To see a copy of the book, click here.
A Search for Grandmother Ellis
This project came about as a result of my desire to find out for certain the name of my Grandmother on my Mother's side. This being the Ellis side of my family.
My mother had told me that her Daddy came from Wright County, Missouri, so we started looking there first. The information which follows comes from many sources. Census records, courthouse records, old newspapers, family documents and Bible records are some of the sources used. A number of libraries were used for researching, including, Oklahoma Historical Society Library in Oklahoma City, Dallas Public Library, Fort Worth Public Library, National Archives Branch in Fort Worth, LDS Branch Library in Oklahoma City, LDS Library in Salt Lake City and Springfield Public Library, Springfield, MO. Records were checked in courthouses in Wright County, MO and Cooke County, TX. We also visited and corresponded with the Ellis families still in Wright County, Missouri, others working on Ellis lines and many of my Ellis Cousins and their families.
We have made several trips to Missouri looking for
information on the family. Coe Ellis, who is a grand daughter of
Buck and Mary Ann
Ellis still lives in Mountain Grove, MO. Coe has the Ellis
family Bible and graciously shared the information recorded. We
found the home place where Great Grandfather, Benjamin "Buck"
Ellis raised his family. He was the Father of William Preston
Ellis, my Grandfather. Ross Ellis, a great grand son of Buck's
owns and farms Buck's old home place in Wright County, MO. It is
a beautiful place. We climbed a long steep hill oh a very, very
cold day, to visit the family cemetery which is located on top
of the hill overlooking the farm land on the home place.
We have included pictures of the tombstones of both Buck
and Rachel Ketchersides, the Mother of William Preston Ellis.
This family history is about the descendants
of Benjamin "Buck" Ellis and Rachel
Ketchersides. Their four children were: Mary
Ann,
Benjamin Franklin, William Preston and Asa. All
were born in Wright County Missouri. The four of
them apparently came to Oklahoma Indian
Territory, some by way of Texas. After Rachel
died, Buck married Mary Ann Boatman. They were
the parents of nine children. They were:
Elizabeth Dunsmore, Robert, Dora Kelley,
Demarias Griffith, Ruth Long, Agnes Woods,
Isabell Grimes, Andrew Patrick and Jasper
Clayton. A
number of the descendants of these children
reside in the Mountain Grove, Wright County,
Missouri area today.
Mary Ann's children were born in Wright
Co., MO. She later came to Oklahoma Indian
Territory and settled in the Hartshorne area.
Asa
raised his family in the same area and
eventually went to New Mexico in the Roswell
area, where he was living at the time of his
death. I do not know what became of Benjamin.
We knew that William Preston Ellis
came to Oklahoma Indian Territory from Texas and
settled near Mill Creek probably about
1889-1890. My grandfather Gregory had also come
to Mill Creek from Texas about the same time.
Betty started looking for both families in
Texas. We first found William Preston on the
1870 Red River County tax rolls and then in
Cooke County Texas. On a trip to Texas in 1981,
Betty found a probate record in the court house
in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas that proves
beyond any doubt that my maternal grandmother
was Elizabeth L. Boatman, daughter of Richard
Boatman and Mary Caroline Garrett.
(We believe that Elizabeth is a niece of Mary Ann Boatman, Buck's
second wife. If this is correct, William Preston
married his step-mother's
niece.) We have included a copy of these probate
records. These records list the children and
their ages. The children of William Preston and
Elizabeth were all born in the Burns City, Texas
area. This is south east of Gainesville, Texas.
Copies of deeds which are quite interesting are
also included. The legal records which are a
part of this family history are copied exactly
as the words are spelled in the official
courthouse records. The Official documents were
photo copied at the court house and typed for
easier reading. A copy of the Marriage License
for W.P. Ellis and Elizabeth Boatman is also
included. It was located in the Cooke County
Texas courthouse. Some of the older grand
children have some recollections of W.P., or
Pressley as he was known, and the children's
step-mother, Nan Rhodes.
I want to Thank Betty for the time and effort spent in working on this
family history. There have been many hours of
researching,
compiling, storing and putting the information
in useable form. We did not put all this
material together just for me. We also put it
together for my Ellis Cousins and anyone else
who would like a copy.
To my Ellis Cousins, I hope you
enjoy and appreciate this family history as much
as Betty and I do. We want to thank all who
contributed
information, pictures and moral support. We also
hope as new members become a part of these
families or when older members leave, that you
will notify us so we can keep the information
updated. Thank you.
Your Cousin
Edward Gregory
Source:
(1)From Missouri to Indian Territory