An undated photograph of Sarah Adaline [Daniel] Evitts (1859-1925), who was born in Dauphin County, the daughter of John George Daniel (1801-1871), and his wife, Susanna Moyer (1818-1885). The photo was taken on the walkway to her home in Specktown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The home is still standing today but appears to be in great disrepair.
Sarah Adaline Daniel married William Evitts about 1878 and in 1880 the family was living in Williams Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where William was working as a laborer. One child was in the household, Perla May Evitts (1879-1896), who died young in Lykens Township.
By 1900 the family was living in Specktown, Lykens Township, along with their eight children, the oldest of which was Walter A. Evitts (1884-1965), whose written records and oral history indicate that he was born at the Evitts homestead in Specktown. Thus, William Evitts and his family moved to Lykens Township some time between the 1880 census and the birth of Walter. Further examination of the records shows that the oldest son was actually George Washington Evitts (1881-1882) and his records indicate that he was born in Lykens Township on 22 February 1881 where he also died in July 1882.
The exact date when WIlliam Evitts and family moved to the Specktown homestead cannot be determined by property records, because the ownership was in the Daniel family until 1886, when the estate executor for Susannah [Moyer] Daniel (Sarah’s mother), sold the property to William Evitts and Sarah Adaline [Daniel] Evitts. Susannah [Moyer] Daniel became a widow in 1871, so it is entirely possible that William and Sarah had “eyes” on the property and may have taken up partial residence there prior to 1880, to assist Sarah’s mother, and then make permanent residence about 1880, eventually purchasing the property in 1886. William and Sarah continued to live on the property until Sarah [Daniel] Evitts died in January 1925.
The property records indicate that in 1926, William, then a widower, sold the property to his son, Frederick Evitts and his wife Laura [Hess] Evitts, but he continued to reside there until his death in July 1928 of pulmonary tuberculosis. Sarah Adaline [Daniel] Evitts is buried at St. Peter (Hoffman) Cemetery in Lykens Township and her husband is buried next to her.
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