Robert Evans Home, Gwynedd,
Pennsylvania, as it appeared in 1926. |
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This photograph, taken in 1926, shows the Robert Evans house
just after restoration (removal of more modern construction).
Inside, the house still had the original fire places, including
an 11 foot wide kitchen hearth. A spring house is off to the
right of the house. The steep pitched roof is typical of
seventeenth century Welsh dwellings. This article below is from the magazine "The House Beautiful", January 1927 and was entitled "Restoring an old Welsh Farmhouse". After opening a page,
click on the pictures to make them larger and readable.
Before constructing this home his family undoubtedly lived in a log house. His land (map) was over a thousand acres and stretched from Evans Road to Swedesford Road and from the Whitpain line to the present day junction of Dekalb Pike (US 202) and Meetinghouse Road. Not long after settlement he began to sell off parts of this large tract - to Cadwallader Roberts (before 1707) and John Davies (in 1707) among others. He owned the land on which stands the present day William Penn Inn and part of Foulkeways, and he donated the land on which stands Gwynedd Friends Meeting. From the initials H.E. found on the door sill, his son Hugh lived in the house with his father. Hugh Evans (married Margaret Roberts) died in 1734 before his father. Robert Evans sold the house to a relative, Amos Roberts (the great grandson of Robert's brother Thomas Evans and the nephew by marriage of son Hugh.) Amos on his death in 1792 passed it to his son George (m. Rachel), who sold it in 1835 to John Searl. In 1884 this house belonged to Silas White and the 1927 restoration was done when the Shearer family owned the property. 1769 Gwynedd twp., Philadelphia County, tax list: Amos Roberts 184 acres, 3 horses, 8 cows, no servants or slaves, tax 20 pounds, 5 shillings, 4 d. 1776 Gwynedd twp., Philadelphia County, tax list: Amos Roberts 189 acres, 3 horses, 8 cows - note says he has 9 children 1790 census, Gwynedd, Montgomery Co., PA: 25-67 Roberts, Amos: 4 males 16 & up, 1 male <16, 6 females, 0 others, 0 slaves. James A. Quinn, Historian, Gwynedd Friends Meeting
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