Henry Clay Erwin
Born 20 DEC 1843 in Alabama to Thomas Barkley Erwin and Elizabeth Erwin. He married 16 year old Sallie McDaniel on 22 Oct 1865 after returning from the civil war where he served in Company C, 14th Texas Infantry Regiment as a Private up to the rank of Sergeant. He enlisted at the age of 19. His occupation after the war was as a farmer. In 1870 Clay's farm was valued at $2,100 at a time when land sold for about $1 per acre. He died 11 January 1899 at the age of 55.
In 1910, a year and a half after Clay's death, the 1900 census show that Sallie had sold the farm and was now renting a house, along with her two youngest children, 23 year old Ida, and 15 year old John. Sallie worked as a dress maker, Ida was a sales lady, and John was a teamster. Oldest child Mary had married Booth Fain in 1890, a railroad conductor. They were living in Shreveport Louisiana. Second oldest child Robert Charles, who was a painter, married Jessie Mae Bailey on 22 Oct 1891. They lived in Tyler. Third child Nancy (Nannie) Lee, married John L. Bailey, Jessie Mae's older brother on 15 Nov 1890. Fourth child Henry B, was 25 and still single. He would later marry Eloise Hewitt from Natchez Mississippi in 1906, and move there. The last records on Henry are in 1912. The 1930 census show Eloise married to Irvin Manton Corbin, a carpenter.
Ida Mae married Jack E Kennedy in 1914. He was a railroad worker in Shreveport Louisiana and was most likely a friend of Mary's husband Booth Fain. Jack & Ida had a four and half year old daughter named Ruth.
In 1920, while Jack was still working for the railroad, he and Ida were also running a boarding house on Caperton Street in Shreveport. Seventy year old Sallie was living with them, along with 36 year old younger brother John Erwin, who was also working for the railroad. Brother Charles and his wife Jessie were still living in Tyler. He was a sign writer and she was a seamstress. Sister Nannie and husband John Bailey were living in Tyler and they were both Real Estate agents.
In 1930, eighty year old Sallie was still living with Jack & Ida in their boarding house with seven boarders. Mary and Booth Fain were still in Shreveport with the railroad. Their 21 year old divorced daughter Floy, along with her 7 month old daughter Evelyn were living with them. Charles & Jessie were renting a house in Dallas Texas. Charles was still a sign painter. John & Nannie Bailey were still in the real estate business in Tyler.
Two years later in May 1932 Sallie McDaniel Erwin died.
On 7 May 1944 Robert Charles Erwin died in Dallas Texas of malnutrition due to stomach cancer.
On 8 November 1975 Nancy Erwin Bailey died at the Hearthstone Nursing Home in Tyler Texas of Cardiopulmonary Arrest, due to old age. She was 103 years old.
Mary Erwin Bailey died on 12 Nov 1950 in Shreveport, Louisiana. She was 82.
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In 1900 author Sid S. Johnson described Henry Clay and Sallie.
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H. C. Erwin made a good Confederate soldier, a big hearted speciman of noble manhood. Clay has many noble traits of character. Clay married Miss Sallie McDaniel, who was pretty and popular. They had several children; Clay is dead. The family reside in Tyler. Everybody was his friend, and he was everybody's friend. True as the needle (sic) to the pole, in his friendship.
Texans Who Wore The Gray by Sid S. Johnson
Page 159: Henry Clay Erwin, son of Col. Thomas B. Erwin, a prominent planter, was born in La Fayette, Chambers county Ala., December 20, 1843, removing to Texas with his father's family in 1850, and locating in Smith county. He early entered the Confederate service and served throughout the war in one of the regiments that composed Walker's division of the Trans-Mississippi department. He proved himself.
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Henry Clay Erwin's Children
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Nancy Erwin
Ida Mae Erwin Born: October 1876
John Erwin Born: January 1885
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Sallie's application for Henry Clay's pension
