Early Life and Career
Ellis was born in Jay, Maine. He moved to Felicity, Ohio, in 1838, where he was a lawyer and a school teacher. He married Harriet Ortus on October 25, 1842. Harriet and Ellis had three daughters, who all died during childhood. However Harriet died soon after the birth of their third child in February 1845. On August 2, 1845, Ellis married one of his former students, Lucy Ann Dobbyns. While in Felicity, he served as both the Clerk to the Trustees and later, the School Examiner, for Franklin Township.
Ellis joined the California gold rush and he went to Nevada City, California, and tried to set up shop as a retail salesman, a prospector and lawyer. In 1851 he was elected to the California State Assembly, where one of the resolutions he sponsored granted women the right to own property in the state of California. Ellis returned to Felicity, where in 1852, he and Lucy had the first of their children, Clara Blanche Ellis Starr, who would go on in her own right as a social leader of the city of Rockford, Illinois.
While living in California, he met two businessmen from Rockford, Charles Spafford and Dr. D.G. Clark, who invited him to move to that city. Ellis did not move to Rockford until 1854 (or 55), where he would establish himself as a lawyer. His home was on West State between Avon & Tay Streets in West Rockford.
Ellis joined Spafford, Charles Church and Clark in establishing a bank, the Spafford, Clark and Ellis Banking and Exchange Company, while he practiced law while in Rockford. He was instrumental in establishing the first fire department in Rockford in 1855, where he was named the first chief engineer.
Read more about this topic: Edward F. W. Ellis
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