EVANS
,
LEWIS
(
c.
1700
-
1756
),
cartographer
;
believed to have been b. in the parish of
Llangwnnad, Caerns.
He became a
land surveyor
in
Pennsylvania
. In
1749
he published
A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New York and the three Delaware counties
, including notes on thunder and lightning (revised ed.
1752
). His most notable map is
A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America
(
1755
); boundary disputes were decided on its authority and much use was made of it during the
Seven Years War
. In the
Analysis
which was published with the map the
author
expressed his opinion on the
French
claim to land which led to severe criticism in an anonymous article in
The New York Mercury
,
5 Jan. 1756
, to which
Evans
responded within five days by publishing a second treatise. He had intended
publishing maps
of all the separate states, but he d.
12 June 1756
before completing the task; he was at the time in custody in
New York
on a charge of libel against the
governor
Robert Hunter
Morris
. His map was used unacknowledged many times
between
1755
and
1814
by
London
map publishers
. In
1776
it was published in
America
by
Thomas
Pownall
with his
Topographical Description of North America
to aid
Evans
’ family which was in straightened circumstances.
[He m. in
1743
Martha
Hoskins
(d.
c.
1746
) at
Christ Church
,
Philadelphia
and they had a daughter,
Amelia
(and possibly other children).]
Bibliography:
-
Henry N. Stevens
,
Lewis Evans, His Map of the Middle British
Colonies in America; a comparitive account of eighteen
different editions published betwwen 1755 and 1814
,
1920
(2nd ed. 1920);
-
Dictionary of
American Biography
, , (1928-36, 1944, 1988)
. (
1931
; amend his place of birth);
-
C. A. W. Pownall
,
Thomas Pownall, governor of Massachusetts
Bay, author of The letters of Junius with a supplement
comparing the colonies of Kings George III and Edward
VII
, 1908
(
1908
);
-
P. L. Phillips
,
A List of Geographical Atlases in the
Library of Congress
, Washington, 1909-20
(1909-20);
-
Cat. of the Printed Maps, Plans and Charts
in the British Museum
, 1885
(
1885
);
-
[
Lawrence Henry Gipson
,
Lewis Evans to which is added Evans' A brief
account of Pennsylvania
, Philadelphia, 1939
(
1939
);
-
Gwreiddiau Gwynedd Roots cylchgrawn
Cymdeithas Hanes Teuluoedd Gwynedd journal of the Gwynedd
Family History Society
,
Apr. 1987;
-
Y Casglwr pob peth printiedig
,
34, Mar. 1988]
.
Author:
Miss Mary Gwyneth Lewis, (1912-99), Aberystwyth
