James Whitcomb Ellis(1848-1929)
ELLIS
Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 5/23/2008 at 11:40:57
Annals of Iowa
October, 1929NOTABLE DEATHS
JAMES WHITCOMB ELLIS was born near Danville, Hendricks County, Indiana, November 25, 1848, and died in Maquoketa, Iowa, April 9, 1929. His parents were Jesse and Ailsea (Jeffers) Ellis who settled near Maquoketa in 1852. James W. was reared on his father’s farm, and attended public school until fourteen years old. He made several attempts to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War, but was rejected because of his youth. However, in June, 1864, when less than sixteen years old, he got to the front long enough to witness the intensively fought campaigns at Culpepper and Petersburg, but was returned home. In May, 1866, he enlisted in Company H, Fifth United States Infantry, in which he served three years on the southwestern frontier. He then returned home and devoted himself to farming until 1889 when he began writing fire insurance. In 1907 he removed to Maquoketa, continuing his insurance, to which he added some real estate business. A Democrat in politics, he was active in public matters. He was justice of the peace four years, and president of his school board twenty years. He was active in Grand Army circles and was commander of the Department of Iowa of the Union Veterans Union. In 1908 he was elected representative and was re-elected in 1910, serving in the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth general assemblies. During his first term he succeeded in having an appropriation made for the erection of a monument to the memory of Ansel Briggs, the first governor of the state of Iowa, at his former home at Andrew, Jackson County. Mr. Ellis then raised the necessary money and had the remains of Governor Briggs removed from Omaha, where his death occurred May 5, 1881, and re-interred at Andrew. The monument was unveiled September 22, 1909. Mr. Ellis was the author of a History of Jackson County in two volumes, as well as of many articles of a local historical nature. He was secretary-treasurer of the Maquoketa Pioneer and Old Settlers Society for twelve years, and in 1903 organized the Jackson County Historical Society of which he became secretary and curator. All his life he was a collector of prehistoric, Indian, pioneer, and military relics, until he had one of the best private collections in the state.
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