My Genealogy Hound

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 who 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.