Joseph Wilson Ervin


Joseph Wilson Ervin was a member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina.

Family background, education and early professional life

He was the younger brother of a more famous politician, Sam Ervin.
Ervin was born in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina. He attended the public schools, was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1921 where he was a member of the Dialectic Society and from its law school in 1923, was admitted to the bar in 1923 and commenced practice in Charlotte, North Carolina.

U.S. Congressman

He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth Congress and served from January 3, 1945, until his death in Washington, D.C. on December 25, 1945, nearly a year after entering Congress.

Suicide

He committed suicide by inhaling gas from a kitchen stove. This was said to be due to the pain from osteomyelitis that he was suffering from. His brother Sam Ervin was elected to finish his term. Joseph Ervin was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery, Morganton, N.C.