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Mr. and Mrs. W.L. “Fate” Evans
W. L. Evans was born in Isney, Alabama on December 26, 1854 and, while still a small child, moved with his parents to Waynseboro, Mississippi. He and his boyhood friend, P.D. Gray (who later became secretary of the Baptist Home Mission Board) joined the Baptist Church as children in Waynesboro. At the age of twenty, he migrated to Texas and settled in Malakoff, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
W. L. “Fate” Evans was one of the first merchants of Malakoff. He was in the mercantile business in an old frame building later occupied by Dan Gentry’s store. In 1916, Fate Evans retired from the mercantile business and spent the remainder of his life looking after his farming interests. “Fate” Evans was also a member of the Corsicana Lodge of Odd Fellows, which he joined about 1895. He was an active lodge member most of his life and kept up his membership even after he could no longer attend meetings in person.
Adele Hunt was born on September 15, 1866 in Macon, Georgia and came to Texas when she was four years old with her parents soon after the close of the Civil War. Her family settled at Chandler in eastern Henderson County. At the age of twenty, she came to Malakoff to teach in the public school, then conducted in the Methodist Church building, which at that time, faced the Cotton Belt railroad.
W. L.”Fate” Evans and Adele Hunt married on August 22, 1887. They were charter members of the First Baptist Church of Malakoff. The original First Baptist Church was built on land owned by W. L. Evans. W. L. and Adele Evans had seven children, all of whom were born in the same house, which W. L. and Adele built shortly after their marriage.
W. L. “Fate” Evans died on February 28, 1926. His funeral was held at the First Baptist Church and was conducted by the Reverend Cartlidge and Reverend Laney. He was buried in Malakoff City Cemetery with graveside rites administered by members of the International Order of Oddfellows.
Mrs. Adele Evans died in 1958. Funeral services for Mrs. Evans, who lived in Malakoff for seventy-two years, were conducted by Reverend W. S. Chamberlain, Jr. The funeral was held at the First Baptist Church in Malakoff. At the time of her death, Mrs. Evans was the oldest living member of this church. She was survived by all of her children, with the exception of her first-born son, Thurman Evans, who died in 1927. The surviving children were Mrs. Clyde Mitchell, Mrs. Ben Wathen, Mrs. Sam Jamison, Jim Hunt Evans, Albert Evans, and Wayne L. Evans.
Pictures are courtesy of Betty Allen. Article by Britt Thompson, compiled from the Malakoff News.