Otho Eskin's Memoirs of the Evans Family
Dr. Rice K. Evans, the American Vice Consul in Sheffield, lived in Totley from 1909 until 1928 when he returned to America. Our article on the history of the talented Evans Family was based largely on on-line databases and newspaper archives. The Internet helps us discover so much but it cannot tell us what makes a person tick. We are immensely grateful therefore to Otho Eskin who has sent us a number of personal recollections about his grandfather and the family's time in Totley.
Making the Eagle Scream
My mother, Cornelia (standing in the middle with the hat) in front of her father and mother, on the eve of their departure for England – 1909.
Grandfather Rice did not have his heart in his medical practice. What he did have his heart in was gambling and drinking with a special interest in wagering on cockfights, horse races and prize fights.
Sometime during this period he also became actively involved in Ohio politics which, according to my mother, was thoroughly corrupt. My grandfather campaigned for the election of William Howard Taft (who came from Cincinnati) in the presidential election of 1908 (against William Jennings Bryant). In order for Taft to get the Republican nomination as the presidential candidate at the Republican convention he needed the full support from southern Ohio which he didn’t have. Grandfather rode on horseback all over the territory drumming up support for Taft.
He described to my mother his speech-making as “making the eagle scream” which meant that not only did he rouse the audiences to roaring and stamping their feet but he made the very eagle on the flagpole become excited and flap its wings. According to the Evans family story, grandfather’s campaigning was what got Taft the Republican nomination and, eventually, the presidency.
This was probably an exaggeration but there is no doubt he helped Taft because, after the election, he took his share of the spoils. According to my mother, the Republican Party rewarded its supporters with various government jobs. These were usually postmaster positions.
In my grandfather’s case he was offered the position of American Consul in Sheffield, England. (In those years, the US Consular Service was separate from the Diplomatic Service.) My grandfather eagerly accepted the offer and, in 1909, he and his family sailed to England where he would remain until 1928. Obviously he couldn’t wait to get out of town.
Life In England
The Evans' family settled into a house in a small village at Hill Crest, Totley just outside of Sheffield, England. My mother remembered growing up in England with great affection. The village was (and still is) on the edge of the moor and she recalled with great joy running wild in the heath (this is Bronté country).
The Evans family at their home in England. Rice and Louise are standing at the door, holding Bergen. The older children are at far left. The girl in white is, I suppose, a maid.
My mother and her brothers and sisters grew up speaking the local Yorkshire dialect while playing with the children of the village and they would use it in the house to annoy their parents who, of course, could not understand a word.
Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Champion of the World
My mother, Cornelia, never told me much about her father’s work as Vice Consul in Sheffield. Probably it consisted of giving assistance to American citizens, issuing them passports, issuing visas and perhaps some commercial work on the side. Probably, as a little girl, she paid no attention to her father’s work. However, there was one event which Cornelia did remember vividly.
My Mother, Cornelia, Rice Evans's eldest daughter
In 1913, Jack Johnson, then the heavyweight boxing champion of the world and the most important black athletic figure of the time, came to Sheffield. In June of 1913, Johnson had been convicted of violation of the Mann Act (“transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes”) and he skipped bail, traveling to Europe to avoid being sent to prison. He arrived in London on August 24, 1913 accompanied, according to The New York Times, by his white wife, his secretary, his training team, twenty two trunks and two automobiles.
Somehow Johnson, with or without his entourage, appeared in Sheffield. During his time in England, Johnson traveled around the country doing demonstration boxing matches in music halls to earn money. Perhaps that is what brought him to Sheffield.
Jack Johnson
For some reason he visited the American Vice Consul. My grandfather then did something quite extraordinary: he invited Johnson to his home. And Johnson accepted. Cornelia remembers seeing him. I’m not sure whether it was for dinner or for tea.
Whatever the occasion, this was a very unusual event. Johnson was not only a convicted felon on the run from the law in America but was a very controversial figure. He was the first black fighter to win the heavyweight championship and this created a furor in America. There were riots and people called for his lynching. White America was looking for “A Great White Hope” to defeat Johnson and regain the heavyweight title.
Apart from all this, in 1913, respectable people didn’t invite black men into their homes. I’m sure my grandfather did not make the invitation because he had advanced views on race relations or civil rights. In 1913 nobody did. I expect he was just a big sports fan.
Rice Evans: The Man Who Broke the Bank at Biarritz
The world changed in 1914 with the beginning of World War I. About this time, my grandmother became ill with tuberculosis. I expect she found it increasingly difficult to take care of all her children. In addition, Sheffield was a major steel producing center in England and there was concern that the Germans would bomb the city.
So, in 1915, the Evans children were put on a boat and returned to America with my mother, then aged 14, in charge. (The ship they sailed on was torpedoed by a German submarine on the return trip to England.)
Rice Evans and Louise stayed on in England and she died in Sheffield of tuberculosis. Thus, my mother never saw her again.
Rice Evans at the time he returned to America from England
During the war my grandfather served as a volunteer night surgeon in a military hospital. A year after his wife’s death (May 24, 1919), Rice Evans married Dorothy Davis who was chief nurse in the army hospital. It does seem as though my grandfather had no interest in returning to America or rejoining his children any time soon.
My grandfather appears to have continued his active life. He used to take long hikes through the moors and did mountain climbing in Wales. After the end of World War I, he traveled to the Continent from time to time to gamble.
Casino Municipal, Hôtel Du Palais, Biarritz
He used to tell of playing roulette at the casino at Biarritz and how, one time, he broke the bank. Breaking the bank meant that one of the players won so much on a spin of the wheel that the croupier did not have enough cash (or chips) on the table to cover the bet. At which point all gambling stopped (briefly) and champagne brought out to celebrate the event. According to my grandfather, this was all a bit fraudulent because, at least when he broke the bank, the stakes were not very high. The casino just wanted someone to break the bank every so often to keep other players interested. (Just as modern-day casinos rig a few slot machines to produce jackpots frequently.)
In the early 1920’s the State Department combined the Diplomatic and Consular services and I expect that, as a result, my grandfather was forced to resign his consular position. For whatever reason, in 1928 he and his new wife left Sheffield and sailed to America. They lived in Dayton where he worked as head of personnel in a factory that built electric motors until his retirement. I met him a few times while traveling with Cornelia. He lived a quiet, uneventful life and died in 1957.
Sentimental Journey
The Evans Family lived at Hill Crest, on the far right of this photograph taken in the 1910s from the school field. Summer Lane is on the left.
Sometime, I don’t recall the exact year, I accompanied my mother on a visit to Totley. (This was a sentimental journey.) We were standing in front of the house where she lived and she spoke briefly to a lady who lived in the village and told her that she had lived on this very street. The lady kindly corrected my mother and explained that they didn’t have streets in Totley: they have lanes.