Hello Clarence,
It is always good to hear from a cousin. Justinian Collier Evins was my 2nd great grandfather. Justinian married Martha Cunningham Polk in Dekalb County, Georgia in 1867. Martha Polk's parents bought the Samuel House Plantation in 1862, and the Polk's were living in the old "House" home when Sherman stayed there before the burning of Atlanta. Local historian Franklin Garrett was wrong about who lived there when Sherman came through. Mattie Polk Evins was the Post Mistress at the store across from the big house. My paternal grandmother told me the story about Sherman and some of his officers riding into the yard the day before Sherman's army burned Atlanta. "Nannies" great grandfather, James Knox Polk, was in the yard, and he was wearing a masonic apron. The story goes that General Sherman would not burn the homes or churches that were affiliated with the masons? Anyway, Sherman and some of his officers bivouacked "in the yard" that night. I visited the Peachtree Golf Club many years ago, and there is a plaque that states the Club house was Sherman's headquarters? Thomas Mitchell Evins shot a man named Lowery over some property in Dekalb County, and fled to Texas, where he was a Sheriff for some time before the war. I have little doubt that the Evins were of native american ancestry. I think the reason the Evins were denied on their native american applications is because The Guion Miller Roll criteria was they could not be an "old settler" or descendant of one. Whatever that means?
Rusty Fields