Who Was W. P. Ellis?
William P. Ellis yog kuv yawm txiv koob. Hmoov tsis, he passed away when my grandfather, Gilbert Padilla P. Ellis, was only two years old. Kuv tus pog tsis paub ntau txog William cov tsev neeg. The actual information Grandpa had on him was sparse, so William was the real mystery man in the family history up until 2006 los sis 2007.
Grandpa had a picture of William sitting on a fake moon. William was a giant of a man. Kuv xav hais 6'4″ los 6'6″. My grandfather was 6’4″ nws tus kheej. Tsaug rau cov muaj hnub nyoog, 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.
Daim duab ntawm William Ellis, Caroline nws tus poj niam thiab nws txiv, Frederick thiab Johanna Johannpeter
I started out knowing William died in St. Louis, Missouri thaum lub rau hli ntuj 22, 1917, thiab lub rau hli ntuj 21, 1918. Kuv yawg yog qhov tseem tseeb, direct person I have ever known. Kuv paub nws qhia tau tseeb li nws nco tau. I limited my search to this period even with memory not being 100 percent accurate.
The Missouri Secretary of State uploaded most Missouri death certificates from 1910 mus 1955 to it’s website, thaum kuv pib no nrhiav. The first few times I searched, Kuv yuav tsis nrhiav William P. Ellis. Thaum kawg, I decided I would search for every death certificate from St. Louis nroog nyob hauv ob lub xyoo 1917 thiab 1918 nrog lub xeem lub npe Ellis.
Tsi, Kuv ntaus them av nyob hauv 1917. You see my great grandfather’s death certificate listed his first name as “W.P.” lub xeem lub npe “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 yug lub yim hli ntuj 1, 1877, mus 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. Yog tseem muaj koob npe rau Louis. 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. Nws yog ib txoj kev sib tw ntawm genealogy thiab keeb kwm. Yog hais tias koj tsis txhob qhia rau lwm tus neeg los yog tsis txhob kaw tau nws, cov lus no ploj.
William tsiv rau me nyuam. Charles, Missouri, tej tsam ua ntej 1900 vim nws sib rau hauv ib lub chav nyob dawb mus tua tsov rog Mev-American rau lub Xya hli ntuj 9, 1898, Thaum cov me nyuam. Charles, Missouri. He served in the 6th Volunteer Missouri Regiment, Taws roj teeb A. He served for two years and mustered out on May 10, 1899.
Kuv tus pog, Caroline Ellis, lived in St. Charles also. Lawv tej tsam ua ntej mus ntsib 1912, Thaum nkawd sib yuav. Saum ntuj 15, 1912, William P. Ellis yuav Caroline Leah “Hli” Johannpeter rau cov me nyuam. Charles. Lawv yuav txais tos kuv yawg, Gilbert Padilla P. Ellis, into the world on Tuesday, Lub rau hli ntuj 22, 1915, by which time, lawv nyob hauv St. Louis City. They moved to the city to be closer to his work. Clay mines were located within a couple of blocks of their flat on Magnolia Avenue.
Whether it was from the working in the clay mines, environmental factors, or some other cause, William was stricken with lung problems for six months prior to his premature death on December 4, 1917. Nws cia li 40 xyoo.
His obituary was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on December 5, 1917: Obit ntawm Wm P Ellis, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 05 Dec 1917 Ellis-nkag mus so rau hnub, Dec. 4, 1917, tom 11:20 yog nyob nyob, 5811 Magnolia Avenue, William P. Ellis, nkawv txiv ntawm Lena Ellis (nee Johannpeter), hawm txog txiv Gilbert Padilla, nyob zoo tub, tij laug, thiab vauv thaum muaj hnub nyoog 40 xyoo, 4 lub hlis thiab 3 hnub. Pam tuag hnub Friday tom 2:30 tus Chapel PM ntawm Blederwieden-Dunkmann, 1934 St. Louis Avenue, mus Bethlehem tojntxas tshiab. Tsav.
Lub xyoo, 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. Hmoov tsis, William Ellis is a quite common name in both Virginia and Kentucky. I don’t 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.
Qhov chaw: St. Louis Dispatch tom qab, Hlis ntuj nqeg 5, 1917, p. 17 thiab Missouri tuag ntawv Database
