THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

December 6, 1990

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            John W. Evans was born July 10, 1843, at Newton, Montgomeryshire, Wales, a son of Evan and Mary Hughes Evans.  His birthplace was in a region in Wales that was noted for its flannels.

            His father, Evan Evans, and his grandfather, Nathaniel Evans, were weavers before him. Evan Evans was born in 1809, and married Mary Hughes at Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, and they became the parents of six children:  Mary, Evan, Elizabeth, John W., whom this story is about, Thomas E., and one child that died in infancy.

            In 1846 the Evan Evans family came to America from Liverpool, and nearly three months later arrived in New York.  They first located at New Hartford, N.Y., which is only a few miles south of Utica.

            At New Hartford, Evan worked at his trade as a weaver for five years.  They then moved from New Hartford to Madison County, N.Y., where they stayed for the next six years, before moving to Marcellus, N.Y.  It was here that his father died in 1865, and his mother died in 1866.

            John W. Evans, the subject of this article, had very few privileges in early life.  He had little time for his education, for when only eight years of age, he began working in the woolen mills.  It was not unusual for children of that age to work in the textile mills in the East.

            In February of 1862, John W. Evans tried to enlist in support of the Union cause, but due to his age, he was unable to get his parents’ consent and was not allowed to muster in.

            However, in February, 1864, after he came of age, he enlisted in Battery E., Third New York Light Artillery.  He saw action in the last years of the war.  He went into the army as a private and was promoted to corporal before he was honorably discharged in July 1865 at the end of the war between the states.

            He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln while he was in the army, or at least he intended to.  Soldiers in the army at that time had to send their ballot to their home voting place.  IN opening the letter, the inner envelope containing the ballot was accidentally torn and the vote was rejected.

            After his discharge, he returned to Marcellus and worked at his old position in the woolen mill for the next year.  He then attended school at Cazenovia, N.Y., for another year.

            In 1867, accompanied by his brother, Thomas E. Evans, and their sister, Mary, John Evans came to Waupaca, where another sister, Elizabeth (Mrs. William Smith), was already residing.

            As stories have it, John W. Evans formed a partnership with Dayton, Dewey and Baldwin, and they began to remodel the old grist mill.  (This property now belongs to the Shanak Foundry and Machine Co.).

            Quit claim deed, volume 58, page 292, dated April 1, 1884, shows that a quit claim deed was given by Charles Evans and his wife, Hortense Evans, for $1 and other valuable consideration, for the following described tract of land: the undivided one-fourth part of the northeast ¼ of the northwest ¼ and the northwest ¼ of the northeast ¼ of section 32, T.22N-R.12E to east.

            When the mill was completed, they employed about 20 people and manufactured cashmeres, men’s suitings and flannels.  The mill prospered and grew and had a good business until the price of raw wool declined. George McGill, who was one of our old-time historians and has now passed away, remembered taking raw wool from sheep sheared on his father’s farm in the Town of Dayton to be processed at the mill.

            John W. Evans returned to Marcellus, N.Y., where he married Anna Edwards, the daughter of a weaver, and the couple returned to Waupaca to live.

            Here they became the parents of four children:  William L., Grace M., May E., and Llewellyn.  Anna Evans died in March 1890, and in April of 1891, John W. Evans was married to Cora McAllister in Oshkosh.  John and Cora had two children:  John Kenneth, who died in 1894, age two years, and Bryant McAllister, born June 17, 1895.

            John W. Evans passed away October 15, 1920 and his wife passed away in 1930.  All are buried in the Evans’ lot in the Waupaca Lakeside Memorial Park.

            It seems as if the woolen mill ran into some bad years.  The Waupaca Record, dated April 16, 1903, had this to say:

            “The lease held by J. Bower of the Waupaca Woolen Mill ran out on the first of April and Mr. Evans is anxious to dispose of the factory and has been in communication with a knitting factory whose management considered coming here and putting in a knitting factory.”

            John Evans did dispose of his holdings.  A warranty deed, dated May 22, 1906, shows that John W. Evans and his wife Cora sold all of the woolen mill property, including the flowage and power rights, the storehouses and all tools and machinery in the woolen mill, to William and James Proctor of Milwaukee and J. Bower of Waupaca, for $7,000.

            In the summer of 1906, a stock company was organized with a capital of $50,000, one-half of the stock being held by the National Straw Works of Milwaukee.  John Hebblewhite was the manager and Nathan Cohen served as president.

            Then, on October 15, 1906, they filed an Article of Incorporation to become the Waupaca Felting Mills, for the purpose of carrying on business of manufacturing, jobbing and dealing in all kinds of felt, woolen and knit goods, to manufacture felt, felt hats, bodies and other articles of every kind and description out of wool and woolen yarns, including cloths and cloths of wool and cotton mixture.

            The headlines of the Waupaca Record Leader, dated March 25, 1914, proclaimed:

            “Waupaca Hat Mills are manufacturing.”  It went on to say that, “it was with great pride that the directors and stockholders of the Waupaca Hat Factory had made arrangements for the manufacturing of men’s, ladies, and boys’ hats,” and that they would completely finish and box the hats for market.

            Nathan Cohen and John Hebblewhite had been in New York and Reading, Pa., and other eastern cities and had made a partial contract with I. C. Young of Reading, Pa., to come to Waupaca and take charge of the now improved plant.

            There was to be $5,000 worth of new machinery to be shipped and installed as soon as possible.  The article stated that there would be employment for many people, who would have to be trained for the new order of things.

            In April of 1916, high water caused by the spring thaw caused a break in the dam, resulting in $5,000 damage to the old felting mill.

            On January 30, 1919, the Waupaca Felting Mills filed for Dissolution of Organization.

            In the 1930s, the two story frame building and basement was completely destroyed by fire, and was never rebuilt.  Part of an old chimney still stands at the north end today.

            The property passed on to the Jorgensen Bros. Manufacturing Co., and presently to the Shanak Foundry and Machine Co.