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The exact tribal origin of the Evans family has also been a subject of a lot of debate among researchers. Morris Evans was noted as being a free person of color and we know from DNA testing that he was of at least partial African descent. It is unknown if his background included any Native American ancestry. Although he was born around 1665, the first confirmed records for him were at the end of his life in 1738. So there is a lot about Morris Evans' early life that we do not know about.

However Morris Evans' wife's mother Jane Gibson the elder and thus his wife were noted as being Indian, yet no tribe specified. Charles City County, VA which is where Jane Gibson the elder resided, is located in the heart of Powhatan territory and perhaps that is where her tribal ancestry comes from. There is another Powhatan descended family of Granville County - the Basses, that I blogged about previously and the Evans intermarried with them in Granville. There was also a Walter Gibson recorded as a chieftan in the Tuscarora Indian Woods reservation land deeds in Bertie County, NC in the 1770s. However, I have not seen any credible information that names his parents or children, so I'm not sure if he is at all connected to Jane Gibson of Charles City County. Another matter to consider is that Morris Evans and Jane Gibson's son Charles Evans moved to southside Virginia by the 1730s, about a decade after the Saponi reservation at nearby Fort Christanna was closed. Charles Evans and his family intermarried with the Saponi descendants residing in Virginia. The maiden name of Charles Evans' wife is unknown, so more research into her identity is needed.

The Native American, free colored, Evans family of Granville County directly descend from Morris Evans and Jane Gibson of Charles City County, VA. The Evans family resettled in and became a core part of Granville County's Native American community in the 1760s immediately following the initial settlement of the founding Chavis, Harris, Hawley, Pettiford, Anderson, Bass, and Goins families. In this blog post I will document the Evans family from their earliest documented origins from a free Indian woman known as Jane Gibson the elder, to their settlement in Granville County. A word of caution: Evans is among the most common surnames dating back to colonial times, therefore not all Evans families are genealogically related. There were a few free colored Evans families originating in Virginia and it is not known if and how they may all be related. The focus of this blog post is about documenting the branch of the Evans family that begins with Morris Evans and his wife Jane Gibson. I do discuss two additional Evans families at the end, that may or may not be related.

Court records seem to indicate that the first Jane Gibson was born ca 1640 and that her daughter, Jane Jr., was born ca 1660. Jane Gibson Jr. was married to Morris Evans, and judging by the ages indicated in these records, it is apparent that this would have been the Morris Evans whose age I estimate as born ca 1665, and who left a will & estate in 1739 York County, Virginia. From these petitions and the estate records for Morris Evans, it appears that he and Jane may have been separated by the time of his death, since there is no mention of Jane, but his 2 sons, Charles & Morris were listed among the heirs, along with Rebecca Hulet, listed as "friend", and her daughter, Elizabeth. Jane Gibson-Evans was called a "widow" in these petitions, but it would not have been unusual for her to have actually been separated or divorced and for it not to have been public knowledge at the time.