USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 68
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b. E. Elliott
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erent spirit, he holds no connection with church organizations. He is one of the charter members of Mineral Lodge, No. 471, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has taken the Commandery degrees. He was married at Springfield, June 6, 1865, to Miss Maria D. Holdbrook, a foster-daughter of Samuel M. Moodey, who was a St. Louis banker, making his home in Elleardsville, St. Louis County. No children have been born to them, but they have given parental care and rearing to several who had been de- prived of their natural guardians. They have one legally adopted daughter, Lilly Elliott, now the wife of James Moore, a mine-oper- ator at Oronogo. Judge Elliott lives com- fortably in an unpretentious home, and finds occupation in managing various concerns which yield him a goodly income. He is an owner of business property in Oronogo, which town is largely of his building, and has large tracts of productive mineral lands near that place and Webb City. Upon them are a number of mines, and two steam plants, all worked under lease, among these being the Della S. mines, and those operated by the Elk Company, of West Virginia. He is ex- ceedingly well preserved, both physically and mentally. In disposition he is genial and companionable ; his business ability is of high order, and his name is a synonym for strict integrity and all those noble qualities which mark the model citizen.
Elliott, Howard, railroad manager, was born December 6, 1860, in New York City, son of Charles Wyllys and Mary (White) Elliott, the first named a native of Connecticut, and the last named a native of Massachusetts. In the paternal line Mr. Elliott is descended from John Eliot, who was first styled "the Indian Apostle" by Thomas Thorowgood, in 1660, a designation so ap- propriate that it has secured universal and perpetual acceptance. John Eliot, who was a native of Widford, Hertfordshire, England, landed at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631, and in later years devoted himself to Christianiz- ing the Indians. He was one of the most emi- nent of the New England colonists and was an author of note, as well as the most famous Indian missionary of his day. Coming of New England antecedents, it was natural that Howard Elliott should have been educated in New England schools, and after completing a
course at Cambridge high school, of Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, he entered the Lawrence Scientific School, of Harvard Uni- versity, from which institution he was gradu- ated with the degree of civil engineer in the class of 1881. His connection with railroads had begun a year earlier than this, when he served for a time as rodman with an engi- neering corps on a branch line of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in northwest Missouri. After his graduation from college in 1881 he again came west, and was appointed to a clerkship in the office of the vice president of the Burlington Railroad Company, at Burlington, Iowa. He retained this position until January 1, 1882, at which time he was transferred to Keokuk, Iowa, where he became a clerk in the office of the auditor and assistant treasurer of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad Company, November 15th of the same year, he was appointed auditor and assistant treas- urer of the last named railroad company, and assistant auditor and assistant treasurer, also, of the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railway. These positions he retained until January 1, 1887, when faithful services and thorough capability gained for him another promotion, and he was made general freight and passenger agent of the same companies. His offices and headquarters remained at Keokuk, Iowa, until 1890, when the rapid in- crease of the business of these roads caused' him to be removed to St. Louis. In 1891 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company placed under the control of one set of operating offices the Hannibal & St. Jo- seph Railroad, the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railway, the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, and the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railway, and Mr. Elliott became general freight agent of the four roads. In 1896 he was made gen- eral manager of the same roads and still holds that position. He is also a director in several railway companies, and is president of the St. Joseph Union Depot Company. It is less than twenty years since he began work on a Western railroad in a humble capacity, but within that time he has pro- gressed to a position of great prominence in railway management. Occupying a place among the leading officials of a great railway system, and having proven himself master of every situation in which he has been placed,
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he is a conspicuous figure in the railway world, and is still a young man, with a brilliant future before him. As a citizen of St. Louis, he has become thoroughly identi- fied with the business and social circles of the city, is a member of its leading clubs, and a warm friend and advocate of its commercial and other interests. Mr. Elliott married, in 1892, Miss Janet January, daughter of D. A. January, during his life a leading citizen of St. Louis. Their children are Janet, Edith and Howard Elliott, Jr.
Ellis, Edgar Clarence, a prominent commercial and corporation lawyer of Kan- sas City, was born October 2, 1854, in Eaton County, Michigan. His father, Elmer E. Ellis, was a native of New York, and a pioneer settler in Michigan. Edgar C. Ellis was educated in the public schools and at Olivet College, in his native county, and was graduated from the last named institution in 1880 with the degree of bachelor of arts. He was at once engaged as instructor in Latin in Carleton College, at Northfield, Minnesota, and was so occupied for one year, when he was called to the position of superintendent of the city schools at Fergus Falls, Minne- sota. He occupied the latter position for three years, also teaching the languages and sciences in the high school. He was, mean- time, engaged in the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. For three years following he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Beloit, Kansas. In 1887 he located in Kansas City, Missouri, and became attorney for the William B. Grimes Dry Goods Company, and had charge of all the legal affairs connected with that great cor- poration, involving important real estate and other interests. In 1893 he became asso- ciated with Hale H. Cook, in the law firm of Ellis & Cook. James A. Reed was subse- quently admitted to the firm, as was Ernest S. Ellis, brother of Edgar C. Ellis, and the part- nership became Ellis, Reed, Cook & Ellis. Mr. Reed retired when he was elected to the mayoralty in the spring of 1900, when the firm name became Ellis, Cook & Ellis. Com- mercial and corporation law is a principal part of their practice, and they represent various large commercial and financial institutions, enjoying exceptionally high reputation as thoroughly qualified lawyers in their special- line, meeting every requirement with
promptitude and thoroughness. In the sum- mer of 1900 Mr. Edgar C. Ellis was prom- inently named for the Republican nomination for prosecuting attorney of Jackson County. July 20, 1882, Mr. Ellis married Emily H. Roy, daughter of Rev. Joseph E. Roy, D. D., of Chicago. Three sons have been born of this union: Joseph B., Ralph E. and Frank H. Ellis.
Ellison, David, who has been identified with the real estate interests of Kansas City since 1866, was born in Noble County, Ohio, March 9, 1834. In 1866 he removed to Mis- souri from the State of his nativity, and at once engaged in the real estate business in what was then but a growing town, with a population of about 7,000. When he went to Kansas City there was a good demand for property, but prices were low. The first ap- preciation in values was noticeable in the spring of the year of his arrival, and there was a steady growth until 1873, when the disastrous financial panic shook business in- terests from one end of the country to the other. There was a movement toward re- covery in 1877, and from that year until 1888 real estate in Kansas City had an upward tendency. In the latter year the famous "boom" was at its height, and there was a sudden collapse and depreciation in values and demand that caused great embarrassment and resulted in some shattered fortunes and a tremendous drop in prices. The backward movement continued until about 1898, when there was a decided change for the better. Prices were on a substantial basis and since that time the growth has been sure and steady. The first residence addition to Kan- sas City in which Mr. Ellison was interested was Ellison & Murdock's Addition, at Twen- ty-third and Broadway streets, composed of three acres, and laid out in 1880. The next was Hill's subdivision, in the same part of the city, three acres. These were followed by Boynton Place, Twenty-fifth and Summit, five acres, and Peck's Subdivision, Twenty- third and Main, three acres. All of these tracts are now well covered with comfortable houses and are substantial evidences of the great strides Kansas City has taken toward metropolitan pretensions. Thirty-five years ago, Mr. Ellison recalls, there were not over six real estate firms in Kansas City. The number has grown enormously larger. In
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1866 the center of business was at Third and Main Streets, and the most valuable prop- erty was in that vicinity. In the course of two or three years the center of business moved to Fifth and Main Streets. Ten years later it was at Seventh and Main, and in 1885 the heart of the business district was Elev- enth and Main Streets. The most valuable property at this time is probably at the corner of Eleventh and Main, although there is a constant tendency toward the advancement of the business district toward Walnut Street and Grand Avenue. When Mr. Ellison went to Kansas City the center of population was Ninth and Wyandotte Streets. In 1890 it was at about Fifteenth and Locust Streets. Since 1885 Mr. Garrett Ellison has been asso- ciated with his father in the real estate busi- ness, under the firm name of D. Ellison & Son. The latter is secretary of the Kansas City Real Estate Exchange. Mr. Ellison is a Republican in politics, but in no sense a politician. In 1860 he married, at Des Moines, Iowa, Miss Elizabeth C. Garrett. Their children are Mrs. Harry M. Evans, Garrett Ellison and Edward D. Ellison, all living in Kansas City.
Ellsinore .- A village on the Southern Missouri & Arkansas Railway, in Johnson Township, Carter County, twenty miles southeast of Van Buren. It has a public school, two churches, two saw and planing mills, a hotel and six general stores. Popula- tion, 1899 (estimated), 350.
Elmer .- An incorporated village in Ma- con County, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, twenty-five miles north- west of Macon. It was laid out in May, 1888, by the railroad company. It has a church, hotel, flouring mill and about fifteen stores and shops. The place is also known as Bid- dle. Population in 1899 (estimated), 300.
Elm Flat .- See "Pattonsburg."
Elmo .- A town of 300 inhabitants in Noda- way County, on the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, nineteen and a quarter miles northwest of Maryville. It was laid out in 1879 and is beautifully located in the midst of a grove, and does a large shipping business in grain. It has a bank, called the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, with a capital of $12,- 000, a Masonic lodge building and eight
stores. There are three church edifices in the town, Christian, Methodist Episcopal South, and Methodist Episcopal. A newspaper, the "Register," supplies the local needs of the community.
Elmwood Seminary .- An educational institution for young ladies, located at Farm- ington, St. Francois County. It was estab- lished in 1886, and is a revival of the "Elmwood Academy," established in 1842 by M. P. Cayce. It is under the direction of the Presbyteries of St. Louis and Potosi. It has a library of 550 volumes.
Elsberry .- An incorporated village in Lincoln County, on the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad, twenty-three miles northeast of Troy. It has a graded public school-five churches-Christian, Methodist Episcopal South, Presbyterian, Baptist and Catholic-an operahouse, lodges of the lead- ing fraternal orders, two banks, two news- papers, the "Lincoln County News" and the "Gazette," a flouring mill, sawmill, two hotels and about twenty-five other business con- cerns, including stores, shops, etc. Popula- tion, 1899 (estimated), 1,000.
Elston .- A town in Cole County, on the Missouri Pacific Railway, ten miles west of Jefferson City. Coal and lead mines have been worked to advantage. It has a graded school, a Catholic Church, instituted in 1840, and a union church, occupied by Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians. The popula- tion in 1890 was 250.
Ely, David A., farmer and stock-raiser, was born December II, 1854, in Polk Town- ship, Adair County, Missouri, son of David A. and Mary A. J. Ely. His father was born in Kentucky in 1815, son of Isaac Ely, who was born in the old State of Virginia in 1775. Isaac Ely was the son of Benjamin Ely, who, with one brother, came to America from England, and settled in Virginia before the Revolutionary War. From Kentucky, Isaac Ely came to Missouri in 1821 and located in Ralls County, on Salt River, where he be- came a large farmer and slave-owner and established one of the pioneer families of this State. David A. Ely grew to manhood on the Ralls County farm and while still a young man settled in Adair County, on the Chari- ton River, at a place now called Nineveh.
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Here he built a watermill and conducted a large farm. He afterward sold his posses- sions on the Chariton River to a company of German colonists and settled in Polk Town- ship, in the same county. In 1842 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Jones, daughter of Colonel Jesse Jones, who com- manded a regiment of American troops in the Mexican War. After establishing his home in Polk Township, David A. Ely be- came one of the largest farmers in north Missouri, having under cultivation at one time nearly 2,000 acres of land. He also own- ed a number of slaves. For twenty years he was one of the judges of the County Court of Adair County, was a leader in the political party to which he belonged and was prominent and active in everything pertain- ing to the development of that portion of the State. He was largely instrumental in secur- ing the location of the State normal school at Kirksville, and rendered other public serv- ices of value. He was a well known and prominent member of the Masonic Order, and Ely Commandery of Knights Templar at Kirksville was named in his honor. His son, the younger David A. Ely, was educated in the public schools of Adair County, at the State normal school at Kirksville, the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois, and the old Missouri Medical College of St. Louis. Before taking his degree at the med- ical college he returned to the farm and de- cided to follow agricultural pursuits rather than professional life. He has since been continuously engaged in business as a farmer and stock-raiser, and as such has become well known throughout northern Missouri. He is a successful breeder of fine stock, and cultivates a farm of 845 acres, which is a portion of the old homestead. He is also the owner of a fine farm of 1,760 acres in one of the most fertile portions of Kansas. In every respect a model citizen, he has con- tributed his full share to the upbuilding of the community in which he lives and has been especially helpful to educational and re- ligious institutions. Except while attending school, he has lived continuously on the farm on which he was born. His successful career as an agriculturist has brought him into prominence in connection with various move- ments designed to promote the interests of the farmers of Missouri, and for twelve years he has been a member of the State Board of
Agriculture. For three years he was presi- dent of the board, filling the position with signal ability. In this capacity and in others, he has done much for the advancement of the agricultural interests of the State. Since he cast his first vote he has been a mem- ber of the Democratic party, and he is a recognized leader of that party in Adair County, standing high in its councils. He has frequently been chosen to represent his party in its State conventions and without his solicitation has been unanimously selected as its candidate for various county offices. In every such instance his personal popularity was evidenced by his running ahead of his ticket. While not a member of any church organization, he has been a Sunday-school worker from boyhood, and for many years has been a member of the board of trustees of one or more churches. No man in the community in which he lives has been more liberal with his money in the building of churches, the support of the ministry and the advancement of Sunday-school work. He is a member of all the branches of the Masonic order and has filled all the chairs in the sub- ordinate lodge, chapter, council and com- mandery with which he affiliates. He is a member of Ely Commandery, named in hon- or of his father, who assisted in organizing the first lodge in Adair County. He is well known to the Masonic fraternity of Mis- souri, and takes a prominent part in every- thing connected with Masonry. September I, 1880, Mr. Ely married Miss Nancy Ellen De Witt, daughter of a neighbor and promi- nent farmer. Mrs. Ely was the only daughter of Thomas B. and Frances (Carney) De Witt and was born in Jackson County, West Vir- ginia, February 2, 1855. She came to Missouri in childhood with her father, her mother having died in West Virginia. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Ely are Mary Frances, born July 11, 1881; Dixie, born April 7, 1883, and Esther, born February 10, 1885. They are all young ladies of more than ordinary intelligence and are being lib- erally educated.
Ely, Thomas R. R., lawyer and legis- lator, was born January 19, 1859, in Atchison County, Missouri. His father, Thomas S. Ely, who was a native of Virginia, came to Atchison County in 1840 and began farming on government land, to which he later ac-
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quired title and on which he continued to re- side until his death. The elder Ely was one of the worthy pioneer settlers in the north- western portion of the State. The son re- ceived his early education in the country schools of Atchison County, where he grew up on his father's farm. While still a youth he determined to make the practice of law his vocation in life and set about preparing himself for that profession, relying mainly upon his own efforts to secure the means necessary for his proper education. Enter- ing Westminster College, he was a student there until he reached the junior year of the college course, when a lack of means com- pelled him to forego the completion of this course. He then turned his attention to the study of law, and in March of 1881 was grad- uated from the law department of the State University, at Columbia. Immediately after- ward he established his home in Dunklin County and became a member of the bar of that county, beginning practice at Kennett. In 1882 he was nominated for prosecuting attorney by the Democrats of that county, and, at the end of a close contest, was elected. He was re-elected in 1884 and held the office in all four years, establishing an enviable reputation as an able, vigorous and at the same time careful and conscientious prose- cutor. Since then, except when attending to legislative duties, he has given his atten- tion to the private practice of his profession, and has taken rank among the ablest mem- bers of the bar in southeastern Missouri. His practice has been a remunerative one, and through judicious investments he has become one of the large land-holders of Dunklin County. In 1886 he was elected to the Gen- eral Assembly of Missouri, in which body he served with credit to himself and his con- stituents. In politics he is a Democrat, warm- ly attached to his party and ready at all times to contribute his best efforts to the advance- ment of the principles which it represents. He affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but has no other fraternal con- nections. July 20, 1887, Mr. Ely married Miss Julia Page, an estimable lady, who was born in Texas. Mrs. Ely died in the year 1900, leaving three children.
Emancipation .- Although Missouri came into the Union as a slave State, the institution of slavery never had a deep root
in its soil. Its first settlers were mainly from Kentucky and Virginia, but its agricultural conditions were not adapted to the institution and its climate was not soft enough for negroes to thrive in. The number of slaves in the State increased but slowly, and was never large. On the admission into the Union in 1820 there were only 10,000, and in 1860, the year before the Civil War, there were 115,000, while the whites had increased in the same time from 56,000 to 1,063,000. It is not strange, therefore, that there should have been at an early day in the history of the State a conviction that it would be better off without slavery, and that the question of emancipation should have engaged the atten- tion of many of its thoughtful citizens. In the year 1827 there was a private meeting of twenty such citizens-Thomas H. Benton and David Barton, of St. Louis, and John Wilson and Thomas Shackelford, of Howard County, being of the number-at which the question of getting rid of slavery was ear- nestly discussed and an agreement unani- mously come to. This was to urge all candidates at the next election to sign a paper favoring the enactment of a law to bring about gradual emancipation in Missouri, to be followed by a provision for teaching negro children to read and write. The two great parties of the country, Whig and Dem- ocrat, were represented in the conference, and those who took part in it were confident that the movement would be successful. But before the time came for placing the scheme before the people, the newspapers, pub- lished, as a piece of news, that Arthur Tap- pan, a prominent anti-slavery man of New York, had sat at his own table with colored men, and his daughters had rode in their carriage with them. Trifling as the matter was, it sufficed to thwart the scheme of emancipation in Missouri, and it was never even presented to the public. Some years later the subject of gradual emancipation in the State was discussed and a number of prominent citizens, among them Nathaniel Paschall, afterward editor of the "Missouri Republican," warmly favored it. But no steps toward emancipation were ever taken until the meeting of the State Convention of 1861. It was recognized that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, then begun, and if the Union was to stand through that conflict it could only be through the overthrow of
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the institution that brought it on. At the fourth session of the convention, in June, 1862, therefore, Mr. Breckinridge, of St. Louis, introduced a bill to submit to the people a proposition emancipating all slaves born in the State from and after January 31, 1865, when they should arrive at the age of twenty-one years. It was laid on the table by a vote of 52 to 19; but in the canvass for the Legislature the following year eman- cipation was a leading issue, and a majority of emancipationists was chosen to each house; still the majority was not two-thirds, and, therefore, an amendment to the Consti- tution extirpating slavery could not be passed. But the demand for such a meas- ure was growing strong and urgent, and Gov- ernor Gamble was pressed to convoke the State Convention, that it might be appealed to. There was almost no opposition to the proposed measure. The convention was called to meet in its fifth, and last, session in June, 1863, and a few days after meeting passed an ordinance declaring that slavery should cease in Missouri on the 4th day of July, 1870, providing that those freedmen who were forty years of age should be subject to their late owners for life; those under twelve years of age till they were twenty- three, and all others until the 4th of July, 1876. Two years later the State Convention of 1865, known as the "Drake Convention," was called, and one of its first acts was to pass the following short and peremptory ordi- nance of emancipation: "Be it ordained by the people of the State of Missouri in conven- tion assembled, That hereafter in this State there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free." This, with the subsequent ratification by the Legislature of the amendment to the Con- stitution of the United States, completes the legislative record of the emancipation in Mis- souri. In fact, slavery had ceased to exist in the State two years before. In the turbu- lence and general relaxation of obligations of the war, slaves left their masters and wan- dered off, and there was no power in the old laws governing the institution to restrain or reclaim them. See also "Slavery and Emancipation in St. Louis."
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