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East Texas Historical Journal Volume 10 Issue 2 Article 9 10-1972 Felix "Zero" Ervin: Louisiana Negro Slave and East Texas Freeman John N. Cravens Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ethj  Part of the United States History Commons Tell us how this article helped you. Recommended Citation Cravens, John N. (1972) "Felix "Zero" Ervin: Louisiana Negro Slave and East Texas Freeman," East Texas Historical Journal: Vol. 10 : Iss. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ethj/vol10/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in East Texas Historical Journal by an authorized editor of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact cdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu. •• EAsT TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL 125••..•FELIX "ZERO" ERVIN:LOUISIANA NEGRO SLAVE AND EAST TEXAS FREEMANby JOHN N. eRAYENSFelix Ervin was a versatile, unforgettable character belonging to an efabeginning near the middle of the nineteenth century and extending into thetwentieth century. He deserves the historian's attention. He was the son ofCaroline Ervin, who was born a slave about 1817 in Louh:iana. Felix was· alsoborn in slavery near Mansfield, Louisiana, about 1855. His only brother.Anderson Ervio, was born in Louisiana about 1848.The writer of this paper was fortunate to hear Ervin tell many stories abouthis life as a slave. When he was on a wagon train moving west as a small boy.his master gave him some money to buy a box of matches when the wagOnsstopped at a stofe On their route. The storekeeper charged the young Negrotwenty-five cents for the box of matches, When the slave owner heard of thehigh price charged, he (;ursed long and loud.When Nathaniel p, Banks attacked Mansfield, Louisiana. in 1864, Ervin hadalready deserted his master and was hidden out in the woods near there. He saidthat the guns were so loud that he had to stop up his ears to keep the sound frombreaking his eardrums. Shortly after the battle, Felix, his mother, his brotherAnderson, his two sisters Nancy and Maggy, and other slave Negroes were freedat Mansfield.Ervin and his family migrated to Douglass, Nacogdoches County, Texas,shortly after receiving their freedom because, according to the U.S. Census of1870, his two younger sisters, Gambrella, aged three, and Mary, less than a yearold, had been born in Texas. That same Ninth Census stated that Felix was15 years of age; his sister Nancy was 20, and his sister Maggie was 12.4 Ander-son Ervin, Felix's only brother, came to Angelina County about the same time.~According to the U.S. Census of 1880, Felix was 22 years of age, anilliterate farm laborer living in the northern part of Angelina County and wasstill single. 6 Sometime during this decade, Felix met Elnora, also an ex-slaveand former resident of the Boyd neighborhood near Alto and later of Douglass.She was several years younger than Felix and had 'three illegitimate children.The oldest child was by a white man by the name of Boyd. Then she had twochildren by Thornton Morrison, colored and a native of Texas, but both hisparents were born in Louisiana. Morrison was born December 8, 1856. HenryMorrison, one of the children, placed a tombstone at his father's grave afterMorrison's death on February 16, 1940. It had been said that Felix lost hispatience with one of Elnora's other sons and threw him over a fence where hishead hit a stump. The child died soon afterwards. fFelix began to work on the farm for John L. Bailey shortly after Baileymoved from Crossroads to Wells in 1887, His wife, Elnora and the childrenhelped him with the farm work. The children of Felix: and Elnora were Daisy,Eliza, Fannie, Clara, Gustavus, Eli, Bill, and Ed. The Ervin family also assistedMrs. John L. Bailey with her housework. All of Felix's daughters, who weregood cooks, always credited Mrs, Bailey with teaching them to cook. Felix andJohn N. Cravens is a Professor of History at Midwestern University.126 EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL ..his family cleared most of the one-hundred acre farm owned by Bailey at Wells.He also cleared land for Ben Warner, Rube Sessions, Jimmie Bowman, WillLewis, and M. A. Chapmon, who were neighbors of Bailey. He planted anorchard of pears. apples, peaches, and other fruits for Bailey, and a few of thepear trees are living today in the writer's front yard. Although be never didpublic work at sawmills, on roads, or gins, he was an excellent basket maker.·He made the same type of baskets found in the old pictures of slaves pickingcotton.Lawrence D. Rice explains the reason for Felix and thousands of otherex·slaves making loyal and satisfactory workers was because Texas escaped fromthe ravages of the Civil War, the long military occupation afterwards, and thefreedom propaganda which spread over other large areas of the South. Ervinand most other freedmen of eastern Texas continued to be servile until the endof their lives. g Felix never talked about civil rights Or politics. Negroes ofWells voted only in general elections in November and sometimes in school boardand board referendums when invited by the white people. Ervin never talkedfreely with white people but was ready to answer questions about his family,friends, and best ways to do menial tasks when asked.Felix claimed to be able to conjure warts. He took an ear of corn, prefer.ably of the yellow variety, sbellf.d the grains from the ear. After rubbing thewarts, he would name the cob Filey and throw it over his left shoulder. Thenhe would assure the person that the warts would be gone in a few days. Felix,who was also good at water·witching, would cut a peach tree limb into a threepronged stick. Then he would walk along holding the two prongs and the thirdpointing toward the ground. When the third prong would almost touch theground in spite of the firm grip according to Felix's belief, a well could be dugand plenty of good water would be found. 1QFelix was average in size and weight. He was very black and had a loosepiece of skin on his neck. A little mustache grew on his upper lip and once aweek he shaved himself with a straight razor. He always wore a felt hat bothsummer and winter. In winter he wore a cOat and woolen trousers. His clothingfor summer was usually thin and ragged, especially when he was working.tlSara Gilliam, a colored woman friend, said that 'She only saw Felix drunkone time and that was at the wedding of his granddaughter, Estilene Ervin, whowas the daughter of Fannie Ervin. The wedding was at the house of TaylorErvin, a son-in-law of Felix. Felix jumped high and danced around boasting ofhaving such a fine granddaughter. Also he commented freely On how fortunatehe was to get a new grandson by the marriage. His son-in-law, Henry Barnes,and his daughter, Daisy, put an end to his excited behavior by putting Felix tobed at Taylor's home. I ~Felix's wife Elnora was also fond of alcoholic beverages and often gotdrunk. Mrs. Leona Mitchell Moten, a niece, said that Elnora went with herSOD, Henry Morrison, to the express office at Welts on the eighteen of June topick up a case of whiskey for the big "Juneteenth" celebration the next day.They came to town in a wagon pulled by two small Spanish mules, and beforethey got back home, both mother and son were very drunk.Elnora had a number of half-brothers and half-sisters with the same motheras Elnora but with different fathers. They were Patsy Twine Mitchell, Susie,EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL 127..Phylis Thornton, Dora Lang Jones, Jim Twine, Noah Roland, George Lane, andWesley Lane. Elnora often came to Pollok to visit her sister Patsy, the motherof Mrs. Leona Mitchell Moten.13Felix was very superstitious. He refused to walk under ladders, and believedin ghosts and other spirits. One could scare him by saying "Look behind you,Felix!" He would turn around, look and then start running away. A newspaperover one's face. or a false face, would frighten him. The writer remembers oneChristmas that a young Negro put on a Santa Claus mask and walked towardFelix. Felix ran until the masked Negro caught up with him. A little scuffletook place and Felix tore up the mask. As Felix grew older he stopped attendingChristmas tree parties at the Wells Chapel Baptist Church because he was 80frightened by the Santa Claus mask. 14Felix attended the "Juneteenth" celebrations held around Wens. Felix saidthat when the festivities reached their peak, the young people would startshouting and jumping about. One of the joyful group would cry out, 4'Unc1eFelix, why don't you ,dance and shout like us young folks because we're free,free, free!" Felix said that he would reply, "Hush up your silly foolishness,You don't know what freedom is, When I was a slave I never knew what bungerwas. I was never embarrassed about my clothes. My master saw to it that Usslaves had good regular well·cooked meals and plenty of clothes for Sunday andto work in!" On one "Juneteenth" instead of attending a celebration, Felixspent the entire day cleaning out a strawberry patch for a white family.Felix loved to eat cheese and crackers for his lunch when he came to town.At home he loved to eat cornbread with butter and milk. He put salt in his teaand coffee when "Sugar was not available. Once the writer observed Felix, hisdaughter Daisy, her husband, Henry Barnes, and Daisy's two children Bowdiddleand Doody going to the second table for their noon meal in the home of Joe L.Cravens, after a long hard morning of setting out tomato plants in the field.Felix sat at the head of the table and when all the group were comfortablyseated, the old man gave a very sensible prayer of thanks. This was followed byFelix passing the meat and other food to the other members of his family. Theyoung white observer concluded that the second table participants excelled thewhites in observation of nice manners and good behavior. Felix later told thewriter that only three families in the Wells community allowed him to eat attheir dining table. These were the families of John L. Bailey, Joe L. Cravens,and Ben Warner. At all other white homes of Wells, Felix was given a plate offood at the backdoor steps where he was expected to eat quietly and to notify thelady of the house when he had finished eating.Felix had few associates in the latter part of his life. He was a loner mostof the time. He would sit in one place usually under a tree for several hours ata time, Sometimes he would sit outside with some railroad track workers andtheir families living in quarters made out of discarded boxcars across the tracksfrom the depot. His closest friends were Henry Barnes and all the members ofthe Ervin family. Also Will McCraney, a mulatto, was a close friend of Felix·s.Felix bought On credit from Mark McWhorter a little farm of 52 acres witha little unpainted three-room house made of rough planks. The houSe had awood stove, several beds, chairs, and tables. Rube Sessions bought the notesfrom McWhorter. Felix owned a mule and continued to plant crops of cottonand corn for a number of years. Felix was never able to pay the mortgage and128 EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNALSessions sold the property to Ben Warner. l' During his last years Felix workedfor other people. He chopped wood, worked gardens, plowed fields, hoed, andpicked corn, cotton, tomatoes, and peas. He cleaned out outdoor toilets forindividuals and the Wells Public School. He cleaned out attics and cut weedsand grass for various people in the community. He helped in the killing of hogsand the curing of meat.Felix was not a "Stepandfetchit" prototype in any way when he was aroundwhite people. He was considered a mean Negro because he would fight anybodywho crossed him; he feared no one unless the person wore a false face. TomWarner, a white man, got in a fight with him and was almost whipped. Warnersaid later that the Negro would have won the fight if onlookers had not spokenwords of encouragement. Felix also had trouble with Ben Warner, Jesse Harri-son, and several others over the amount of wages he felt ought to be paid him. 16Once Felix got into an argument with a high tempered young white house-wife over his wages. The angry WOman picked up a large stick of wood andmoved toward the old Negro. Felix did not move out of his tracks but raisedup his hands to ward off the blow. He then said to her "You might kill mebut you won't eat me." The angry young woman swore that she would neveremploy or feed Felix again. He then walked away calmly. Several weeks laterFelix returned, went to the wood pile, and cut up a hige pile of kindling woodand other wood. Then he sat on the chopping block until the housewife calledhim in for his breakfast. Thus the feud was ended.Felix was a member of the Baptist Church of Douglass in the late 1880's.After coming to Wells, he became affiliated with the Wells Chapel BaptistChurch. In his later years he served as one of the deacons and sat up in thefront in the Amen corner. When he was asked to give the opening prayer, healways ended it by singing "I'm going to stay on bended knees to serve myLord." The congregation would join in the singing and the service would become .."a spirited devotion. Felix would get happy and praise God and testify abouthow he had been able to "come through," Sometimes he would start liftingthe benches from one end and cause four or five Negroes to fall off. Then two l.oor three of the leaders of the congregation would carry him out of the church tocalm down the crowd and let the service return to normality. Felix would goto New Prospect Baptist Church near Pollok for fourth Sunday services sincethe Wells Church did not meet every Sunday. Felix's advice to his children andgrandchildren was to go to Sunday School and church and to stay out of badcompany. The old Negro urged his children and others not to join a churchunless they planned to live a Christian life. A nephew, now eighty years of age,said that he never heard Felix curse in his life. When asked if he could read,Felix would say that he could only read the Bible. He always carried a Biblewhen going to church on Sunday. He could quote passages fairly accuratelyfrom the Bible and made some very sensible interpretations of the Scriptures.He always refused to look at a newspaper when offered one to read. Hisfavorite religious song was the "Old One Hundred.""In his last years Felix lived with his daughters. First he lived in the homeof Daisy Barnes. Then he went to live in the home of another daughter, ElizaRattler. Felix was sick very little during his life and took little medicine, but ashe began to grow older, he was afflicted with rheumatism. His last days were -,:spent in the home of his daughter, Clara and her husband. Taylor Ervin. Dr.• EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL 129,1. J. Lockhart attended the ailing colored man on August 15 and 16, 1936, anddiagnosed his illness as bronchial pneumonia. Felix died at six o'clock in themorning of August 16. R. N. Rattler, a son-in-law, served as the acting under-taker. '" A local truck owned by Joe L. Cravens served as the hearse to take thebody of Felix in its simple wooden casket to the New Center Prospect Baptist• Church near Pollok, Angelina County, Texas, for his funeral service. TheReverend Mr. Blake presided at this last religious service for Felix. i9 His casketwas then carried to the nearby New Center Prospect Cemetery where Felix wasburied beside his wife, Elnora, who had died a number of years. before.Today their graves are marked with a thin piece of marble bearing noinscription, each slab having been pushed in the ground by hand. Several per·simmon sprouts and clumps of tall grass and weeds mark their final restingplaces. Nearby are the graves of a number of their children and grandchildrenand other near relatives of the old couple.130 EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNALNOTESlV.S. Ninth Census, 1870 MSS, Returns of the Inhabitants of Douglass,Nacogdoches County. Texas, Microfilm, Midwestern University Library, WichitaFalls, Texas.2lbid.~Interview with Jeff Spencer, a nephew of Felix Ervin, Wells, Texas, Decem-ber 1, 1968.'U.S. Tenth Census, 1880 MSS Returns of the Inhabitants of Beat No.2,Angelina County. Texas, Microfilm, Midwestern University Library.5Interview with Jeff Spencer, December I, 1968.6U.s. Census, 1880 MSS, Angelina County, Texas, Microfilm, MidwesternUniversity Library.7Interview with Emma Bailey McGehee Cravens, Wells, Texas, December25, 1966; interview with Jake Green, Wells, Texas, June 5, 1967, November 11,1967; interview with Lewis Moten, Pollok, Texas, November 27, 1968~ there wasno preacher available for Morrison's funeral and Lewis Moten, a deacon in theNew Prospect Baptist Church, conducted the final rites; a tombstone in NewProspect Cemetery, one and two·tenths miles from PoBok, Texas, Post Office."Interview with Emma Bailey McGehee Cravens, November 11, 1967.gLawrence D. Rice, The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900 (Baton Rouge, 1971). 5.1°Interview with Sara Gilliam, Wells. Texas, December 1, 1968.11Interview with Jeff Spencer, December 1, 1968; interview with Jake Green,January 1, 1969.uInterview with Sara Gilliam, Wells. Texas, December 1, 1968.13Interview with Mrs. Leona Mitchell Moten, Pollok, Texas, November 29,1968."'Interview with Sara Gilliam, December 1, 1968.Hlnterview with Rube Sessions, WeBs, Texas, December 26, 1966.1BInterview with Eugene Bailey. Wells, Texas, September 13, 1968; interviewwith T. J. Warner, Wells. Texas. October 26, 1968.l1Interview with Jake Green, June 5, 1967; interview with Jeff Spencer,December I, 1968; interview with Laurie E. Clayton, Pollok, Texas,. November29, 1968; interview with Mrs. Lottie Clayton, Pollok, Texas, November 29, 1968.]'Records of Deaths, Book No.9, Cherokee County, Texas, County Court-house, Rusk, p. 341. Dr. J. J. Lockhart also attended the mother of the writerof this paper wben he Was born on February 17. 1912.'"Interview with Lewis Moten, a nephew-in-Iaw of Elnora Ervin, Pollok,Texas. November 27. 1968.•;

Felix  Zero  Ervin: Louisiana Negro Slave and East Texas Freeman

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Felix Zero Ervin: Louisiana Negro Slave and East Texas Freeman

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