Who Was W. P. Ellis?

William P. Ellis bol môj pradedo. Bohužiaľ, zomrel, keď môj dedko, Gilbert P. Ellis, was only two years old. Moja prababička nevedel moc o Williama rodine. The actual information Grandpa had on him was sparse, so William was the real mystery man in the family history up until 2006 alebo 2007.

Grandpa had a picture of William sitting on a fake moon. William was a giant of a man. Povedal by som, že 6'4″ na 6'6″. My grandfather was 6’4″ sám. Vďaka digitálnom veku, 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.

I started out knowing William died in St. Louis, Missouri od júna 22, 1917, a jún 21, 1918. Môj dedko bol nejpravdivější, 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 na 1955 to its website, keď som začal toto vyhľadávanie. The first few times I searched; Nemohol som nájsť William P. Ellis. Konečne, I decided I would search for every death certificate from St. Louis City ako v roku 1917 a 1918 s priezviskom Ellis.

Našťastie, Trafil som platovej nečistoty 1917. You see my great grandfather’s death certificate listed his first name as “W.P.” a priezvisko “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 je ešte slávny pre. 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. Je to výzva, ako genealógia a histórie. If you do not tell someone or do not record it, you lose the information.

William moved to St. Charles, Missouri, niekedy pred 1900 because he mustered into one of the volunteer units going to fight the Spanish-American War on July 9, 1898, na St. Charles, Missouri. He served in the 6th Volunteer Missouri Regiment, Indikátor stavu batérie. He served for two years and mustered out on May 10, 1899.

Moja prababička, Caroline Ellis, lived in St. Charles also. Stretli sa niekedy pred 1912, keď sa oženil. Mája 15, 1912, William P. Ellis si vzal Caroline Leah “Závetrie” Johan Peter v St. Charles. Uvítali by môj dedko, Gilbert P. Ellis, into the world on Tuesday, Jún 22, 1915, do tej doby, žili v St. Louis City. 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.

Či už to bolo z práce v hlinených baniach, faktory životného prostredia, or some other cause, Lung problems afflicted William for six months until his premature death on December 4, 1917. Bol len 40 years old.

His obituary was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on December 5, 1917: Obité z Wm P Ellis, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 05 Decembra 1917 Ellis-Vstúpila v pokoji v utorok, Decembra. 4, 1917, na 11:20 som v rezidencii, 5811 Magnolia Avenue, William P. Ellis, milovaný manžel Lena Ellis (rodená Johann Peter), drahý otec Gilbert, náš drahý syn, brat, a syn-in-law vo veku 40 rokov, 4 mesiacov a 3 dni. Pohrebné piatok 2:30 pm od kaplnky Blederwieden-Dunkmann je, 1934 St. Louis Avenue, New Bethlehem cintorín. Motor.

Po celé roky, 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. Bohužiaľ, 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, December 5, 1917, p. 17 and Missouri Death Certificate Database

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