My Genealogy Hound

James W. Ellis was born in the neighborhood in which he now resides in 1840, and throughout his entire life has followed the occupation of farming. His father, Lawson M. Ellis, was born in Cumberland County, Ky., in 1808, and in 1832 came to Hempstead County, Ark., and was married here in 1839 to Miss Caroline E. Green, who was born in Bedford County, Tenn., in 1821, and was brought to Hempstead County by her parents in 1829. Here she died in 1844, having borne three sons, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Mr. L. M. Ellis took for his second wife Miss Rosanna Sevedge, who bore him two sons, but her death occurred in Texas. Mr. Ellis made his home in Hempstead County, Ark., until 1868, but he has since resided in Texas, a life-long farmer, and since 1833 has been an ardent member of the Methodist Church. His father, Jesse Ellis, was born in North Carolina, in 1783, went to Kentucky in 1805, where he afterward married, and there passed from life at the age of eighty-eight years. His father, William Ellis, came from South Manchester, England, to the United States prior to the Revolutionary War, and when that struggle came up he became a member of a North Carolina regiment and served throughout that war. He was a farmer of North Carolina, and spent the rest of his life in that State. The mother’s father, Capt. Littleberry Green, was born in North Carolina, was married in Tennessee, and in 1829 came to Washington, Ark., where he died in 1830, having been a merchant and stock trader and a captain of militia at one time. His wife died in Washington in 1853, and the children born to them are also deceased, some of the sons having been wealthy merchants. James W. Ellis, after spending his early life in following the plow and attending the common schools, had been attending the schools of Washington for twenty months when the war broke out, and he immediately put aside his books to join Company E., Fourth Arkansas Infantry, being afterward in the Army of the Tennessee. He was in the engagements at Richmond (Ky.), Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Jackson (Miss.), Farmington, and in the engagements of the Georgia campaign, after which he came home. After being wounded at Murfreesboro, he was in the ordnance department for eighteen months, then served in the quartermaster’s department, and was then clerk of a military corps of cavalry, holding the rank of captain until the close of the war. He was captured at Boonville, Miss., in 1862, but managed to make his escape the same day and rejoin his command. Upon his return home in 1865 he espoused Miss Caroline, a daughter of James and Letty May, natives of East Tennessee, who came to Hempstead County, Ark., at a very early period, and here married and spent the rest of their lives, the father’s death occurring in 1871. The mother has resided in this State and county for seventy-five years, and is now eighty years of age. Her father, Andrew Wallace, was one of the first settlers of this region, and made his home here for the remainder of his days. Mrs. Ellis was born near her present home, and has borne Mr. Ellis ten children, five sons and three daughters now living. After the war Mr. Ellis was in the mercantile business for seven years in Washington, Ark., but in 1872 purchased his present farm of 125 acres, about 100 of which are under cultivation, situated two and one-half miles west of Ozan. In addition to his farm work he has also taught school more or less since the war, and with the exception of four years, he has held the office of justice of the peace since 1874. He is a Democrat, Seymour receiving his first presidential vote in 1868, and socially he belongs to the I. O. O. F., and he and wife are Methodists in their religious views.