c.1700-1756, colonial surveyor and geographer, b. Wales. Evans carried out several assignments for Benjamin Franklin. His travels and studies of the colonies nearest him bore fruit in two maps, A Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and the Three Delaware Counties (1749, rev. ed. 1752) and A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America published together with an Analysis (1755). The first of these was used by migrating colonists for the excellent detail of the roads. The second was used by General Braddock during the French and Indian War, and was published many times over by London firms. In the Analysis he drew particular attention to the Ohio River and suggested ways and means of acquiring it by force from the French. His Brief Account of Pennsylvania (1753) was reprinted in the biography by L. H. Gipson (1939).
