COLVIN, Ellis C., Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged
in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 604-605.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914,
by Century Historical Association.

Colvin, Ellis Charner, merchant at Bernice, was born Dec. 10, 1871, near Dubach, Lincoln parish,
La., and is a son of W. A. H. and Nettie (Mitchell) Colvin, the former a native of Chester, S. C.,
born in 1849.  He came to Vienna, La., when 2 years old and spent his life on a farm in Lincoln
parish.  He conducted a mill business in addition to his farm. His wife was born in Lincoln parish
and died in 1907.  They were married in 1869 and had 10 children:  Ellis C.,  James,  Maude,
married J. W. Elliott;  Lee,  Brooks,  Jewel,  Lesca, married C. E. Millen, died in 1913;  Ora,
married P. Poole;  Margie and  Harry.  E. C. Colvin spent the first 28 years of his life in Lincoln
parish where he attended private school ending with the Hico school.  Later he supplemented this
with a course in the State Normal school at Natchitoches where he graduated in 1896.  He then
taught 1 year in Mer Rouge and 2 years in Benton.  Then in 1899 he moved to Bernice and
engaged in general mercantile business which he has followed to the present time.  He has a
plantation of 360 acres 1 mile from Bernice and for the past 10 years has run that also.  His
leading crops are cotton, corn, oats and hay.  He is a stockholder in the Bank of Bernice.  Mr.
Colvin is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Baptist church.  He has been a member of
the parish school board for 12 years and of the local board for 15 years and is now president of
the latter.  He is now and was one of the first aldermen of the town of Bernice, having served
several terms.  He was a delegate from Union parish to the state central committee which met at
New Orleans in 1904.  Mr. Colvin was married Aug. 22, 1897, to Miss Ocea, daughter of Thomas
and Anne Wainwright, living in Union parish one mile from Bernice.  They have 6 children all at
home:  William,  Chloe,  Nettie,  Graydon,  Helen and  Beverly.  The origin of the Colvin family in
America was from 3 brothers who were Scotch-Irish and settled in Chester district in S. C.  From
there 1 brother went to Tennessee, 1 to Georgia, and 1 remained in South Carolina.  From  this
last branch the subject's family came.  Mr. Colvin's paternal grandfather was Maj. Thomas Colvin,
of the Confederate army, and was a member of the constitutional convention.  Mr. Colvin's
paternal grandmother was a Crosby, a large and influential family in South Carolina.