David Richard Evans was born August 23, 1853, in Fillmore County, Nebraska,
to Edward Davis Evans and Alice Richards. In 1863, at the age of 10, he crossed
the plains with his parents. The family settled in Logan and later came to Malad
in 1868.
At age of 15, he
went to Montana
where he worked for a freighting company for a time. Later, he formed his own
freighting business. He would meet the trains at Corinne,
Utah, and haul freight up to Montana
and Eagle Rock (Idaho Falls).
In 1880, David married Charlotte Parry. A few
years later, after the railroad came to southeast Idaho, David's services were no longer
needed as a freighter. He then went to work in the pool hall in Malad. He became known as the best pool player
around. When Charlotte
opened her restaurant, he helped and supported her whenever he could.
David loved to
dance and listen to music. After Charlotte
died, and upon hearing music coming from his house, his granddaughters would
sometimes quietly go over and peek through the parlor window and watch him
dance.
As he grew older,
his eyes began to fail. He had an operation for cataracts, but eventually he became
almost blind. In his later years, he always wore dark glasses.
At this time his
granddaughters were also responsible for taking care of his clothing and his home,
making sure everything was clean. He would give them a quarter for their hard
work. For many years, at Christmas, he would put a quarter in the toe
of the girls' stockings. Ten cents was for the show, ten cents was for the children's
dance, and five cents was to spend on treats.
He did have one
bad habit. He chewed tobacco. The granddaughters remember when he came to visit, he wouldn't always use the spittoon. They were amazed
that someone would dare to get their mother's spotless floors dirty!
David died in
1943, a few months short of his 90th birthday. As stated in his obituary in the
Idaho Enterprise: "As one of the early pioneers in the Malad Valley,
he endured many of the hardships incident to the settlement of this valley and
took an
active part in the early development of Malad Valley."
Charlotte Parry
was born in Ely, Glamorganshire, Wales, December 21, 1854, to William
Parry and Mary Ann Thomas. She came to America as a little girl, moving to
Malad in 1866 at the age of 12. In 1880 she married David Richard Evans. They
had two daughters, Maud and Mary,and
two sons, David and William. Maud died a few months after her eighteenth
birthday, and Mary died a few days after her first birthday. Sons, David (D.P.)
and William (Creamery Bill) went on to marry and live productive lives in Malad
Valley.
Charlotte suffered for about two years from
cancer and was confined to her bed for the last few months before her death on
June 16, 1924.
Charlotte
(known throughout her adult life as Aunt Charl) could
easily be considered the first businesswoman in Malad,
having established a restaurant here in the early 1880s.
She was in business
for more than thirty years, closing her doors in March, 1915. At one time her restaurant
was the oldest in Malad, and for about fifteen years
it was the only restaurant in town. An ad of the May 12, 1910, edition of the
Idaho Enterprise, states that her restaurant and ice cream parlor was the
"oldest and best cafe in Malad". It was
located on Bannockstreet where Allen's Western Wear
once stood, later to become the Davis Hotel. The hotel was built about a year
after Charlotte
closed her business. Today, the restaurant would have been between the Oneida Pioneer
Museum and Ireland
Bank.
As was typical of
the times one hundred years ago, Aunt Charl had a
clean and simple restaurant with just the right touches of home. Inside the
restaurant there was a step down from the entrance to the long dining room with
a long table that took up about two-thirds of the space. There were two shorter
tables on the side. The kitchen was at the back with a big table in the center
and a big coal stove which was used for cooking and baking. Since there were no
cabinets on the walls, items used for cooking were placed around the edges of
the center table.
Among those
regular customers who stopped often at the cafe were out-of-town salesman and the
train crews. Granddaughter C. Ione Evans Jones remembers as a small child
watching from the steps to the dining room, a salesman or "drummer" wash his face from a basin. She was so interested in what he
was doing that when he finished he gave her a miniature Persian-type rug that
came in the cans of tobacco that he was selling.
Aunt Charl provided regular meals and short orders with prices being
very moderate. One of her most popular dishes was delicious homemade ice
cream which sold for five cents a
dish. She was also known for her lattice-top pies, cranberry being a notable
favorite. At that time there was a hall upstairs in the Evans Co-op building.
Granddaughter Maud Evans Jones remembers seeing about fifty to sixty pies all
lined up ready to be served for a large gathering. This was quite a sight
considering everything was
cooked by Aunt Charl!
One time while
Aunt Charl was cooking at the stove in the cafe,
lightning struck the stovepipe and knocked a fork out of her hand. Although it
only numbed her hand,she was
scared of lightning for the rest of her life. Anytime there was lightning
nearby, Aunt Charl would hide in the nearest closet
along with any of the grandchildren
who happened to be around!
Aunt Charl had the gift of a keen business mind. For a woman of
her day, she was progressive and independent. She not only knew what it took to
make a success of her restaurant, she also was able to take advantage of other
opportunities and turn those into profitable ventures. She had the opportunity
to buy a large piece of property on North Main
between First and Second North, for the sum of $125. She then built two homes,
one having an apartment in the back where she and her husband, David, lived. These
homes she rented out. Two more homes were eventually built on the remaining
property by sons,
D.P. and "Creamery Bill"
Aunt Charl was also known for her kindness, generosity, and compassion
toward others. Whenever there was an illness or death in town, she would take food
to that family. But she would always go at night because she didn't want anyone
to know what she was doing. One night after visiting such a family, she left by
way of their back door for home. But she
became lost in the darkness as there were no street lights in town like we have
today. It was sometime
before she got home.
At the time of her
death, much was said about Aunt Charl by her friends
and family. The June 19, 1924, edition of the Idaho Enterprise states: "It
is always hard to part with such a good woman. She had always been a hard-working
woman, doing much for the advancement and upbuilding
of her community."
Information taken from interview with
David and
Charlotte's granddaughters. C.
lone Evans
Jones and Elaine Evans Godfrey
Written and submitted by: Marilyn Jones
Page 36 Malad
Valley History Vol. 2
