A doctor advised him to seek a new career, and, in 1842, Evans began studying at the new La Porte Medical College, run by Dr. Daniel Meeker.

[1] Shortly after receiving his degree, Evans traveled to the Wisconsin Territory, joining a small frontier settlement in Rock County, then known as "The Grove".

[1] In 1848, an epidemic among the population caused a great deal of work for Dr. Evans as he rushed to treat people spread across the disparate homesteads of the area.

His work won him great esteem among the residents, and, when a post office was established in the town, they named their settlement Evansville, in his honor.

[2] At the outbreak of the American Civil War, in 1861, Dr. Evans volunteered for service and was enrolled as surgeon for the 13th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.

Their surviving children were Elizabeth Emma, who married D. C. Griswold, and later L. E. Cary, and John M. Evans, Jr., who also became a physician and surgeon in Evansville.