I think of Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Eb sitting by the stove in their kitchen, reading. Aunt Mary told me they were readers, and also that Grandma Minnie checked Mary's clothes before school to make sure her mother (Minnie's daughter, Rose) hadn't used a safety pin instead of needle and thread. Minnie was organized and efficient. When one of her grandsons who lived with them took a break from spading the garden, she took him a pan of potatoes to peel.
Minnie was 19 years old and living in Scott County, IN when she married Eb Ervin in l887. Several internet sites show the marriage in l889, but I'm sure that is in error. Their six children were born between l888 and l907. Minnie's dad was Jeduthan Sanders Murphin, named for his grandfather, Jeduthan Sanders, who was a cousin of Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Minnie's mom was Mary Jane (Molly) McFall whose dad had been born in Canada.
A family story is that when Eb was a child in Iowa, he was stolen on his Pinto pony by the Indians, and when his family got him back, it wasn't Eb riding the Pinto at all, but an Indian child. So family members said Minnie's kids had Indian blood. The photo above is of all Minnie's grown children.
One of my early memories is watching an old man by the outdoor water well pump take out his teeth (!), pump water to wash them, then put them back in. I've always wondered if that was Grandpa Eb who died the summer I turned 4. Grandma Minnie died at age 66 in l934.
If anyone has a photo of her, please add it under comments.
Sue<William Ervin Lynch<Rose Ervin Lynch<Minnie Murphin Ervin
Well DNA testing has proven that Native American genes are not in the family!
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