Dr. Evans Residence (in white, with surrounding buildings)(Photo 2015 by Richard F. Hope)

Dr. Evans Residence (65 North Third Street)

2-1/2 story brick façade house with rounded arch door and single pointed dormer window. The architectural style has been identified as “Jacobean./Dutch”.1 Appearance matches the façade of the Chipman Mansion next door (at the corner with Spring Garden Street). The Chipman Mansion was built c. 1907, designed by architect William Marsh Michler, as a residence for Easton Industrialist W. Evan Chipman.2

The land that would eventually become the Dr. Evans Residence property is a small part of original town Lot No.60, which ran along Spring Garden Street from the corner with Pomfret Street (now called North 3rd Street) all the way to the corner with the alley that is now called Sitgreaves Street.3 This Lot was acquired from the Penn Family by Samuel Sitgreaves in 1792 for £50 “in Specie”.4 Celebrated Easton town father, banker and businessman Samuel Sitgreaves5 also acquired the entire Square on the North side of Spring Garden Street, where he built his first “Spring Garden” Mansion.6 [A more detailed history of this is included with the Sitgreaves “Spring Garden” Mansion property, now replaced by the former Y.M.C.A. Headquarters at 109 North 3rd Street.] Among other things, Samuel Sitgreaves became a Federalist representative to the U.S. Congress. He served as the prosecutor of William Blount (Senator of Tennessee) in the

first federal impeachment proceedings in 1798, and as the government prosecutor of John Fries after Fries Rebellion of 1799. From 1798, he was also a US Commissioner to Great Britain regarding British claims under the Jay Treaty. In addition, in Easton he was the first President of The Easton Bank, and a leader of the campaign to build the Delaware River Bridge in 1806.7 He made crucial donations to found Easton’s Library Hall8 and the Easton Trinity Episcopal Church.9 He also drew up the articles of incorporation when Easton became a Borough, and served as the first town clerk10 and then Chief Burgess of Easton in 1789-90 and 1791-99.11

Samuel Sitgreaves died in 1827.12 Sitgreaves’s land at the SE corner of Spring Garden and Pomfret Streets became the family homestead property of John A. Probst,13

7 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, “Samuel Sitgreaves”, searchable from bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp (accessed 3 Jan. 2005); David B. Skillman, Easton in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, Paper presented to the Northampton County Historical Society 17 Jan. 1946, Historical Bulletin of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, No. 3 (Sept. 1947) (avail. Marx Room, Easton Public Library), at 3, 6-7; Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 148-49 (George W. West 1885); Robert A. Clark, “Samuel Sitgreaves and the Founding of Easton’s Library”, Ex Libris, Vol.18, Issue 3, pp.1, 3 (Newsletter of the Easton Area Public Library May/June 2011); Ethan Allen Weaver, “The Forks of the Delaware” Illustrated xxi, xxvi (Eschenbach Press, Easton, PA, 1900); David B. Skillman, “The Newcomers to Easton One Hundred Fifty Years Ago”, in The Old County Court House and other Northampton County History 15, at 18 (Easton: Papers Read Before the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1964). See also Frank Whelan, “Easton’s Forgotten Founding Father”, MORNING CALL, Monday, 5 Aug. 1991, p.D1 (age 22 when he came to Easton in 1786).

8 See Easton Area Public Library Website, www.eastonpl.org/, “Our History” (accessed 3 Jan. 2005); Dr. Elinor Warner, Easton, Pennsylvania Walking Tour, for Pennsylvania Art Education Association Conference 2000, www.kutztown.edu/paea/paeaconf/2000/easton/walk_tour.html (accessed 4 Jan. 2005).

9 Warner, Easton Walking Tour, supra; Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 152 (George W. West 1885 / 1889).

10 Robert A. Clark, “Samuel Sitgreaves and the Founding of Easton’s Library”, Ex Libris, Vol.18, Issue 3, pp.1, 3 (Newsletter of the Easton Area Public Library May/June 2011).

11 Article, “Chief Executives of Easton Since 1789”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sun., 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section A, p.5, cols.1-2.

1 City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone E (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

2 Dr. Elinor Warner, Easton, Pennsylvania Walking Tour, for Pennsylvania Art Education Association Conference 2000, http://www.kutztown.edu/paea/paeaconf/2000/easton/walk_tour.html (accessed 4 Jan. 2005); William Peterson, Eagle Scout Project: Historic Guide of Easton Site #33 (2006), available through Easton website, www.easton-pa.com (via “History” link); accord, Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1912 145 (The Easton Directory Company 1912)(W. Evans Chipman, Secretary / Treasurer of Chipman Knitting Mills, residence at 252 Spring Garden Street); City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone E (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982)(69 North 3rd Street built c.1900 in “Victorian” architectural style). But see Jimmy P. Miller, “Developer Restoring Easton Mansion”, THE EXPRESS-TIMES, 25 Dec. 1998, p.B-1, B-2 (mansion “built as long ago as the 1920s”). See generally Carole Heffley, “Editorial: Easton, Can Do!”, THE IRREGULAR, March 1999, p.2 (picture).

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possibly by the late 1820s.14 Rev. John A. Probst was a clergyman, who commuted from Easton to his church in Forks Twp. (the Salem Church) for many years.15 Probst finally acquired formal title from the Sitgreaves estate in two transactions, the corner property itself in late 183016 and an additional, adjacent piece along Spring Garden Street in January of 1831.17

After Rev. Probst’s death c.1844,18 his property descended to his widow, Catharine, and their three children – Emeline (also spelled Emelius or Emelious), Franklin, and Cecelia,19 who continued to live in the property.20 Cecelia’s husband, Jacob Brodt Illick, was originally executor of Rev. John Probst’s will. However, he resigned as executor in 1848,21 and left for California as a “49er” during the Gold Rush in 1849,22 leaving his wife and new daughter, Mary Catherine Illick (born 1849)23 in Easton. He

3 The Dr. Evans Residence property has 26.17’ of frontage on North 3rd Street, beginning after the Chipman Mansion’s 23.25’ of frontage from the corner with Spring Garden Street. Accordingly, these two properties together occupy a frontage of 49.42’ along North 3rd Street, running South from Spring Garden Street. Both the Chipman Mansion and Dr. Evans Residence properties are 73’ deep.

Original town Lot No.60 extended 60’ along what is now North 3rd Street, beginning at the corner of Spring Garden Street. That Lot ran 240’ deep, all the way to the alley that is now called Sitgreaves Street. Thus, Lot No.60 included all of the land that is now the Chipman Mansion and Dr. Evans Residence properties – plus a considerable additional amount as well.

4 Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Samuel Sitgreaves, A2 277 (19 Dec. 1792)(Lot No.60); see A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937).

5 See, e.g., Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 148-49 (George W. West 1885); Obituary, “Col. McKeen’s Will”, EASTON ARGUS, Thurs., 2 Dec. 1858, p.2, col.4.

6 Deed, James Linton, Executor of the Will of Samuel Sitgreaves, to John G. Marbacher, G5 204 (31 Dec. 1830). He had gradually acquired the entire Square all the way to Bushkill Street, as follows:

Lot No.58: Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Samuel Sitgreaves, G1 489 (3 Sept. 1790)(sale price £ 25 “in specie”).

Lot No.56: Deed, Conrad (Elizabeth) Roan to Samuel Sitgreaves, D2 269 (20 Sept. 1797)(including a “Messuage”, sale price £ 380). According to a deed recital, this property had been purchased by Roan from John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder by a deed dated 10 Jan. 1794.

Lot No.54: Deed, Henry (Catharina) Deringer to Samuel Sitgreaves, D2 565 (20 Apr. 1799)(sale price $600). Deringer (also spelled “Dehringer” and “Derringer”) had purchased this property from the Penn Family in 1794. Deed, John Penn and Elder and John Penn the Younger to Henry Deringer, D2 564 (10 Jan. 1794)(sale price £25 “in Specie”).

Lot Nos. 52 and 50: Deed, George (Catharine) Dingler to Samuel Sitgreaves, C3 70 (1 Apr. 1807)(sale price $1,500).

12 Floyd S. Bixler, The History with Reminiscences of the Early Taverns and Inns of Easton, supra; F.S. Bixler, “Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves”, supra; see Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., The Easton-Phillipsburg 1999 Calendar unnumbered page 5 (Buscemi Enterprises, 1998).

13 See Deed, Mary C. Illick to May Y. Evans, D58 305 (1 Nov. 1927), which recites that the property derived from two deeds to John Probst as follows:

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died in California, as a rancher, in approximately 1880.24 The daughter, Mary Catherine Illick, continued to live in Easton with her Mother.25

Over the years, it appears that the Probst Family had divided their corner homestead, and rented out the southern portion. The southern portion appears to have been the residence of Edwin B. Mixsell in 1852;26 of the Rev. Frank Miller in 1873 (then listed as 23 North 3rd Street,27 before being assigned the address of 65 North 3rd Street when the modern street numbering scheme was inaugurated);28 and of John Kutz (a carpenter) and his sister in the 1880s.29

Deed, James Linton, Executor of the Will of Samuel Sitgreaves, to John Augustus Probst, G5 74 (26 Oct. 1830); and

Deed, Henry (Theodotia) Hill to John A. Probst, C6 363 (6 Sept. 1837). 14 See Obituary, “Mrs. Catherine Probst”, THE DAILY FREE PRESS, Thurs., 20 Aug. 1885,

p.3 (“built at the corner of what is now Third and Spring Garden street”). 15 Obituary, “Mrs. Catherine Probst”, THE DAILY FREE PRESS, Thurs., 20 Aug. 1885, p.3. 16 Deed, James Linton, Executor of the Will of Samuel Sitgreaves, to John A. Probst, G5

200 (7 Jan. 1831)(sale price $950 for corner parcel with 46’ 1½” on Pomfret (now called North 3rd) Street X 80’ on Spring Garden Street).

17 Deed, James Linton, Executor of the Will of Samuel Sitgreaves, to John Augustus Probst, G5 74 (26 Oct. 1830)(sale price $600 for 40’ of land on Spring Garden Street, starting 80’ from Pomfret Street, and ending at “the Episcopal Grave Yard”).

18 John A. Probst was listed in Easton in the 1840 Census, Series M704, Roll 479, p.1. His will was probated in 1844 in Northampton County Orphan’s Court, recorded in Will Book 6 at page 250. As discussed below, one of his executor’s resigned in 1848.

19 See Deed, Mary C. Illick to May Y. Evans, D58 305 (1 Nov. 1927)(regarding sale of 65 North 3rd Street next door – recitals).

20 See Obituary, “Mrs. Catherine Probst”, THE DAILY FREE PRESS, Thurs., 20 Aug. 1885, p.3 (“built at the corner of what is now Third and Spring Garden street”); Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 105 (1873)(alphabetical listing for Mrs. Catherine Probst); D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874)(Mrs. Probst); 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.383B (Catherine Probst at 67 North Third Street with son “Emelious” F. Probst, daughter “Sacielia Elick”, and granddaughter “Mary C. Elick”).

21 See Recitals in Deed, Emelius F. Probst, Administrator of Estate of John A. Probst to Samuel Hess A8 180 (2 Apr. 1849)(Jacob B. Illick had been Executor but resigned on 3 Feb. 1949, and Emelius Probst took over as Administrator). This property – apparently the southern portion of the corner lot – was sold to pay the debts of the estate.

According to the 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.383B, “Emelious” Probst was 59 in 1880, which means he was only 27 at the time he took over his father’s estate from Mr. Illick. [See below – according to later age quotations, Emelius Probst may have been a few years older at the time.]

22 William J. Heller, III History of Northampton County and The Grand Valley of the Lehigh Biographical Section 413-14 (The American Historical Society 1920).

23 Obituary, “Easton’s Oldest Resident Passed Century Mark”, EASTON EXPRESS, Monday, 5 Dec. 1949, p.22, col.2; Article, “Easton’s ‘Grand Old Lady’ Saw Lincoln’s Body As Girl”, MORNING FREE PRESS, Wednesday, 14 June 1942, pp.9, 11.

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By 1900 the house was occupied by Dr. Evan W. Evans, a physician,30 who continued to live there until his death in 1927.31 During Dr. Evans’s tenure, in 1907, the Probst homestead was replaced by a mansion designed by noted architect William Marsh Michler as a residence for Easton Industrialist W. Evan Chipman.32 Dr. Evans’s house to the South – at that time still owned by the Probst Family heirs – was apparently remodeled to conform to the same façade, since the two residences resemble each other today. This conclusion is reinforced by the property description in Chipman’s deed, which described his southern property boundary as being “to the centre of a partition dividing the dwelling-house on said corner”.33 On the other side of that “partition” lay premises then being rented by Dr. Evans, confirming that they were then regarded as being part of the same “dwelling-house”.

24 William J. Heller, III History of Northampton County and The Grand Valley of the Lehigh Biographical Section 413-14 (The American Historical Society 1920); see also 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.383B (showing “Mary C. Elick” in the residence and identifying her as Catherine Probst’s granddaughter).

25 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.383B (Catherine Probst at 67 North Third Street with son “Emelious” F. Probst, daughter “Sacielia Elick”, and granddaughter “Mary C. Elick”).

26 Article, “Interesting Reminiscence, North Third Street a Third of a Century Ago”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Thursday, 20 Aug. 1885, p.3.

27 See Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 98 (1873). 28 Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Monday, 24 Nov. 1873, p.3. 29 Article, “Interesting Reminiscence, North Third Street a Third of a Century Ago”, supra;

George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton, etc. 73 (West & Everett, Job Printers 1883); 1880 Census, Series T9,  Roll 1161,  Page 383B.

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Dr. Evans was “one of Easton’s leading physicians”,34 as well as a local politician. He was a member of Easton’s Common Council from 1892 to 1894 (representing the 8th Ward); a member of the Board of Health from 1911 to 1913; and was appointed the United States pension surgeon for the district in 1893. He died suddenly in his home in 1927.35 Within a few months after his death, Mrs. Evans purchased the house from Mary Catherine Illick, by then the sole remaining heir to the Probst property.36 Mrs. Evans continued to occupy it until 1934,37 when she moved to live with her daughter in Connecticut.38 Her estate finally sold the house in 1966 for $22,500 to Benson and Evelyn Olenick.39 Benson Olenick held the property until 2007, when it was sold for $267,500 to EyeDocProperty LLC.40

34 Obituary, “Mrs. Evans dies in Connecticut”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 20 Apr. 1939, p.5, col.1; accord, Obituary, “Sudden Death of Dr. E.W. Evans Shock to large Circle of Friends – He Was Prominent in the Medical Profession And Affairs of the City”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 19 Aug. 1927, p.1, cols. 4-5; see generally John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 216-17 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.)(biography of Evan W. Evans).

35 Obituary, “Sudden Death of Dr. E.W. Evans Shock to large Circle of Friends – He Was Prominent in the Medical Profession And Affairs of the City”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 19 Aug. 1927, p.1, cols. 4-5; see also Article, “Dr. E.W. Evans Found Dead”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 18 Aug. 1927, p.1, col.3.

36 Deed, Mary C. Illick to May Y. Evans, D58 305 (1 Nov. 1927)(sale price $12,500; and recitals); see generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Chipman Mansion at 252 Spring Garden Street.

31 Obituary, “Sudden Death of Dr. E.W. Evans Shock to large Circle of Friends – He Was Prominent in the Medical Profession And Affairs of the City”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 19 Aug. 1927, p.1, cols. 4-5; s ee also 1920 Census, Series T625, Roll 1609, p.96A (physician Evan W. Evans, wife E. May Evans and daughter Elizabeth Evans at 65 North 3rd Street); 1910 Census, Series T624, Roll 1381, p.24A (same).

32 Dr. Elinor Warner, Easton, Pennsylvania Walking Tour, for Pennsylvania Art Education Association Conference 2000, http://www.kutztown.edu/paea/paeaconf/2000/easton/walk_tour.html (accessed 4 Jan. 2005); William Peterson, Eagle Scout Project: Historic Guide of Easton Site #33 (2006), available through Easton website, www.easton-pa.com (via “History” link); accord, Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1912 145 (The Easton Directory Company 1912)(W. Evans Chipman, Secretary / Treasurer of Chipman Knitting Mills, residence at 252 Spring Garden Street). But see Jimmy P. Miller, “Developer Restoring Easton Mansion”, THE EXPRESS-TIMES, 25 Dec. 1998, p.B-1, B-2 (mansion “built as long ago as the 1920s”). See generally Carole Heffley, “Editorial: Easton, Can Do!”, THE IRREGULAR, March 1999, p.2 (picture).

33 Deed, Emelius F. Probst and Mary C. Illick to W. Evans Chipman, F34 687 (7 June 1905)(sale price $10,500 for house and property measuring 23.19’ on North 3rd Street “to the centre of a partition dividing the dwelling-house on said corner” X 72.98’ on Spring Garden Street).

The 1927 deed conveying the house to Dr. Evans’s widow recited this boundary as the “partition wall dividing the dwelling house on the said corner of third and Spring Garden Streets from the property hereby conveyed”. This formulation thus does not imply that the party wall divided a single house – but does not contradict that notion, either. See Deed, Mary C. Illick to May Y. Evans, D58 305 (1 Nov. 1927).

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30 1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.63A. See also 1910 Census, Series T624, Roll 1381, p.24A; 1920 Census, Series T625, R.1609, p.96. See generally John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 217 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.)(biography of Evan W. Evans).

37 See West’s Easton Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 1930 224, 716 (R.L. Polk & Co.)(“Mary” Evans).

The 1920 Census, Series T625, Roll 1609, p.96A, confirms that Dr. Evan W. Evans’s wife was E. May Evans.

38 Obituary, “Mrs. Evans dies in Connecticut”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 20 Apr. 1939, p.5, col.1. She died in 1939. Id.; see also Deed, Elizabeth Evans Palmer, Executrix of the Estate of May Y. Evans, to Benson Y. (Evelyn) Olenick, 261 153 (14 Jan. 1866)(recital that May Y. Evans had died on 19 Apr. 1939).

39 Deed, Elizabeth Evans Palmer, Executrix of the Estate of May Y. Evans, to Benson Y. (Evelyn) Olenick, 261 153 (14 Jan. 1866); see Deed, Benson Y. (Evely[n]) Olenick to Benson Y. Olenick, 870 502 (16 July 1992).

40 Deed, Benson Y. Olenick to EyeDocProperty LLC, 2007-1-247051 (27 June 2007)(sale price $267,500).

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