James W. Ellis, b. 25 Nov 1848

ROGERS, HOPE, JEFFERS, VANDEVERT, HAWKER, WILLIAMS, FORBES, TROWBRIDGE, WALDO

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 3/13/2004 at 09:26:18

James W. Ellis, a son of one of Jackson County's pioneers, is numbered among the tillers of the soil who are sustaining and extending the great agricultural interests of the county and State. He has a farm in South Fork Township, and is pursuing his chosen calling with good success, as he brings to his work practical skill, stout muscles, and a sagacious mind. He is an ex-soldier, having joined the army in 1864 during the rebellion, when a mere boy not sixteen years of age, and doing gallant service on the frontier from that time until 1869, the last three years under the leadership of the heroic and ill-fated Gen. Custer. And though so young, his coolness and daring in the face of danger attracted the favorable attention of his brave commander, who twice promoted him, and recommended him warmly for a commission.

Our subject comes of sterling Revolutionary stock, and both his father and his grandfather were pioneers of two States, the former of Kentucky and Indiana, and the latter of Indiana and Iowa, or, perhaps, we might more properly state that they were pioneers of three States between them. Joseph Ellis, the grandfather, was a native of Virginia, and at the early age of sixteen years he enlisted in the Continental army to aid his countrymen in their struggle for freedom from British rule, and he was enrolled as a member of Morgan's famous rifle corps. In the War of 1812 he was again ready to fight against English oppression, was commissioned as an officer of a Kentucky regiment, and was with Gen. Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, two of his sons fighting by his side in that engagement. He was an early settler of Shelby County, Ky., and became the owner of a plantation, which he developed from the forests, and operated with slave labor, the place being in the family to this day. He subsequently moved to Hendricks County, Ind., and a second time became a pioneer, and buying land there he rounded out an honorable and busy life at a ripe old age in his new home. His children were: Stephen, William, John Randolph, Fanny, Rebecca, Jesse, and Joseph. Fanny married Eli Rogers, of Fayette County, Ky.; Rebecca married James Hope, of Putnam County, Ind.; Stephen and John took part in the War of 1812, and John received a wound at the battle of New Orleans, and died from the effects of it soon after.

The father of our subject passed his early life on the Kentucky plantation where he had been born, and when a young man, animated by the same pioneer spirit that had made his forefathers seek new lands, he crossed the border into the State of Indiana, and became an early settler of Hendricks County, where he bought a tract of timber land, and building a log house, commenced the improvement of a farm. He resided upon it until 1852, when he sold it, and once again became a pioneer, moving to Iowa with teams, accompanied by his family, and driving his stock before him. He located in South Fork Township, buying here a quarter-section of land on sections 10 and 11. There was a double log cabin on the place, which at the time was the best building in the vicinity. A few acres of the land had been cleared and broken, and the rest was heavily timbered. He cleared quite a tract of land, and has developed a fine farm, on which he still resides at the venerable age of eighty years. The maiden name of his wife was Ailsea Jeffers, and she was born in Shelby County, Ky. She died in 1865, at the age of fifty-one years. Eleven children were born to those good people, nine of whom are living: Margaret (deceased) was the wife of Joseph Vandevert; Mary lives at home with her father; Stephen, who gave up his life for his country; Fanny married Philip Hawker, and they live on the Jeffers homestead in Hendricks County, Ind.; Isaac lives at Seattle, Wash; James W., of this sketch; William lives near Seattle; John lives in Seattle; Esther married M.L. Williams, and they live in Tacoma, Wash.; Stephen served in the late war as a member of Company B, 26th Iowa Infantry, and fought at the battles of Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, and Black River Bridge. He contracted a disease, and died in the hospital at Nashville in 1863, and all that is mortal of him lies buried in the National Cemetary at that point.

James Ellis was born Nov. 25, 1848, in the primative pioneer home of his father, in Hendricks County, Ind., and he was four years old when his parents sought a new home on the prairies of Iowa. Yet he remembers well the incidents of the journey to this place, and of the life that he led here when the country was young and sparsely settled, and deer, wolves and wild cats were plenty. There were no railways in Iowa then, and all marketing was done at the river towns. He lived with his parents until 1864, and then enlisted, as before mentioned, becoming a member of Company H, 5th U.S. Infantry, and had an exciting and adventurous life on the frontier the next five years. After the expiration of her term of enlistment our subject returned home, and buying some land adjoining his father's homestead, began his career as a farmer, and has ever since devoted himself to agriculture. He has bought other land, and has a good farm of fifty-one acres, under fine cultivation, and provided with neat buildings, and all the appliances necessary to carry on agriculture.

On the 16th of October, 1870, Mr. Ellis secured the co-operation of a good wife in the person of Mary Forbes, to whom he was then united in marriage. They have five children living - Charles F., Francis E., Ailsea, Lulu Belle, and Jessie. Mrs. Ellis is a native of Wisconsin, and comes of pioneer stock of this State, her grandfather, John Forbes, a native of New York, having been one of the earliest settlers of Jackson County, locating at Bellevue. He entered land from the Government that is now included in that city, and became very prominent there. He served as Justice of the Peace, and was conveyancer and legal advisor there many years. He subsequently removed to DeWitt, Clinton County, and there his life was brought to a close in 1864. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Trowbridge, and she was a native of New York State. She now makes her home with her granddaughter, Mrs. Ellis, and our subject, and though she is past eighty years old, still retains her physical and mental health to a remarkable degree. Her son, Henry Forbes, Mrs. Ellis' father, was born in Jackson County, and when a young man he went to Wisconsin, and there married and a few years later returned to this county to enlist in the service of his country, and aid in putting down the Rebellion. He became a member of Company B, 26th Iowa Infantry, and was in the army until the war closed. After that he resided in Jackson County until 1869, when he went to Utah, and died there in 1881. The maiden name of his wife was Orpha Waldo. She was a native of Wisconsin, and died in Council Bluffs, in 1859.

Mr. Ellis is an honorable young man of more than ordinary intelligence, and being a great reader and a close observer of men and things, his mind is well stored with valuable information. He wields a ready pen, and has written several vivid reminiscences of his soldier life on the plains, that have been published in the Sentinel, and read with much interest by the citizens. A man of his calibre is duly appreciated by his fellow-townsmen, and he stands high in their esteem. He has served as Justice of the Peace, and is at present President of the South Fork School Board. In politics he stands among the Democrats, and is a stalwart supporter of party principles. He was formerly a member of the Christian Church, but is now identified with the Congregational Church, and is Superintendent of its Sunday-school.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)