Thad W. Evans, who carried on general farming on section 13, New Milford township, having here a tract of land of eighty acres, was born in this township, Mary 27, 1872, his parents being Thomas W. and Caroline (Crill) Evans. They were early residents of Ogle county, and were natives of Oneida county, New York, coming to the west when young people. The father devoted his energies to farming and thus provided for his family, acquiring an estate of about fifty thousand dollars. His death occurred February 19, 1899. His first wife, Mrs. Caroline (Crill) Evans, died in 1874, and he subsequently married Laura E. Lewis, of New York. By the first marriage there were six children who reached adult age and one by the second, while the other members of the family died in infancy. Jennie became the wife of W. P. Hotelling and died in Rockford about eighteen or twenty years ago, leaving a daughter, Rapha, who married a Mr. Munch and resides in the west. Belle is the wife of R. M. Barross, who is living near Garden Prairie, in McHenry county, Illinois, and they have four children, Bert, Evans, Nora and Lucy. John O. Evans, who is now following farming in New Milford township, married Flora Bauder and they have four children, Thomas, Georgia, Bernice and John. Jean Paul Evans, owning a farm in Ogle county, was married to Miss Alice French, and they have four children: Lois, Paul, Harvey and is the wife of J. C. Thompson, a resident farmer of New Milford township. Thad W. is the next of the family. Lois is the wife of Frank Denel, a resident of Rockford.
Thad W. Evans was reared in the county where his birth occurred, and throughout his business career he has carried on general agricultural pursuits. He now has eighty acres of land known as the Waugh farm, and devotes his time to the tilling of the soil and the raising of crops. There are good buildings upon his place, and altogether he has a finely improved tract of land, constituting one of the best farm properties of the neighborhood.
Mr. Evans was married October 23, 1895, at Salem, Wisconsin, to Miss Minnie French, who wos [was] born in Antioch, Lake county, Illinois, and is a daughter of John French, who came in his boyhood days from the Empire state to the west, and was one of the early settles of Illinois. Mrs. Evans died February 17, 1901, at the age of twenty-six years, leaving a daughter, Jeanette Maude, now six years of age.
Politically Mr. Evans has always been a republican and that belief has ever been the political faith of the family. He belongs to New Milford camp, No. 419, M. W. A., of New Milford, and also to camp No. 26 of the Home Fraternal League of New Milford. His business affairs are capably conducted, and in all of his work he follows a definite plan of action. Both his systematic labors and diligence are bringing him to the goal of success toward which each man turns his face as he starts out in a business life.
Source: Charles A. Church, Past and Present of the City of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1905), p. 790.