BEVANS HISTORY OF THE BEVANS FAMILY IN AMERICA ADAPTED FROM UNCLE HENRY'S BIBLE 1948 Copied by Dorothy Kirkpatrick, Updated 1985 by Charles Bevans, updated 2002 by David Bevans The Bevans Coat of Arms hereby illustrated is officially documented in Burke's General Armory, the original description of the arms (Shield) is as follows: "GU. Three pair of wings conjoined displayed. Arraignment, two and one." When translated the blazonalso describes the original colors of the Bevans arms as: "Red, three pairs of silver wings displayed and joined, two over one." Above the shield and helmet is the crest which is described as: "A waevers shuttle placed vertically, threaded natural colored."
This is the history of the Bevans Family as taken from the family Bible as updated to 1948. The history was updated to 1971 by Dorothy Kirkpatrick, updated again to 1985 by Charles Bevans, and again to 2002 by David Bevans, as researched by; Jerry L. Sanner for the Elmwood Project (on http://www.the-roundup.com/quaker/bevans/).
Three Brothers came to America from Wales in approximately 1780. Their names were John, Robert and Silas Bevans. They came to the area around Maryland and to Fayette co., Pennsylvania in an early day. Most of his descendants migrated to Peoria co., Illinois and settled near the village of Elmwood. John Bevans married around 1770 to Sarah. Although his wife's maiden name has not survived we assume her name may be one of the names used time and again in the linage which are, Asher, Parker & Brown. Perhaps something will turn up in future research that may fill in this gap.
This History follows the path of John Brown Bevans, Jr. who was the son of John Bevan/s (In Wales the 's' was never placed on a name although it was verbalized, all searches and references in Wales should be done as Bevan). It is interesting to note that a spelling like Bivens or Bevans will tend to indicate a family of Welsh origin whose surname only became finally fixed after settlement in England or, more typically, in America. Bevan (and the variations) were originally "ap Evan" and already had the meaning of "son of Evan". The final "s" in the Bevans / Bivens spellings would therefore have been illogical within Wales.
The closest I could come to finding ancestry in Wales was; William Blethin was born at Shirenewton Court in Monmouthshire and educated at Oxford where he became a Doctor of Civil Law in 1562. He became the bishop of Llandaff in 1575. The pedigree of his family in Bradney's History of Monmouthshire seems to indicate that his generation was the first to use this spelling. Until this time the family had used the old Welsh form, Bleddyn. Which was promulgated to Evan or Blevan, and became Bevan? The father of John, Robert and Silas was most probably Evan Bevan. So properly John Bevans was 'Son of Evan'.
John Brown Bevans Jr. (born 1790 in Pennsylvania) was the Father of Henery Smith Fernandes Bevans, whose mother was Margaret Frost. John and Margaret were married in 1815, she died in 1838. They had 12 children. Margaret died around 1838 and John remarried on July 3, 1849 to Nancy Dalton, They had 3 children. Henry Smith Fernandes Bevans was the 3rd son of John Jr. he married Margaret Ann Prosser on June 7th 1842 (There seems to be a certain affinity to marry a like named person, or to name your children from your direct ancestors in this family). They had 5 children of whom Cyrenius Dewey was the 3rd son and 4th child.
Cyrenius Dewey Bevans was born on Nov 22, 1851. Cyrenius died on Aug 31, 1893. Cyrenius lived for 41 years 9 months. Dorothy's Dad John Oney Bevans was 16 years old when Cyrenius died. Cyrenius was Dorothy, Carl, Blanche and Owen's Grandfather. Cyrenius was married on Mar 23, 1876 to Ida Sylvester Umphreys (who was his 2nd cousin from his great aunt Nancy F. Bevans who married James G. Umphreys in Peoria, IL on Apr 22, 1815). This is also where the Chippewa Indian comes from. Ida was 1/2 Chippewa. She was born on Jun 20, 1857. She died Nov 30, 1918. After Cyrenius died she had remarried Jackson Dye. James and Nancy Frost Umphreys were the parents of Ida. Henry was named for his Grandfather Henery Bevans. He was given his Grandfathers full name of Henry Smith Fernandes Bevans.
