Richard Evans (1766 - 1839)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Richard's lifetime.

In 1806, Richard was 40 years old when on April 18th, the U.S. Congress passed the Non-importation Act. The Act forbade the importation of numerous goods from Great Britain, which was impressing American sailors into British service. The hope that was by impacting the British economy, the U.S. could stop the warlike practices of the English.

In 1807, by the time he was 41 years old, on February 19th, former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr was arrested on charges of treason, accused of plotting to grab parts of Louisiana and Mexico in order to create an independent republic. On September 1st, he was acquitted of the charges. Although he was deemed to be guilty of plotting against the U.S., he was not found to be guilty of an "overt act" - which is the Constitutional requirement to be met. Burr's reputation, after the charges and the duel with Alexander Hamilton, was ruined, however.

In 1816, at the age of 50 years old, Richard was alive when on December 11th, Indiana was admitted as the 19th state in the Union. The name "Indiana" means “land of the Indians”.

In 1827, at the age of 61 years old, Richard was alive when Englishman John Walker invented the first friction match, which he named Lucifer. The match consisted of a wooden stick coated with sulphur and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum. A box of 50 matches was one shilling and came with folded sandpaper to use to strike a match.

In 1839, in the year of Richard Evans's passing, the "Night of the Big Wind" hit Ireland on January 6th. It was the most damaging cyclone to hit Ireland in 300 years. In North Dublin, around 20% to 25% of homes were damaged or destroyed, and 42 ships were wrecked. Winds hit over 115 miles per hour.