence indicating that John Evans was the father of Eleazar. He had two wives and many other children, but the family structure is not clear. I am speculating that Eleazar was the only child of his first wife Elizabeth, who perhaps died in childbirth, and the child was raised by someone else. The remaining children seem to be much younger, and probably belonged to the second wife Deborah.
