Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 644–645; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
William W. Ellis. The manufacturing industries of the
thriving town of Canton are finely represented by this gentleman, who,
in company with his son, is extensively engaged in the manufacture of
tile and brick. He is a native of this county, born in this
township, December 6, 1836, the fifth of a family of eleven children of
Isaac and Nancy (Jennings) Ellis, who were among the early pioneer
settlers of this part of Illinois.
Isaac Ellis was born in South Carolina, in 1803. When he
was three years old his parents took him to Tennessee, where he was
reared, and there he was married, his wife being a native of Alabama,
where she was born in 1806, of English parents. We may remark in
this connection, that the Ellises were of Welsh extraction. In
1832, Mr. Ellis left his old Tennessee home with his wife and two
children, and journeyed through the wilderness to this county.
After his arrival here he took up his abode on a new farm which he
improved and made his home the remainder of his life. He was one
of the well-known and substantial pioneers of the county, and was held
in honorable repute by the entire community, and at his death on the
old homestead in 1879, the township list a good citizen. He was a
man of strict Christian principles, and a member of the Hardshell
Baptist Church. His wife survives him, and is living with her
youngest son on the old homestead and is hale and active, though in her
eightieth year. She is the mother of seven girls and four boys,
of whom ten are still living.
William Ellis lived in the place of his birth until he was
twenty-one years old, receiving such advantages as were afforded by the
district school, where he laid the foundation of a fine education,
which was afterward further advanced by attendance at the Cuba High
School, by an excellent course of study at Evanston College, near
Chicago, and was completed at the Fahnestock Academy at Lewistown.
In the spring of 1861, Mr. Ellis was married to Miss Phoebe A.
Gardner, a native of this county, and the fifth daughter of Joseph
Gardner. Her mother was Margaret Raywalt. The Gardners were
from the State of Rhode Island, and the Raywalts from New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Ellis have one son, Stephen R., who is a partner in the
business with his father, under the firm name of W. W. Ellis &
Son. They have a very neat and comfortable residence at No. 306
North Fifth Street, that is the abode of a genuine hospitality.
After his marriage Mr. Ellis settled on a farm in Joshua
Township, and gave his attention to agricultural pursuits the ensuing
seventeen years, when he left his farm and too up his residence in the
city of Canton, where he has since made his home. He established
himself in the manufacture of tile in 1875, and in 1882 he removed his
works to this place, putting in new and improved machinery. He
has his manufactory in the northeastern part of Canton, within the
corporate limits where he makes all sizes of tile, for which he finds a
ready home market. In 1887 he added to his tile works machinery
for the manufacture of brick, employs the latest improved methods, and
makes brick that is of a superior quality, and is in great
demand. He is now fitting up his works for the manufacture of
paving brick for sidewalks. He is one of the substantial men of
Canton, and besides his manufacturing interests has a good farm of one
hundred and twenty acres of choice and well-improved land which he
rents. He takes a deep interest in the welfare of the village,
and has served one term as Alderman. In politics he uses his
influence for the Republican party. Socially, he is a member of
the Masonic Lodge, having attained the council degree.
