A Genealogy Friend found the 1832 French Passport record for the Evans Family - 

Tracking the Evans Family


John and Mary Evans had four children - Emma 1820 born in England, Benjamin 1826 and John born 1831 born in France, and Eben born 1840 Scotland.


When I started researching this family, I was tracking down John P Evans born 6 June 1831 in France - he immigrated to Pennsylvania and worked in the Iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh. I didn’t know the names of his parents, but I did know they were born in England. I also didn’t know why the family was living in France, but I thought it likely that the father was working in the Iron or Coal Industry.


I searched for another Evans in Pennsylvania born in France in the same time frame and found a brother to John P Evans - Benjamin Evans was born in 1826 in France and is buried right beside John P Evans in Pittsburgh. I had another clue - there was a Mary Thomas living with John P Evans in 1870 - she was born in England about 1800 - I thought she could be John P Evans mother - perhaps she had married again and acquired the surname Thomas. (I knew John P Evans mother had emigrated and was in the US as she is mentioned in the Civil War pension record of her son John)


I also had very good sourcing that son John (born 6 June 1831) moved from France to Glasgow as an infant. - This information was provided by the son of John P Evans to a historical society.


I found an 1841 Scotland Census record and it had a family living in company housing for the Govan Iron Works. The mother was a widow and the Evans children were listed as Emma (20), Benjamin (15), John (10), and Eben (1). Mary was listed as Widow Evans - no given name. The Scotland Census was conducted on 6 June 1841. This date was noteworthy for two reasons. It was John P Evans 10th birthday and the eldest Evans child, Emma Evans, was married the very next day - 7 June 1841 to John Hanson. I may never have been able to connect Emma to this family if she had married one day sooner.

I was eventually able to track down the mother’s name. Mary - she is living with her daughter, Emma Hanson in Scotland in 1851, shown adjacent on the census to Emma Hanson in Pittsburgh in 1860 - listed as Mary Thomas, and living with John P Evans in 1870 as Mary Thomas.


However the only clue I had about the father was that he must have died in 1839 or 1840 as there was a 1 year old son in the 1841 Census. I found a death record for a 43 year old John Evans in the same location as the family in 1840. His was the only death record for an Evans who was the right age, so I had a tentative given name - John. It wouldn’t be a surprise - the name John Evans carried down as follows John P Evans 1831 to his son John Evans Sr, John Evans Jr, John Evans III, and John Evans IV.


Today I received an email from my genealogy friend with several French records and one of these records is a perfect fit! The record is a passport entry issued on 13 November 1832 in Bordeaux, France for a John Evans born in England in 1796. John Evans was working as a refiner of iron in Bordeaux and he was traveling to London with his wife who was 32 years old and 4 children ages 17 months to 12 years old. Every detail fits right down to 17 month old John Evans. I’m sure this is my John Evans - It's great to know where this family was living in France and to know that John Evans was working in the Iron industry as predicted.


Genealogy friends!! Thank you

1832 French passport with translation