John Gary Evans was born on October 15, 1863 in Cokesbury, South Carolina. He was a member of the South Carolina State House of Representatives from 1888–1891 and was subsequently elected to the South Carolina State Senate from 1892–1894. He was then elected South Carolina Governor from 1894–1897, and also presided over South Carolina State Constitutional Convention of 1895.
Evans attended Union College in Schenectady, New York from 1879–1880. After the death of his uncle and guardian, Martin Witherspoon Gary, Evans returned to the South and studied law in Augusta, Georgia. He was admitted to the bar in Georgia and South Carolina in 1885 and began practicing law in Aiken, South Carolina.
Located in Attorney’s Room, 120F.