William M. Ervin
SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SEBASTIAN CO
William M. Ervin, farmer, was born December 10, 1830, in Lincoln County, Tenn.
(now Moore County), his father being James Ervin, who married a Miss Merritt.
The former was reared upon a farm in North Carolina, where he was born, and
when a boy traveled by wagon to Tennessee, where he lived until his death in
December, 1882, aged eighty-five. He enlisted as a captain in the late war, and
arose to the office of major-general. The mother was born in the same county,
and was a school-mate of her husband. She also went to Tennessee when young,
and there married and bore seven children. Those living are Jonathan, William
M., James and Thomas. Hezekiah and Milton were killed while in the Confederate
service, and Lucinda is also deceased. Mrs. Ervin was of English descent, and
her death occurred the day after her husband's, when she was eighty-six. The
paternal grandparents emigrated from North Carolina to Tennessee, and from
there to Cape Girardeau County, Mo., where they died. The maternal grandfather
was born in North Carolina, and fought in the battle of New Orleans. He died
in Tennessee. Our subject was reared upon the farm in Tennessee, and during
his youth received a good education, and learned the tanner's, carpenter's and
shoemaker's trades, at the latter of which he worked about twenty years. In
1849 he married Rebecca La Massey, who was born in Tennessee, and died October
6, 1887. She was the mother of the following children: Mary, James, William,
John, Thomas, Henry, Alvin and Elizabeth (deceased). July 8, 1888, Mr. Ervin
married Mary A. (Brewer) Lindsey, daughter of Zebedee and Amanda Brewer, and
widow of Mr. Lindsey, by whom she had four children: Ada, Ida, Thomas and
Rhoda. Mrs. Ervin was born and reared in this county, and is a member of the
Baptist Church, to which Mr. Ervin also belongs. During the war Mr. Ervin
served four years as shoemaker in the Confederate army. He participated in the
battle at Prairie Springs, and surrendered at Houston, Tex., in 1865. In 1881
he settled in Sebastian County, where he has a farm of 380 acres, 215 of which
he has finely cultivated. He is a prosperous citizen, a Democrat, and a member
of the Masonic fraternity.