James Ervin
JAMES ERVIN, retired farmer, was born Jan. 14, 1810, in New Jersey; left his native State in 1852 and came to Wisconsin, where he settled in Walworth Co., town of Richmond; remained there until 1858, at which time he sold his farm and moved to Trempealeau Co., town of Lincoln, then called Preston, where he bought 160 acres of land and commenced farming. At that time the Indians were very plenty in Trempealeau Co., and were very friendly to Mr. and Mrs. Ervin, who used to do a good deal of trading in the way of flour, pork, vegetables, etc. Their grain markets were Sparta, La Crosse and Trempealeau, and they sometimes hauled a load of grain to the pineries and exchanged it for lumber. Mr. Ervin was married to his first wife, Miss Elizabeth Crane, Jan. 21, 1833. She died in 1850, leaving three children - Emma L. (now Mrs. S. J. Beebe), Augusta E. (now Mrs. John Kinnie) and Isabella G. (now Mrs. L. D. Parsons). They also lost three children - Margaret H., died July 20, 1864; Annie E., died June 5, 1865, and Martha, who was Mrs. L. D. McNett when she died. He was married to his second wife, Mary E. Crane, a native of Elizabeth, N. J. She was born Oct. 21, 1816.
(Transcribed from the "History of Northern Wisconsin [1881]", Western Historical Co., Chicago, Ill.)
(Transcribed from the "History of Northern Wisconsin [1881]", Western Historical Co., Chicago, Ill.)