D. C. Ely
was born in Roaring Creek, Columbia Co, Pennsylvania. His father was
also named David. His mother was Sarah Brobst (d 2 Mar 1871), daughter
of Christian Brobst . Sarah later married Peter Kline. The Brobsts,
Elys, and Klines all lived in and around Marysville, Marion County,
Iowa. As a young man D. C. taught school there. Later he owned a dry
goods store. He also served from 1861-1863 in Co. E, 6th Regiment of
the 6th Iowa Infantry.
D. C. had
two brothers (Hiram and John) and a sister Hannah. Hiram (d. 25 April
1870) married Sarah Shingler. John was one of the men who did the original
survey of Marysville. Hannah married George Kruck, who was the Marion
County Clerk for a time in the 1870s. Some of these family members are
buried in the old part of the Marysville Cemetery.
D. C.'s first
wife was Sarah A. Weaver who died in 1866. She was the mother of Eugene
Ernest Ely (pictured above) who was born in 1864 and died in 1907 in
California. Mary Nash was from Marshall County, Iowa. She and D. C.
had six children: Charles, Hiram, Frederick, George, Sarah (known as
Sadie), and Mary (known as Mamie).
The two wives
share a tombstone in the Marysville Cemetery. It's inscribed with the
word BARAMA, which can be defined as "highly esteemed." D.
C. died in Morrow Co, Oregon on the 29 July 1911.
D. C. and
Mary (Nash) Ely are Berniece Thornton's great-grandparents.
