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THE FOLLOWING RECOLLECTIONS OF JOHN HICKS EVANS DEPICT THE JOURNEY OF THE EVANS FAMILY FROM SOUTH CAROLINA TO THE MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY IN 1810 AND DESCRIBE SEVERAL EVENTS IN THE LIVES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT WHICH WAS WRITTEN SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH IN 1902 HAS BEEN RECORDED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES IN WASHINGTON, D. C.
It might be interesting to some of the young people as well as the middle aged of this day and time to read something that an old timer has to say of some of the happenings of sixty-five and seventy years ago.
It is of my own knowledge and what I learned of my parents.
That the reader may know something of me, I will state that I am a native of Mississippi. I was born in Wayne county, November 15th,	1824,	and
have resided in Clarke county for the past sixty-nine years. My father, John Evans, was born in Chesterfield district, South Carolina, October 8th, 1795, and lived to the age of eighty-one years and five months.
The Evans family were of Scotch and Irish decent. My mother, Sarah Pegues Hicks, daughter of George Hicks of Richmond County, North Carolina, was born January 19, 1801, and lived to the age of 84 years and 11 months. The Hicks family were of Welch decent.
My grandfather, Capt. Jack, as he was called, was quite a boy in the War of the Revolution but was large enough to be of some service to Gen. Gates in showing him the nearest route to different places in the neighborhood.
In the year of 1809, my grandfather, Capt. Jack Evans, with two brothers, named Josiah and George, in company with six other families, moved to the Mississippi Territory and settled in Wayne Co., six miles north west of Winchester.
A somewhat exciting incident took place enroute as they passed an Indian village.
On the roadside stood a house, about 100 yds. from which was a branch which had a good road crossing. The Indians blocked this crossing and built a bridge, over which travelers were compelled to cross, and charged them toll. When the front wagons of the little party reached the bridge they were stopped by the Indians. My grandfather, who was at the head, advanced to know the cause of the delay. They Informed him that he must pay a toll. While he was arranging to settle quite a commotion took place in front of the house on the roadside. A man named McGill, who was in company with the
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