Anthony Harrison Evans

A Welshman by birth and inheritance, Anthony Harrison Evans came to this country with his family in 1870 when he was eight years old. He was brought up in Remsen, New York, where the people at that time were almost all of them Welsh. After going through Hamilton College he taught in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute before entering Union Theological Seminary. His first church was in Lockport, New York; in 1895 he was called to the famous West Presbyterian church on Forty-second Street. At that time most of the trustees of the church were well-known and very wealthy men. Four years later Dr. Evans’s fiery and uncompromising Welsh zeal brought him into a clash with them over the financial administration of the church, with the result that, after a good deal of lively controversy, the trustees resigned in a body. The congregation however stood wholeheartedly behind their pastor. The church was subsequently combined with the Park church as the West Park Presbyterian church, and Dr. Evans remained as pastor of it until his death. He served in many activities outside of the church especially in matters connected with Hamilton College, the New York City Missionary Society and Union Theological Seminary of which he was for many years a trustee, and he was twice Moderator of the New York Presbytery. He had many agreeable tastes. An excellent musician with a fine voice, he played well on the piano, and his liking for the out-of-doors made him a keen fisherman and very fond of a game of golf. He was a Centurion for forty-six years [sic: forty-five]; his visits to the Club, unfortunately rare of late, will be missed.

Geoffrey Parsons
1942 Century Memorials