Introduction
Lewis Evans (c. 1700 – 1756) was a Welsh surveyor and geographer, working principally in British America.
Lewis Evans was born in Caernarfonshire, Wales. He travelled to the British colonies in North America and produced the following maps:
A Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and the Three Delaware Counties (1749, revised 1752) See Image
A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America (1755)
The latter map, whose creation was inspired and supported by British colonial observer Thomas Pownall, was used by General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War. Evans also undertook work for Benjamin Franklin. Lewis Evans died in New York, but lies in the famous Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. After his death, his only daughter Amelia (Philadelphia 1744-Hythe, Southampton 1835) was brought up by Deborah and Benjamin Franklin. She happened to live in Tunis and married a captain of the Irish Merchant marine, David Barry, who died in Pisa and was buried in the Old English Cemetery, Livorno in 1781. She published anonymously Memoirs of Maria, a Persian Slave, 1790. The painter and engraver Alfredo Müller (1869-1939), and his brother Rodolfo (1876-1947), cycling champion, are among her descendants.
Publications
- Evans, Lewis, Brief Account of Pennsylvania, 1753.
- Evans, Lewis, Geographical, Historical, Political, Philosophical, and Mechanical Essays, Philadelphia, 1755 & London, 1756.
- Gipson, Lawrence Henry, Lewis Evans, Philadelphia, 1939. (Biography.)