Bio: Richard Ervin Jackson, M.D. Submitted by: Gaytha Carver Thompson Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** RICHARD ERVIN JACKSON, M.D. Richard Ervin Jackson, M. D., is an able and scholarly physician of Natchitoches Parish, but now resides in Ward 9, on Red River, sixteen miles southeast of the city of Natchitoches. He was born in Graves county, Ky., September 23, 1836, to Hardy and Sarah (Little) Jackson, who were born, reared and married in Davidson County, Tenn., the former being the son of John Jackson, and the latter a daughter of John Little. Upon his father's side Dr. Jackson is the descendant of an emigrant from Ireland. His parents were married in 1822, and soon after removed for Tennessee to Graves County, Ky., becoming early settlers of that county. Hardy Jackson was twice married and his first marriage, which was to Miss Little, resulted in the birth of five children, all sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third. They are named as follows: John Milton, James Hardy (deceased), and Robert Lockeridge. The mother of these children died in 1842, and about two years later their father was married to Mrs. Nancy Rutland, a widow who was a sister to his first wife. To them two children were born; Eliza Ann and Isaac, the latter dying in infancy. Eliza Ann now resides near Anson, Tex., and with her lives her mother who is once more a widow, Mr. Jackson passing from life in 1862. The subject of this sketch spent his early boyhood in his native county, and at the age of nine years, or in the fall of 1845, he accompanied his father and stepmother to what is now knows as Limestone County, Tex., and a year later they removed to Louisiana, locating in Bienville Parish, five miles from the town of Arcadia. It was there that the father passed from life, and is was also there that Richard Ervin spent the remainder of his boyhood. He first attended the common schools of Graves County, Ky., and Bienville Parish, La., and afterward entered an academy in Arcadia, which he attended one year, and a similar institution at Mount Lebanon, of the same parish one year. In 1858 he took up the study of medicine under the preceptorship of his brother, Dr. John M. Jackson, of Columbus, Ky., and remained with him a year and a half. In October, 1859, he entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, and in it attended one course of lectures. In the fall of 1860 he entered the New Orleans School of Medicine, in which he attended his second course of lectures, and from which he graduated in the spring of 1861. He at once located at Montgomery, La., but a month later the Civil War Broke out and he entered the confederate service, serving until the close. During the first three years he acted as assistant surgeon, the first eighteen months of that time being in the hospital service. During the last year he held the rank of surgeon. He served the Southern cause with devotion, and until the struggle was ended he consecrated his whole energy to the triumph and perpetuity of the Confederacy. At the close of the war he again located in Montgomery, where he was an eminently successful medical practitioner until 1876, when he removed to a farm about a half mile below Montgomery, on the opposite side of the river in Natchitoches Parish, which place he purchased in 1872, and which he has ever since occupied as his home. It contains 250 acres of exceptionally fertile land, and is in a fine state of improvement. Besides this he owns a tract of eighty acres on the opposite side of the river in Grant Parish. Since 1876 he has managed his plantation and practiced his profession, following the latter calling more for the accommodation of his neighbors than from choice. He is a very able and successful physician, being especially skilled in surgery, and did he desire it he could have an extensive and paying practice. He, however, prefers to devote the greater part of his attention to the management of his farm, this pursuit being more agreeable to his tastes and health. His marriage which occurred on November 22, 1866, to Miss Aurelia Townsend, who died October 3, 1877, leaving four children: Mildred (born October 1, 1867), Albert Sidney (born October 2, 1869), and Jennie Perrin (born November 28, 1873). On November 14, 1885, the Doctor was married to Miss Lelia Pierson, of Natchitoches, who is his present wife. His first wife was a member of the Methodist Church, and he and his present wife are members of the Baptist and Episcopal Churches respectively. Dr. Jackson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in politics is a devoted member of the Democrat party. From the year 1880 until 1884 he served as a member of the State Legislature, having ben elected by his party in the fall of 1879 as one of the representatives for Natchitoches Parish. Besides this he has held several other minor positions, among them being that of police juror. The doctor is pleasant and agreeable in his manners, and he and his estimable wife have a large circle of warm friends.