Fred Leslie Ervay, M. D. The medical fraternity of Wilson County had as one of its highly skilled and thoroughly trained members Dr. Fred Leslie Ervay, who had been engaged in a general practice at Fredonia since 1908. While Doctor Ervay had not carried on his profession as long as some of his fellow practitioners, he had risen to a prominent place in his calling, and the confidence in which he is held is evidenced by the size and importance of his clientele. He was born at Elk Point, South Dakota, June 14, 1880, and is a son of H. M. and Sarah (Pope) Ervay.
Henry N. Ervay, the grandfather of Doctor Ervay, was born in France, where he saw military service, and when still a young man came to the United States and settled at Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he became the proprietor of a tannery and continued to be engaged in that line of business until his death, which occurred before the birth of his grandson. H. M. Ervay was born at Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1845, received a public school education, and when a youth learned the tanning business under the instruction of his father. He went as a young man to Freeport, Illinois, where he was married, and was employed in a tannery there for several years, following which he went to Sioux City, Iowa, there pre-empting a claim and becoming a pioneer farmer. Later he removed to Dakota, where he was employed by the United States Government in land surveying, but subsequently returned to Iowa and settled in Floyd County, where he again took up farming. While thus engaged he became interested in stock raising, and eventually became one of the foremost breeders of Shorthorn cattle in the state, his stock being known for its quality all over Iowa. He became a prominent man in this line of business, but in 1903 retired from active affairs, and since that time had been living in retirement at Rudd, Iowa. A republican in politics, Mr. Ervay had long been interested in public affairs, and in addition to holding numerous minor local offices had been mayor of Rudd for four terms and acts in that capacity at the present time. He is one of the leading men of the city of his adoption, and through his energetic and progressive labors both as citizen and official had done much to add to its importance and prestige. Mr. Ervay married Miss Sarah Pope, the daughter of John Pope, a well known citizen of Freeport, Illinois, who was born in that city in 1834. To this union there were born six children, as follows: Frank B., who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Rudd, Iowa; Dr. Fred Leslie, of this notice; Carrie, who is unmarried and resided at the home of her parents at Rudd; Allen J., who is engaged in farming near Rudd, Iowa; Harry N., who is a farmer and owned a property near Hays, Kansas; and David, who follows farming near Rudd, Iowa.
Fred Leslie Ervay attended the public schools of Floyd County, Iowa, while growing up on his father’s farm, and later went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was a student at the well known Hyde Park High School. Following this he went to Cedar Valley Seminary, at Osage, Iowa, and then to the Keokuk Dental College, Keokuk, Iowa, where he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in the class of 1902. From that time until 1904 he was engaged in the practice of dentistry at LaHarpe, Illinois, and in the latter year, having decided upon a career in medicine, entered the Medical College of Keokuk, Iowa, and was graduated in pharmacy in 1907, and graduated in 1908 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Almost immediately after securing his diploma, Doctor Ervay located at Fredonia, where he had since had a general medical and surgical practice, his offices being at No. 318 North Sixth Street, where he owned the building. He is also the owner of his residence at No. 106 South Seventh Street, which he built and completed in 1911 and which is one of the finest in the city. Doctor Ervay is a valued member of the Wilson County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, the Southeast Kansas Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a thoroughly skilled and learned practitioner, who spends much time in personal research and investigation and who had always lived up to the best ethics of his vocation. He is a democrat, but not a politician, and his religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he belongs to LaHarpe (Illinois) Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; LaHarpe Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Bristol Lodge No. 653, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Olive Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Rudd, Iowa. He had been at various times connected with enterprises organized with the object in view of bettering conditions and inaugurating movements for the progress of Fredonia.
Doctor Ervay was married in 1914, at Yates Center, Kansas, to Miss Beulah M. Wood, a daughter of R. J. and Ella (Hisey) Wood, residents of Fredonia, where Miss Wood was a primary teacher in the city schools for several years.