 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2014) |
John Evans (born about 1678) was a colonial governor of Pennsylvania, 3 February 1704 through 1 February 1709.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2014) |
John Evans (born about 1678) was a colonial governor of Pennsylvania, 3 February 1704 through 1 February 1709.
Evans was of Welsh origin, and in February 1704, became deputy governor of the province, under the proprietor, William Penn. He was not a Quaker, and was doubtless selected out of deference to the court party, who did not believe in the peace principles of that sect. His administration was marked by quarrels with the assembly, and especially with the speaker of the house, David Lloyd, who headed the popular party. Disregarding the convictions of the Quakers, Evans, for the first time in the history of the colony, made a public call for troops, with the desire of assisting the other colonies against the French and Indians. The call met with no response, whereupon the governor, resorting to a discreditable ruse, arranged to have a messenger ride into Philadelphia on the day of the annual fair, announcing, with apparent consternation, that the French had arrived in the Delaware and were marching on the city. Evans then rode through the street with drawn sword, entreating the people to arm, and for a time great excitement prevailed. Valuables were hastily thrown into wells, and many people fled to the forests; but the Quakers, on whom Evans had wished to make an impression, continued quietly at their devotions, as it was the day for their "weekly meeting." The governor also built a fort at Newcastle, and unlawfully demanded tribute of all vessels passing up the river. One of his tax enforcers was captured by a ship he had been trying to tax and carried off to the Jersey side of the river where a furious Lord Cornbury (who had charter rights to regulate commerce on the river) upbraided him, whereupon Evans gave up on his tax. [1] Evans had a good deal of learning and refinement, but his habits were unsuited to the Quaker City. Watson, in his "Annals of Philadelphia," says that in 1702 "Solomon Cresson, going his round at night, entered a tavern to suppress a riotous assembly, and found there John Evans, Esq., the governor, who fell to beating Cresson." Evans was finally recalled in February 1709, and was succeeded by Colonel Charles Gookin.
On 28 August 1709, he married Rebecca Moore in Philadelphia. After surrendering his office to Gookin, he remained for a time in Philadelphia but at length retired to Denbigh, Wales.
George Keith was a Scottish religious leader, a Presbyterian turned Quaker turned Anglican. He was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to a Presbyterian family and received an M.A. from the University of Aberdeen. Keith joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 1660s, accompanying George Fox, William Penn, and Robert Barclay on a mission to the Netherlands and Germany in 1677.
The Middle Colonies were a subset of the Thirteen Colonies in British America, located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies. Along with the Chesapeake Colonies, this area now roughly makes up the Mid-Atlantic states.
George Wolf was the seventh governor of Pennsylvania from 1829 to 1835. On June 29, 1888, he was recognized as the "father of the public-school system" in Pennsylvania by the erection of a memorial gateway at Easton.
Andrew Hamilton was the colonial governor of East and West New Jersey from 1692 to 1697 and again from 1699 to 1703. He also served as Deputy Governor of the neighboring Province of Pennsylvania.
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from "Penn's Woods", referring to William Penn's father Admiral Sir William Penn.
John Dickinson, a Founding Father of the United States, was an attorney and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. Dickinson was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published individually in 1767 and 1768, and he also wrote "The Liberty Song" in 1768.
The history of Pennsylvania stems back thousands of years when the first indigenous peoples occupied the area of what is now Pennsylvania. In 1681, Pennsylvania became an English colony when William Penn received a royal deed from King Charles II of England. Although European activity in the region precedes that date. The area was home to the Lenape, Susquehannocks, Iroquois, Erie, Shawnee, Arandiqiouia, and other American Indian tribes. Most of these tribes were driven off or reduced to remnants as a result of diseases, such as smallpox.
Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies who settled in Philadelphia. He was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. His involvement with the 1735 decision in New York helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense concluded with saying that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth."
Thomas Danforth was a politician, magistrate, and landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A conservative Puritan, he served for many years as one of the colony's councilors and magistrates, generally leading opposition to attempts by the English kings to assert control over the colony.
James Logan was a Scots-Irish colonial American statesman, administrator, and scholar who served as the fourteenth mayor of Philadelphia and held a number of other public offices.
John McKinly was an American physician and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a veteran of the French and Indian War, served in the Delaware General Assembly, was the first elected President of Delaware, and for a time was a member of the Federalist Party.
Edward Shippen was the second mayor of Philadelphia, although under William Penn's charter of 1701, he was considered the first.
William Trent was a prominent trader and merchant in Pennsylvania and New Jersey around the turn of the 18th century after whom the capital of New Jersey, Trenton, was named. Little detail is known of his early life, including exactly when he was born.
Isaac Norris was a merchant, slave trader and prominent figure in provincial Pennsylvania, including mayor of Philadelphia in 1724.
Richard Hill was an English merchant seaman who emigrated to the Maryland colony in 1673, moved to Pennsylvania in 1703, and subsequently served four terms as the 8th and 13th mayor of Philadelphia.
John Grubb (1652–1708) was a two-term member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was one of the original settlers in a portion of Brandywine Hundred that became Claymont, Delaware. He founded a large tannery that continued in operation for over 100 years at what became known as Grubb's Landing. He was also one of the 150 signers of the Concessions and Agreements for Province of West Jersey.
William Penn was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era. Penn, an advocate of democracy and religious freedom, was known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans who had resided in present-day Pennsylvania prior to European settlements in the state.
Samuel Carpenter was a Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. He signed the historic document "The Declaration of Fealty, Christian Belief and Test" dated 10 September 1695; the original is in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Samuel was also called the "First Treasurer" of Pennsylvania, and was a partner and friend of proprietor William Penn.
William Biles was an American judge, attorney, legislator, sheriff, land speculator and merchant. Born in England and educated in law, Biles brought his family to America in 1679 and settled in what would become Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, before the charter of William Penn. The Biles family had been persecuted for their religious dissension in England, and William became a prominent Quaker minister. "After the withdrawal of the Declaration of Indulgence dissenters were more often punished for being absent from their parish churches... Quakers were always fair game and in the following spring (1674) two of them, William Biles and Thomas Strong, were presented at the Assizes." Presumably punishment for being absent from their parish church and attending Quaker ceremonies.
Charles Gookin was a deputy governor of the Province of Pennsylvania.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . New York: D. Appleton.{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)