Amanda Ervin

Amanda Ervin, my wife's great great grandmother and the mother of Jessie F. Kimbrough, was born in Illinois in May of 1858.  The town was Carthage in Hancock county, and was the site where Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon church) was murder by a mob while in the local jail (shown left) several years earlier in 1844.  Amanda may have been born too late for that unhappy event but was born just in time to witness (from the arms of her mother) a speech by Abraham Lincoln on the grounds of the same jail during his Illinois Senate Campaign in October of 1858 (although I don't know she or her parent were actually there, but knowing small towns the way I do, I suspect everyone in town was there).

Her father was a miller in Carthage and later worked as a farmer.  Her mother died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1867 when Amanda was 9 years old.  Her siblings were Willis, Sarah, Thomas, and William (who was only 13 months old at the time of his mother's death).  Amanda was married to Meredith Kimbrough who also lived in Carthage.  The year was 1878.  The Ervin and Kimbrough families had 6 marriages between them, and they all relocated together to Rich Hill, Missouri before 1900, having also lived in Kansas for a time around 1885.  Meredith ran a billiard hall in Rich Hill for a time.  Between 1915 and 1920 they moved to Spokane, WA where Meredith worked as a salesman and Amanda worked as a "lunch room helper".

Amanda lost her husband in 1934.  She continued to live on Garden Spring Rd in West Spokane until 1938.  I believe she passed away in 1938.