EVANS of Bed Brock, ? Yorkshire (General)

by Springer, Sunday, April 30, 2017, 21:42 (2774 days ago) @ MPGriffiths

I have a family tree on Ancestry.ca, under the name "Blow". I've attached records for the marriage of John Evans to Susannah Scholes Fletcher, including marriage in 1819. Bit of controversy on this one, but that's another story!

There was an Edward Evans who married Jamima Smith, and had 8 children, including Harriet Smith Evans you mentioned. His will is attached to another tree...he certainly was a wealthy man. Contractor by trade, and inventor. Died in 1835. This is where the name "Jamima" enters the Evans lineage with descendants.

There was a George Evans who was a contractor on the tunnels near Marsden from 1796 to 1798, one of which was named "Red Brook". This coincides with birth of John Evans in Red Brook in 1797. I also found in a search of the Marsden, St. Bartholomew register the baptism of Jane, daughter of George Evans - Sojourner in Almondbury, part of Huddersfield, in 1795. Was this the same George Evans just prior to assuming his new role in the construction of the tunnels??? I'm starting to think that the register entry for John stating that George was a "miner" might be an oversimplification of his greater role as a contractor for construction in coal mining. Notably, there are no other records in the ten years leading up to and after 1797 for George Evans specifically in Red Brook. Oddly enough, there was another entry for a "George, son of George Evans of Puleside, miner, in Nov. of 1797, about a month before John was born, and maybe five to ten kms from Red Brook. So many people named George Evans!!!

There is a suggestion been made that this George Evans, the contractor/miner may have been a brother to the afore mentioned Edward Evans, and also a John Evans, another contractor, all of whom are the sons of a John Evans from Wales, and who apparently may have died in Royton in 1805. Trying to sort out the fiction from the facts has been a nightmare of sorts...and nobody has any idea of whereabouts in Wales John the senior Evans might have originated.

When I saw the post here regarding George and Mary Evans in Red Brook, Newland, Gloucestershire, it got me to wondering if there might be any confusion about which Red Brook and George Evans might be the one being sought after? Sadly, back in those days, mothers of children being baptized apparently weren't somehow important enough for mention in the registers...a name would certainly shed some light on this!

Going to pass along the info you posted to my cousin, whom I'm working with to solve this mystery! Thanks!