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Samuel J Ervin
SAMUEL J. ERVIN, retired undertaker, of Parker City, Armstrong county, was
born in Parker township, Butler Co., Pa., Oct. 12, 1835, son of Samuel and
Eliza (Bond) Ervin, and a grandson of Samuel Ervin.Samuel Ervin, the grandfather, was one of the first settlers in Butler
county, where he took up six hundred acres of government land, with an
allowance of six acres on each one hundred for road purposes. This land lay in
what is now Parker township, and there he cleared up and improved the place on
which he lived until his sudden death, possibly from an attack of heart
disease. His children were: Samuel; John; Rebecca; Margaret, who married John
Schultz; Polly, who married Hazel Ward; and Nancy, who married John Morehead –
all deceased.Samuel Ervin (2), son of Samuel Ervin, was reared on the old homestead in
Parker township, 106 acres of which he received from his father as a gift.
This tract he cleared and improved, and resided there until later in life,
when he sold it and bought another farm, in the same township, containing
seventy-five acres. There he lived until his death, which occurred when he was
sixty-six years old. He was twice married, and by his first wife, Eliza Bond,
he had five children, namely: Elizabeth, who married Alexander Grant; William
B.; Samuel J.; John A.; and Mary A.; who is deceased. For his second wife Mr.
Ervin married Margaret Gordon, and they had six children, as follows: George,
Alexander, Andrew, Mary A., Nancy J., and Emma, of whom George is deceased.Samuel J. Ervin remained at home and went to school until he was thirteen
years of age, when he was apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker, serving three
and a half years at Callensburg, in Clarion county. Afterward he worked as a
journeyman at Fairview, in Butler county, for three years, and in the fall of
1861 went to Oil City, where he was in the furniture and undertaking business
for nine and a half years, his time being fully occupied, as he was the only
undertaker there during that period and attended to as many as five funerals a
day. In the spring of 1871 Mr. Ervin came to Parker City, where in March of
the same year he embarked in the undertaking business, being the only
undertaker and funeral director in the place until 1902, at which time he
retired.In many ways Mr. Ervin has been a leading and representative citizen.
Politically he is a Republican, and for three and a half years served as mayor
of the city. He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of
Parker City.Mr. Ervin married Oct. 10, 1857, Mary Jane Thompson, daughter of John and
Eliza (Badger) Thompson, and granddaughter of John Badger, both families being
of pioneer stock of Butler county. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Ervin, as follows: Cordelia B., deceased, who married Elisha Turk; Elmer L.,
deceased; Kate, who is the wife of W. W. Miller, of Pittsburgh; Clara C., who
is the wife of William F. Orr; and Emma, who is deceased. Mr. Ervin and wife
are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Parker City, and they
have been united with the Methodist denomination almost all their mature
lives, his connection having existed since 1848 and hers since 1858. He has
held all the offices of the church permissible to a layman, since 1871 has
been a class leader, and for many years has been president of the board of
trustees at Parker City.Source: Pages 974-975, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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