son of Hiram Martin Evans, a judge, and his wife, Georgia Evans, the younger Evans graduated from Vanderbilt University. Shortly after, he became a dentist, receiving his license in 1900. He married Ellen "Bama" Hill in 1923; they had three children together, a son, Cecil R. Evans, and two daughters, Martha Evans Wood and Nellie Evans Dearing. Evans established a small, moderately successful dentistry practice in Downtown Dallas that provided inexpensive services. Rumors later arose that his dental qualifications were "a bit shady." A Protestant, Evans attended a church belonging to the Disciples of Christ denomination. He was also a Freemason. Evans described himself as "the most average man in America." Of average height and somewhat overweight, Evans was well dressed, a skilled speaker, and very ambitious. Initial Klan activities Conceived by its founders as a continuation of the Reconstruction-era Klan (controversially linked to General Nathan Bedford Forrest), the revived Ku Klux Klan had been established in Atlanta in 1915. Leading up to his involvement in the Klan, Evans had a significant personal involvement in Freemasonry. He was initially raised in Dallas Lodge No. 760 in July 1907 under the Grand Lodge of Texas. Evans was involved in both York Rite (including the Masonic "Knights Templar") and Scottish Rite freemasonry. Evans was raised to the Thirty-Second Degree at the Dallas Consistory in April 1913. He was also a member of the Shriners, having joined the Hella Temple at Dallas in April 1911. Within the York Rite, Evans was a Past Master of Pentagon Lodge No. 1080 in Dallas. Bertram G. Christie, the founder of the Dallas Klan in 1920, was also a mason and met with Evans and a few of his fellow masons belonging to the Pentagon Lodge in March 1921, such as George K. Butcher. The following month, Evans was involved in his first Klan vigilante activity when he took part in the flogging and branding of Alex Johnson on April 1, 1921. According to a contemporary report in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Johnson was a "Negro bus boy" who was being investigated by the police after he had been discovered in the room of a white woman guest at the hotel. Evans left his dental practice so that he could dedicate all his time to the group. In 1921, he was elected as "exalted cyclops", a recruiting position sometimes referred to as kleagle, in the Dallas Klan No.