Benjamin Evans
During a period of more than thirty years Benjamin Evans, who is president of The Evans-Rendigs Company, has been identified with the building interests of this city. He was born in Shandon, Ohio, on the 17th of November, 1856, being a son of John D. and Ann (Lloyd) Evans. The father, who was a native of Wales, was a wagonmaker, which trade he followed for some years after locating in Shandon, later engaging in the undertaking business with which he continued to be identified until he passed away in 1903. Mrs. Evans died in 1899.
The boyhood and youth of Benjamin Evans were spent under the paternal roof, the first nineteen years of his life being largely occupied in the acquirement of an education at the public and high schools of his native town until about 1875. Having decided that he would like to make carpentry his life vocation, after laying aside his text-books, he went to Irontown, Ohio, where he served an apprenticeship for three years. Feeling at the expiration of that period that he had thoroughly mastered the craft he came to Cincinnati, where he entered the employ of James Griffith & Sons, general contractors. He remained identified with this firm for fourteen years, during the entire period of which he acted in the capacity of superintendent. Having become well and favorably known throughout the city on account of the quality of his work, in 1892 Mr. Evans withdrew from his position in order to engage in business for himself. In 1905 he organized a stock company of which he is president and George E. Rendigs, secretary and treasurer, and they are now operating under the firm name of The Evans-Rendigs Company. They have met with most gratifying success in their venture, and now have one hundred and fifty men on their payroll. The quality of their work is such that each satisfied patron obtains for them a new one, and as a result they have been awarded some of the best contracts in the city.
In Cincinnati on the 19th of March, 1884, was solemnized the union between Mr. Evans and Miss Henrietta Winkleman, and they have become the parents of two children: Nannie, who is a graduate of the Cincinnati University, the wife of Leslie B. Ryan, of this city, and Carrie, who was graduated from the Woodward high school. The religious views of the family coincide with tenets of the Congregational denomination, in which church they hold membership, while Mr. Evans keeps in touch with his business associates through the medium of the Business Men's Club, with which he is affiliated.
An ardent advocate of the principles of the republican party, Mr. Evans always casts his ballot for the candidates of that body, although he is too much engrossed in his personal affairs to participate in political activities prominently.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912