Author: Evans, Nathaniel
Biography:
Evans, Nathaniel (1742-67: WBIS)
He was born in Philadelphia, the son of Edward Evans, a merchant, and Rebecca (Clark) Evans, who appear to have been Quakers. He attended the new Academy of Philadelphia, where he developed an enthusiasm for pastoral poetry along with three like-minded schoolmates who also became writers, the group being nicknamed "Swains of the Schuykill." Though he completed an apprenticeship to be a merchant, he returned to the Academy--by then a College and eventually the University of Pennsylvania--to pursue literary studies and to write. He never graduated but was awarded an MA in 1765 and went to England to seek ordination in the Church of England. The Church assigned him to missionary duties in New Jersey, where he died, probably of tuberculosis. His friends organized the posthumous publication of his collected writings. (ANBO 22 Nov. 2018; ancestry.com 22 Nov. 2018)