Who Was W. P. Ellis?
William P. Ellis buvo mano prosenelis. Deja, jis mirė, kai mano senelis, Gilbert P. Ellis, was only two years old. Mano didysis močiutė nežinojo daug apie Williamo šeima. The actual information Grandpa had on him was sparse, so William was the real mystery man in the family history up until 2006 arba 2007.
Grandpa had a picture of William sitting on a fake moon. William was a giant of a man. Sakyčiau, 6'4″ į 6'6″. My grandfather was 6’4″ pats. Ačiū, kad skaitmeniniame amžiuje, I know more about my great grandfather than his own son did, but the journey was complex and illustrates the joys and challenges of the genealogical journey.
Picture of William Ellis, his wife Caroline and her parents, Frederick and Johanna Johannpeter
I started out knowing William died in St. Louis, Misūris nuo birželio 22, 1917, ir birželio 21, 1918. Mano senelis buvo labiausiai teisingi, direct person I have ever known. I knew his information was as correct as his memory allowed. I limited my search to this period even with memory not being 100 percent correct.
The Missouri Secretary of State uploaded most Missouri death certificates from 1910 į 1955 to its website, kai aš pradėjau šią paiešką. The first few times I searched; Aš negalėjo rasti William P. Ellis. Pagaliau, I decided I would search for every death certificate from St. Louis City tiek metų 1917 ir 1918 su pavarde Ellis.
Laimei, I hit užmokesčio purvą 1917. You see my great grandfather’s death certificate listed his first name as “W.P.” ir pavardė “Ellis”, so I could have search William Ellis throughout the state until the cows came home and never found him. Finding William’s death certificate was like hitting the lottery.
William was born August 1, 1877, William H. Ellis and an unknown mother in the state of Kentucky. He lived at 5311A Magnolia Avenue, where died of lung disease on December 4, 1917. The death certificate listed his occupation as a clay miner. St. Louis was home to a large amount of clay mines along S. Kingshighway Boulevard and the “Dogtown” neighborhood at the turn of the century.
These mines turned out the bricks that St. Louis vis garsėja. William’s death certificate proved that my great grandmother only had limited knowledge of William’s background because she did not know his mother’s name or where she was from. Tai tiek genealogijos ir istorijos iššūkis. If you do not tell someone or do not record it, you lose the information.
William moved to St. Charles, Misūris, kažkada prieš 1900 because he mustered into one of the volunteer units going to fight the Spanish-American War on July 9, 1898, St. Charles, Misūris. He served in the 6th Volunteer Missouri Regiment, Šviesa Baterijos. He served for two years and mustered out on May 10, 1899.
Mano didysis močiutė, Caroline Ellis, lived in St. Charles also. Jie susitiko kažkada prieš 1912, kai jie susituokė. Gegužės 15, 1912, William P. Ellis vedęs Caroline Lėją “Užuovėja” Johan Petras St. Charles. Jie norėtų, mano senelis, Gilbert P. Ellis, into the world on Tuesday, Birželis 22, 1915, o iki to laiko, jie gyveno St. Louis Miestas. They moved to the city to be closer to his work. Clay mines were within a couple of blocks of their flat on Magnolia Avenue.
Nesvarbu, ar tai buvo iš molio kasyklose darbo, aplinkos veiksniai, or some other cause, Lung problems afflicted William for six months until his premature death on December 4, 1917. Jis buvo tiesiog 40 metai.
His obituary was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on December 5, 1917: Obit WM P Ellis, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 05 Gruodis 1917 Ellis-Įvedė į poilsio antradienį, Gruodis. 4, 1917, į 11:20 esu tuo gyventi, 5811 Magnolia Avenue, William P. Ellis, mylimas vyru Lena Ellis (Nee Johann Peter), brangusis tėvas Gilbert, mūsų mielas sūnus, brolis, ir žentas tuo metų 40 metai, 4 mėnesių ir 3 dienos. Laidotuvės penktadienį 2:30 pm nuo Blederwieden-Dunkmann koplyčios, 1934 St. Louis Avenue, New Bethlehem kapinės. Variklis.
Per metus, I thought that William’s lineage traced back through Susan Mustain through to the Plantagenet Kings of Cowardly King John and King Edward III. I recently discovered that I may have traced our lineage through the wrong William H. Ellis. Deja, William Ellis is a quite common name in both Virginia and Kentucky. I do not know if or when I will be able to verify this side of the family back past William P. Ellis and his father, William H. Ellis.
Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Gruodis 5, 1917, p. 17 and Missouri Death Certificate Database
