William D. Ervin

WILLIAM D. ERVIN, cashier of the State Bank of Sharon Springs, is one of the pioneer settlers who has witnessed and been a factor in the development of the country along the Colorado line for more than thirty years. He was born in Preston County, West Virginia, near Kingwood, September 10, 1866. His grandfather, Jacob Ervin, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1811, but spent practically all his life as a farmer in Preston County, West Virginia, where he died in 1896. His first wife was Catherine Cross. She died in Preston County in 1852. He afterwards married Mary Menear, who is still living in Preston County, past the age of ninety.

Samuel J. Ervin, father of William D., was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in 1840, grew up and married there and has made agriculture his chief occupation. In 1886 he came to Kansas, and after one year in McPherson County moved out to the western line of the state and settled in Wallace County. He homesteaded 160 acres and proved up the claim, and in the spring of 1900 practically retired and moved to Junction City, Kansas, where he died March 4, 1892. He was a soldier on the Union side in the Civil war. His enlistment occurred in 1861, and he was with the Third West Virginia Infantry throughout most of the war. He was at the battle of Bull Run, and for eight months was a prisoner of war at Andersonville. He suffered such hardships in that prison that his health was ever afterward impaired. He voted independently and was an active member of the Baptist Church. Samuel J. Ervin married Sarah C. Posten. She was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in 1845, and died at Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1915. William D. Ervin is the oldest of her children. Frank W. is with the Hart Parr Company at Charles City, Iowa; Clara married J. J. Griffith, a farmer near Clear Lake, Iowa; Albert is an engineer with the Santa Fe Railway, his headquarters being at Newton, Kansas; A. J. is also with the Hart Parr Company at Charles City, Iowa; Florence married George Smith, a farmer at Belle Plain, Kansas; Guy is in the service of the United States government at Washington; Orietta L. lives with her brother William.

William D. Ervin was educated in the public schools of West Virginia and Iowa, leaving school at the age of twenty. He came to Kansas with his parents in 1886 and with them moved out to Wallace County in 1887. There he homesteaded 160 acres and lived on it and experienced all the trials and adversities of a pioneer for ten years. For a time he also owned his father's homestead and still another quarter section. In 1897 he located in Sumner County, Kansas, where he farmed and taught school two years, and then came back and continued the same dual occupation in Wallace County until 1901, when he entered the lumber business at Sharon Springs as chief clerk to the late Colonel J. L. Woodhouse. During 1904-05 he was manager of the flour mill at Bernard in Lincoln County, Kansas. On returning again to Sharon Springs he became cashier of what is now the State Bank of Sharon Springs, and has retained this responsible post ever since.

Mr. Ervin is also a stockholder in the Sharon Springs Townsite Company and is city treasurer. He is a member and a deacon of the Baptist Church and in politics is a republican.

Pages 2244-2245.