Nelson Wiley Evans
Nelson Wiley Evans, one of the editors of this work, came into the present world June 4, 1842, at Sardinia, Brown County, Ohio. His father was Edward Patton Evans, who was then a lawyer practicing in Brown and Highland Counties. His mother was Amanda Jane King, born June 20, 1824. His father resided in Sardinia until April. 1847. when he removed to West Union, Adams County, to practice his profession. Our subject resided in West Union from that time until the Fall of 1860. He went through the usual experiences of boyhood, enjoyed all its pleasures and endured its sorrows. As a schoolboy, he showed a disposition to take life seriously, which has followed him all his life.
In the Fall of 1860, he attended North Liberty Academy, and in January, 1861, he entered the Freshman class of Miami University, half advanced. He remained in that school until June, 1863, when he enlisted in the 129th O. V. I. He was made First Lieutenant of Company G in that regiment, and with it marched to Cumberland Gap, which was taken by capitulation from the Rebel General Frazier on September 9, 1863. His regiment was attached to the Second Brigade, Second Division. Ninth Army Corps, under General Ambrose E. Burnside. He participated in the campaign in East Tennessee against Longstreet. On March 8. 1864, the regiment was mustered out, and he returned to Miami University, where he graduated in June, 1864. On the eighteenth of September, 1864, he was appointed Adjutant of the 173rd O. V. I., and joined his regiment at Nashville, Tenn. The regiment performed duty about Nashville until the time of the battle, when it was placed in the second line for the attack on Montgomery Hill. Owing to the first line moving the rebels, his command was only exposed to a dropping fire. Prior to the battle of Nashville, Mr. Evans was promoted to a captaincy of his regiment, and during the siege of Nashville by Gen. Hood, and during the battle, was adjutant of a brigade. After the battle of Nashville, his regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, and from there to Johnsonville, Tennessee, where it perfomed the duty of gathering stragglers from the Rebel army, and took them to Nashville as prisoners of war. During the time the regiment was at Johnsonville, Captain Evans was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General. At the close of the war, he resumed the studies of the law and on October, 1865, he entered the Cincinnati Law School. He remained there until April, 1866, when he was admitted to the bar by the District Court of Hamilton County. He located in Portsmouth, Ohio, on August 1, 1866. and has remained there ever since.
On September 9, 1868, he was married to Miss Lizzie Henderson, of Middletown, Ohio. He was a School Examiner of the county for two and a half years. He was City Solicitor of Portsmouth, Ohio, from 1871 to 1875, Register in Bankruptcy of the Eleventh District of Ohio from 1870 to 1878, and a member of the Board of Education of the city of Portsmouth for ten years. He is one of the Trustees of Miami University, and a vestryman of All Saints Episcopal Church. For nine years he has been a Trustee of the Children's Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church, at Cincinnati. He has two daughters, Gladys and Muriel. In politics, he is and always has been a Republican.
A friend who had known Mr. Evans since 1871 speaks of him as follows: "Captain Evans is one of the foremost attorneys at the Portsmouth bar, and has a large and lucrative practice. He is an indefatigable worker and in the preparation of his cases for trial, makes himself thoroughly familiar with every detail and fights to the last in the interest of those he represents. He is a good counsellor, a safe and a careful business and commercial lawyer. In his intercourse with his fellow men he is frank, open, courteous, accommodating and always true to his friends. His intimate associates are those who like him best. Socially he stands high, and his honesty and integrity make him respected by all."
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900