Colored Pic of My Great Grandfather ... the real Wadd Watson Ellis

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

Since we are posting historical photographs, I thought I would put one in of the original Wadd Watson Ellis.

A short bio of him and his family is below ... and Hattie (Hatfie typo) was my grandmother ...



Notes for WATSON WATKINS ELLIS: From "History of Frio
County, Texas": Wadd Watson Ellis was born in Mobile, AL, in 1831.
He was the son of James C. Ellis who was murdered by Indians when Wadd
Watson was a little Boy. Wadd was the only son of James C.Ellis
and Mrs. Jernigan, along with three sisters and some half brothers. After the
loss of his father, Wadd worked in sawmills with his half brothers to help
support his mother and family. In 1860, Wadd married Celia Barrow,
daughter of _____ Barrow of Mobile, Alabama, and Florida. Celia
Barrow was l/4 Cherokee Indian. To this union were born
7 boys and 4 girls. Ben drowned as a young child. The first five
children were born before moving to Texas. At the outbreak of the Civil War,
Wadd enlisted and served as a private in Co. C,5th Battalion, under
Capt. George W. Guynn of the Confederate Union. At the close
of the war,  the W. W. Ellis family came to Texas with some
150 families who were recruited to settle in Wharton County on
640 acres of land, each. In 1891, W. W.moved his family to Frio
County and settled on the Cibolo on six sections of land in the
neighborhood known as Covy Chapel, ten miles west of Dilley. He
lived there until he retired from active work, when he sold his
land and bought property in Dilley and San Antonio. After the
Civil War, he vowed he would never again carry a gun, only on
hunting trips. His vow was "I do not want to kill any man, and I
do not want them to kill me." He was a man who loved to read and
to write short "jingles" that usually carried a meaning. Many of
these were found in his log books from the lumber yards and
freight lines. He wrote the epitaph which is engraved on his
tombstone, which reads, "Dear children and grandchildren, as you
are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you must be. Prepare for
God and eternity." (This is a revision of the original epitaph
found in Christ Episcopal Church, established 1710, New Bern,
NC). In 1878 he bacame a charter member of the Gonzales County
Baptist Church that originated the Southwest Baptist Conference
which later came under the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
He gave the land and was instrumental in organizing the Covery
Chapel Baptist Church, of which he was a Deacon. He took a great
interest in the welfare of the schools, and assisted in laying
out the first public road leading into Dilley. In his Civil War
pension record, he states that he was born in Butler Co, AL.

Children of WATSON ELLIS and CELIA BARROW are:
      i. CHARLEY4 ELLIS.
      ii. BEN ELLIS.
      iii. JAMES (JIM) ELLIS.
      iv. LUCY ELLIS, b. Santa Rosa Co., FL; d. Texas;
          m. ABB ROWLAND.
      v. MAY ELLIS, b. Santa Rosa Co., FL;
         m. GREEN CAVENDER, Texas.
      vi. KIT ELLIS.
      vii. AUSTIN ELLIS.
34.    viii. SAM HOUSTON ELLIS, b. October 15, 1877,
            Smiley Lake,Gonzales County, Texas;
            d. 1956, Dilley, Frio Co, TX (bur. at Covey Chapel
               Cem.).
      ix. BURNETT ELLIS.

FANNIE ELLIS, m. JOHN BLANKS. xi. HATFIE ELLIS, m. ROY COSGROVE.

[Major 2]

fascinating Bio and photo he was a very distinguished looking man...
I find his epitaph most interesting

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Major 2,

Why thank you! He died before I was born, and I feel a real loss that I never met him.

He would have been like John Books in 'The Shootist'; he would have seen the 'Old West' turn into the 'New West' ; lived through the post Civil War (I would think he would have referred to it as the War of the Northern Agression) ...(I kind of half expect him to show up in the background of 'The Searchers') watched as the era of the cowboy (he had two cattle and horse ranches) change as the 'New West' brought churches and schools to the landscape. He gave the land for Covey Chapel (near Dilley, SW of San Antonio) and the cemetery to the church there and was one of its first deacons, so he saw the 'gentrifying' of the west with churches and schools ... what a history resource he would have been!

In fact, many of my great Uncles and Aunts are buried in the Covey Chapel Cemetery.

I read in another family history that he saw so much bloodshed in the Civil War that he refused to carry a weapon unless he was going hunting ... and I am guessing that would have been some kind of long gun (probably an old SXS shotgun).

I am going on my first vacation in ten years in September ... it seems a cousin (actually my great uncle's great granddaughter) has turned the bunkhouses in the original Ellis Ranch into a Bed and Breakfast near Mason Texas .... so I am gonna go down and trod on family ground for a while ...

[Major 2]

The old bunk house in to B&B is just too kool..I envy your trip...you got to take your camera.

I done a lot of research on my folks...Course I have gone back as far as old England (Wales actually) and Raglan Castle, in Ghent.


My Grandfather & Grandmother left Ky. (1906) my Dad was 2 years old.
He built a general store in 1906 & founded the town of Ragland, New Mexico ,when my Grandmother was made the first woman post mistress in New Mexico.
They came to Ponta Gorda, Fla. about 1910 and built the Seminole Hotel.

Another, great great uncle founded Ragland, Alabama.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Major 2,

Sounds like you have a trip to the Seminole Hotel in your future ... stopping by Ragland AL on your way ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_

I take it that the Hotel is no longer extant?

[Major 2]

No it was torn down...I was in Punta Gorda one time as kid maybe 50 years ago, it was gone then.

What I do have is a photo of the Hotel with Teddy Roosevelt in my Granddads Jordon Automobile.
Both my Granddad and Grandmother are in the photo.
Teddy was their guest each season when he fished the Ten Thousand Islands, post Presidency.


Ragland Al. is just about 40 miles from Talladega Al. Speedway.

Ragland,NM is in Quay Co. about 35 mile SE of Tucumcari, NM. in the shadow of Ragland Peak a favorite of rock climbers.
Ragland is just a small cross roads now, with one blinking light and a cafe.
The Store my Grandfather built in 1906 , collapsed in 1993.
A fellow I met on a Jeep web site, works for the NM Road Dept. about 3 years age he sent me the old replaced RAGLAND road sign and the Front door knob from the store, and some bottles of Laundry whiteing product that were still stocked in the ruins....

[kflach]

WWE,
Please keep us posted on your vacation. Some of us Texans would be delighted to meet you in person!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

I just got my cousin's permission to put her Bed & Breakfast website on the cascity.com .... here it is:

http://www.llanoriver.com/

I think it might be just about the perfect blend of Texican rustic and homeyness ... I can't wait!

[kflach]

Mason Country was the site of the HooDoo War back in 1875. You might find some of the history interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_County_War

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/jcm1.html

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Kflach,

Thanks, I'll look it up when I get home tonight ... right now I am off to do some volunteering ....

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Bump  *S*

[Border Ruffian]

Was your ancestor Celia Barrow any kin to Clyde and Buck Barrow?  I read they were from Texas also.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I have no idea .... Celia and Wadd were originally from Santa Rosa (southern Alabama or northern panhandle of Florida) ...  So I would think that any Barrows from that Family would have had to come from there.

I would think that any prodigy of the two would have taken the Ellis name ... and although I have never heard any such speculation, it does not rule out the possibility ...

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I thought I might add a before and after set of pics in here ... I started out with my Gread Grandfather's pic ... noow here is one of AKA Wadd Watson Ellis bending over the tombstone of the original Wadd Watson Ellis and his wife Celia

[Dead I]

Say, I have an Ellis in my family. We might be related.  Francis Ellis was my great greadmother and I knew her.  She was also a wonderful person.  Here, I'll post a picture of her.

[Bud Cavender]

Where can I see and get a copy of the picture of Watt Ellis
redbirdbc31@msn.com

[Bud Cavender]

Thank you for your answer. I think we have a lot that we can share.  My grandmother was May Ellis, daughter of Wad and Celia.  Do you know about our native connection? I have a lot of that also.  I have been back to Florida several times and met many of our Ellis, Barrow and jernigan kin. My main question is finding the real father of
Wad.  There a lot of us working this line.

My son was in Las Vegas last year when you were there and he tried to find you. Both of my sons are FBI and the one in Vegas is a fire arms honcho in the FBI, my other is a also a regular FBI agent but is what they call a special agent.

What a wonderful picture you sent.

Ready to get with you, I now live in Salt Lake City where I have family that watches over us, I will be 80 on the 26 of the month.

I was in Korea twice and Vietnam twice.  The Va considers me 100 disabled, I dont act it but I will go with what they say.

Do you know about the Vann's, if not you are in for a real treat.

My best:

Bud Cavender