John R. Evertson, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Laura Morin, of Savannah, Ga., were married in the 1830s. The couple had four children: John Jr., Clinton, Evert and Laura. Evertson spent some time in Camargo, Mexico during the Mexican War (his exact business is unclear). In the 1850s, the family moved to Los Angeles, California where Evertson took a job as a census enumerator. In 1862, Laura, by that time a widow, tried to secure properties in New York and Georgia. She sent her son Evert back East to look out for the family properties. While in New York he stayed with a family friend, William H. Richards. On Evert's way to Savannah, however, he was arrested by federal troops and spent the next two years as a citizen prisoner in federal prisons, first in Carroll (Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C.) and then Point Lookout, Maryland.
John R. Evertson, Jr. remained in Los Angeles and ran, unsuccessfully, for the office of the county of assessor. Evertson, Jr. moved up north first to Havilah, Kern County, where he tried, also without visible success, to practice law and pursue "mining interests," and then on to San Francisco where he held a string of various low paying jobs (he never kept one for very long). Laura C. Evertson married Andrew Jackson King, one of the proprietors and editors of the Los Angeles Times, City Attorney and County Judge. She wrote a number of sketches of life in San Gabriel Valley for the Historical Society of Southern California.
From the description of Evertson family papers, 1832-1897 (bulk dates 1847-1866) (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 263166310
