by Rocky Macy
Joshua Calvin ELLIS was born on January 31st, 1814, in North Carolina. He married Sarah Elizabeth KELLY in Forsyth County, Georgia, on February 28th, 1837. Joshua Calvin ELLIS died in Madison County, Arkansas, on December 21st, 1880.
Joshua Calvin ELLIS was my g-g-g-grandfather.
Joshua and Sarah had a total of seven children, and census records indicate that they were all born in the state of Georgia. The children included: William J. (1840-after 1880), Hiram Kelly (1842-1912), Joshua Thomas (1844-1914), Mary Ann (1846-1888), James Calvin (1848-1907), Adeline (1851-1916), and Sarah Clementine (1853-1911).
Of the children, William J. married Matilda J. COOK; Hiram Kelly married Susan LANE; Joshua Thomas married 1.) Mary Palestine PHILLIPS, and 2.) Georgianne ROBERTS; Mary Ann married Jasper COOK; James Calvin married Nancy Ellen NELSON; Adeline married Charles O‘CONNOR; and, Sarah Clementine remained single.
Joshua and Sarah’s marriage in Forsyth County, Georgia, in 1837 is part of that state’s public record. Thirteen years later when the 1850 US Census was taken they were still living in Forsyth County, Georgia. At that time he was listed as “J.C. Ellis” (age 36) and she was noted as “Sarah A.” (34). The children in the household were William J. Ellis (10), Hiram K. Ellis (8), Thomas J. Ellis (6), Mary A. Ellis (4), and James C. Ellis (1).
Sometime after the birth of the youngest child, Sarah Clementine ELLIS, on May 27th, 1853, Joshua and Sarah moved their family to northwest Arkansas. When the US Census was taken in 1860, the family was living at “War Eagle and Walnut” in Benton County, Arkansas. Included were: Joshua (47), Sarah (44), William 20, Hiram (18), Thomas (17), Mary (13), James (11), “Adaline” (9), and Sarah (7).
The 1870 US Census located the family in White River Township, Benton County, Arkansas. There were just four members in residence: “Joshuay” Ellis (57), Sarah Ellis (54), “Adline” Ellis (19), and Sarah Ellis (13).
The ELLIS home in 1880 was located in Prairie Township of Madison County, Arkansas. At that time Adeline had married Charles O’CONNOR and she was living without him, but with their one-year-old daughter, Alice Pauline O’CONNOR in her parents' home.) The family household as recorded by the US Census that year included: Joshua C. Ellis (66), Sarah Ellis (63), “Adaline O Conner” (28), Sarah Ellis (25), and Alice P. “O Conner” (1).
(Note: Adeline’s married name of O’Connor appears in the public record as “O’Conner” in about equal measure. I have chosen to go with “O’Connor” because that was the listing on her death certificate, a document that was informed by her son-in-law, C.T. MORRISON with what appears to be a great deal of care.)
Joshua Calvin ELLIS passed away on December 21, 1880, while taking part in a community hog-butchering. A great-granddaughter of his, Pearl Crews of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, heard the story of his death from her mother who was a granddaughter of Joshua. Pearl mailed this account to me in 1981:
“Joshua Ellis and several neighbors were butchering hogs for their winter’s meat. It seems like each neighbor brought his hogs and put them in a pen with all the others, and Joshua’s job was to kill the hogs and put them on a big sled pulled by a horse. He would sled them up to the big fire and hot water vat, (where) the other men would scald and scrape the hogs. They had finished cleaning one hog and wondered why he was not there with another hog to be scalded. They walked around the barn and he was laying dead from a heart attack. There was snow on the ground and he had walked to a rail fence. His hand prints were in the snow on the rails.”
A cold and snowy winter’s day, and a sixty-six-year-old man was killing hogs and loading them onto a sled by himself. He probably did die of a heart attack!
The old man, like so many hardy pioneers of his generation, was struggling to provide for his family up until his final breath.
Joshua Calvin ELLIS is at rest in Vaughan-Whitener Cemetery in Hindsville, Madison County, Arkansas.
1 comment:
I vividly recall my heart attack. I was in the backyard and knocked down a swing/glider, hit the ground four times before I made it into the house and announced (Like Red Foxx) this is a heart attack. I relate to this story. Fortunately it was not winter nor was it snowing.
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