Person:Stephen Ellis (5)

[The following biography is from Luke Ward Conerly, "Pike County, Mississippi, 1798-1876," 1909, pp 59-61] Stephen Ellis was a school teacher and minister of the gospel, and was one of the primer movers for the establishment of a church here, as well as being a pillar of strength to pioneer Methodism in this section. The house constructed here was built of peeled pine logs and was used as a house of worship, a day school and a Sunday-school, with Stephen Ellis as the minister, teacher and superintendent. This man took such a conspicuous part in the spiritual, intellectual and social upbuildings of Magees Creek that he and his brother, Ezekiel Parke Ellis, afterward district judge of the Florida Parishes, La., deserve more than a passing notice in these reminiscences. They were the sons of John Ellis, born in Virginia, and connected with the Tucker and Randolph families [this is doubtful---Bevin Creel] whose father was a man of great force of character, a planter and a Christian. Their mother was Sarah Johnson, born in Virginia also, and connected with the Kershaw and Lowry families of that State. John and Sarah Ellis moved to Georgia and thence to Pike County, Mississippi, and afterwards to Louisiana, in the territorial period. The Ellis families of Copiah and adjoining counties are of the same stock. George, John, Reuben, Stephen and William Ellis were names of members of this branch. William Millsaps, of Browns Wells; T. J. Millsaps, of Hazlehurst; Mrs. Sally Wadsworth, widow of Rev. Wm. Wadsworth, and Dr. George E. Ellis, of Utica, Miss., are among those recalled as offshoots of the Mississippi branch of this family. When tidings of the massacre at Fort Mims reached South Mississippi Stephen Ellis, still in his teens, joined a company of mounted riflemen, raised in Pike, Marion and adjoining counties, and with this volunteer command served under General Coffee in the little army of Gen. Andrew Jackson, then operating in Alabama and Georgia against the hostile Indians and their British allies. He participated in the sanguinary battle of the Horse Shoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, where defeat broke the power and spirit of the Creek Indians for all time, and he took part in other minor engagements, served faithfully until the close of the war and was honorably discharged. He was a fine reconteur and delighted in enteratining his hearers of recollections of Jackson and Coffee, Houston and Davy Crockett, and of the pompous bearing and self-importance of the Choctaw chief, General Pushmataha, one of Jackson’s brigadiers. Stephen Ellis married Mary Magee, sister of John, Hezekiah and William Magee. He moved from Pike County to near Franklinton in Washington Parish, Louisiana; was a successful planter and man of considerable means. He was a man of deep religious convictions, a preacher of force and earnestness, logical and zealous, and his ministry resulted in lasting good. He was a great reader, strong thinker and writer. He delighted to teach the young and spent years of his life thus. He was for years superintendent of education and held other positions of trust. He possessed engaging manners, fine social qualities. His only living son is Stephen R. Ellis, of Acadia Parish, Louisiana. His daughters living are Mrs. Melissa Wiggins, of Sharon, Miss., widow of Rev. David M. Wiggins; Mary, widow of Rev. Benj. Impson; Gabriella, widow of Hugh Bateman, and Mrs. Ellen Babington, wife of Robert Babington, of Franklinton, La. His descendants include the family names of Ellis, Burris, Wiggins, Simms, Impson, Bateman, Babington, Hartwell, Sykes, Lampton, Bickham, Maggee [sic, Magee] and others. One daughter Sara Ellis, married Judge James M. Burris, another Rev. L. A. Simms, and another Jason Bateman. He died at his home near Franklinton about 1869 in the seventy-ninth year of his age, the triumphant death of a Christian, carrying along with him in the eternal hereafter the sweetest recollection of those who survived him. There are many people yet living in Pike County and elsewhere who remember this good man, who were children then. His beautiful character, his love of children, his zeal in religion and the uplifting and upbuilding of the Methodist Church in Pike County and in Washington Parish are indelibly stamped upon their memories. Traditions of him have gently and sweetly floated down the stream of time---among the descendants of those who clustered about him, from the head waters of Magees Creek to where the earth has been made holy and sacred as his last resting place in Washington Parish, Louisiana.

1.   BLWt 55-80-9639, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15, National Archives Building, Washington, DC, in Bounty Land Warrants.

   29 July 1852, Stephen Ellis appeared before Alfred Richardson, JP of Washington Parish, Louisiana, age 57, and declared that he "was a Private in the company commanded by Captain John Bond, and mustered into service by Colonel Russell who commanded the Third Regiment of the United States Infantry in the War between Great Britain and the United States---that he was a volunteer of mounted riflemen from the Mississippi Territory, Marion County, and mustered into service at Mount Vernon in the state of Alabalma [sic], on or about the fifteenth day of October eighteen hundred and thirteen, for the term of six months and continued in actual service in said war for the term of six months, and was honorable [sic] discharged at Fort Claiborne in the state of Alabalma, on or about the fifteenth day of April eighteen hundred and fourteen;" also that in Nov 1814, he substituted for James Graves "in the same company and at the same place" and was mustered into service at Ford's residence in Marion County, Mississippi for the term of three months; that "he does not believe that James Graves was ever legally mustered into service and therefore his name may not appear on the roll."
   
   11 Feb 1853; Third Auditor's Office stated that Stephen Ellis entered service as Pvt in Capt John Bond's company Mississippi militia 15 Oct 1813 for six months and served to 14 April 1814; He was paid for travelling allowance 300 miles from Pierces Fort on the Alabama to Pike/Marion Counties, Mississippi. The above company was again in service from 3 Jan 1815 for three months to 2 April, but the name of neither Stephen Ellis nor James Graves appeared on the rolls.
   
   31 March 1855; Stephen Ellis of Washington Parish, age 60, appeared before Stephen Albritton JP and applied for additional bounty land under the Act of 3 March 1855 and referred to his previous declaration made under the Act of 28 Sept 1850, upon which he obtained warrant no. 50099 for 80 acres, located on the west half of the NW quarter of Section 36 in Township 6 South Range 7 East in the Greensburg Land District.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Tombstone photo of Stephen Ellis, Ellis Cemetery, Franklinton, Louisiana, at www.findagrave.com.
3.   Autobiography of Rev. Henry J. Harris of Mississippi (1822-1898), in Daughters of the American Revolution, Louisiana Genealogical Records Committee Report, Series 2, Vol 6, 27.

   "Franklinton, Washington Parish, Louisiana was about central in my Circuit. The church was weak there, but had some good material in it. The principal members being the Household of Bro. Stephen Ellis who was a local preacher of more than ordinary ability. He had a family of daughters mainly; I think but one son. Three of his daughters became wives of traveling preachers. One married Bro. D. M. Wiggins, another B. F. Impson, and the third Louis A. Sims. A fourth daughter became the wife of Robert Babington, who was a young Irish lad when I first knew him, a clerk in Matthew Simpson's store at Covington. He went to Franklinton, married and has prospered in business greatly and is a model Christian gentleman: One of the best of men."