T. J. ERVIN. - T. J. Ervin, whose farming interests on section 22, Fancy Creek township, indicate that he is one of the thrifty and progressive agriculturists of Sangamon county, was born in Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Bath county on the 5th of May, 1838. His father, Isaac Ervin, was a native of Maryland and when a young man went to Kentucky, settling in Bath county, where he became acquainted with and wedded Esther Hamilton, a native of North Carolina, and a representative of one of the old families of that state. Mr. Ervin was a farmer of Kentucky and there reared his family and spent his last years, passing away in 1889. His wife had departed this life a number of years prior to that time.

T. J. Ervin is one of a family of four sons and two daughters, who reached years of maturity, but two of the brothers are now deceased. He spent his boyhood days in Bath county and was reared upon the home farm, remaining with his father until twenty-four years of age, during which time he rendered to him valuable assistance in the work of cultivating and improving the fields. On the 3d of February, 1867, however, he made preparations for having a home of his own by his marriage in Carter county, Kentucky, to Miss Ellen Underwood, a sister of William Underwood. They began their domestic life upon a farm in the Blue Grass state, where they lived for two years and in 1869 they came to Illinois, settling in Sangamon county, where for several years Mr. Ervin was engaged in the cultivation of rented land. He then purchased his present farm, comprising a well improved tract of sixty acres. In connection with its further cultivation and development he also rents and operates other farming land and is one of the successful agriculturists of his community. His home has been blessed with two children: Rebecca, now the wife of J. W. Hobbins of Peoria, Illinois, and Nellie Eva, who is yet under the parental roof.

Mrs. Ervin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Ervin is politically a supporter of the Democracy. He manifested his loyalty to the government during the Civil war by enlisting on the 9th of August, 1863, as a member of the Tenth Kentucky Calvary, of which he was elected corporal. He served in that capacity until September 16, 1864, when, by reason of the expiration of his term of enlistment, he was mustered out. He participated in the battles of Richmond, Kentucky, of Triplet Bridge, Mount Sterling and numerous skirmishes, and since the close of hi military service he has been found as loyal to the land of his birth as he was when, on southern battlefields, he fought for the preservation of the Union. He and his estimable wife are highly esteemed in Sangamon county, where they have now resided for more than a third of a century.