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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 192 - 193 |
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JOHN A. EVITTS
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The business career of John A. Evitts has been attended with success and, in the possession of a comfortable competence, he is now largely living retired, enjoying the fruits of his former toil. He makes his home in Mesick, where he was formerly engaged in the hardware business. In the various other pursuits he has followed in different parts of this state, he has so directed his energies that his labors have brought him a desirable financial return. Mr. Evitts' birthplace was a farm in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and his natal day was January 14, 1848. His parents, Daniel and Jane (Steele) Evitts, were also natives of the Keystone state and both died in Franklin county, the father passing away when only about thirty-five years of age. The mother long survived him and died at the age of seventy-eight years. In their family were five children, of whom John A. is the third in order of birth. On the old homestead in the county of his nativity, John A. Evitts spent the days of his youth and when but a lad of seventeen years he offered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting on the 8th of March, 1865, as a member of Company F, Seventy Ninth Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, with which he served until the 12th of July following, when, the war having been brought to a victorious close, he was mustered out in Philadelphia. He then returned to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, but in the same year made his way westward to Galesburg, Illinois, where he learned the tinner's trade, serving an apprenticeship of three years. He did not follow that pursuit, however, until a number of years had passed and in the meantime gave his attention to other work. From Galesburg he came to Michigan, locating in Berrien county in 1868, and through one winter term he attended school at Niles. He then followed farm work until 1876 and in the summer season of that year he operated a boat on the St. Joseph river for the Goodrich Transportation Company, living at that time in St. Joseph, Michigan. He next went to Chicago, where he was employed as an auctioneer for two years, on the expiration of which period he established his home in Newaygo county, Michigan. In the latter place he worked in the lumber woods until the spring of 1891 and during that time he had also purchased and improved two farms in that county. In 1891 he discontinued his labors in connection with the lumber industry and devoted his entire attention to his agricultural pursuits until 1894, when he left Newaygo county and went to Thompsonville, Benzie county, Michigan. It was at that time that he resumed work at the trade which he learned in the Mississippi valley. He became the owner of a hardware store, which he conducted for three years, when he sold out and returned to Newaygo county. There he purchased a business block and residence in the town of Grant, and improved the property, intending to occupy the residence and to engage in the hardware business in his store building, but relinquishing this idea, he sold out there and removed to Mesick, Wexford county, where he has made his home since the fall of 1897. Here he established a hardware store, which he carried on successfully for three years, having a large patronage. He then disposed of his stock and later he purchased the old Mesick House, which he removed to its present site and remodeled, and it is now known as the Hotel Evitts. During the first period of his residence in Newaygo county, Mr. Evitts was married, in Fremont, Michigan, on the 28th of January, 1878, to Miss Eliza Crouse, who was born in Vermilion, Ohio, a daughter of Conrad Crouse. He is a member of Thompsonville Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also affiliated with McCall Tent, Knights of the Maccabees, of Thompsonville. His business interests have been of a varied character and have been carefully managed, while his investments have been judiciously made. These two elements have been potent factors in his prosperous career. His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor, and today he is numbered among the substantial citizens of the county. At all times he is ready to lend his aid and co-operation to movements for the general good. |