Ellis, Andrew

The following data is extracted from History of Madison County, Indiana.

ANDREW ELLIS. One of the oldest railroad men now living in Madison County, spending his declining years in restful retirement at his comfortable home in Anderson, Andrew Ellis can look back over a faithful, honorable record of forty-one years and eleven months spent in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was born at Econ- omy, Wayne County, Indiana, September 17, 1841, and is a son of Samuel and Abigail (Key) Ellis. His father, born in Greenfield, Tennessee, in 1798, removed to Wayne County, Indiana, in 1830, and settled in the woods where he purchased land, cleared it and made a home for his family. He was also a blacksmith, and later in life moved to Howard County, Indiana, locating on a farm of eighty acres, where he spent the remainder of his life in general farming and stock raising. Mr. Ellis married Abigail Key, who was born in 1810, in Blount County, Tennessee, moved to Wayne County, Indiana, in 1833, and died in 1893, aged eighty-three years. They became the parents of three sons and three daughters, of whom but two children still survive: Andrew; and Mahala, who is now Mrs. Barr and resides at Argos, Marshall County, Indiana.

Andrew Ellis secured his education in the primitive log schoolhouse in Howard County, Indiana, and subsequently went to the high school of New London, Indiana, the high school in Kokomo and Bryant and Stratton Commercial School at Indianapolis. In 1865 Mr. Ellis went to Missouri, and during that year and 1866 was engaged in teaching school, then returning to Windfall, Indiana, where he pursued the vocation of educator in the winter months and spent the summers in farming. In the summer of 1869 he studied telegraphy and did railroad office work, and in November of that year was appointed agent for the Pennsylvania Lines at Windfall, Tipton County, Indiana. In December, 1881, he was transferred to Kokomo, where he was agent until 1885, then becoming agent for the same road at Anderson, a position which he continued to hold until July 1, 1905. He was then appointed freight and passenger solicitor for the same road with offices at Anderson, and on September 30, 1911, reached the age of retirement, and was pensioned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Mr. Ellis has been twice married. His first union was in 1863, when he was united with Miss Armina Jones, of Grant County, Indiana, and to this union there was born one daughter, now Mrs. Belle Lewellen, of Kokomo, whose husband was for years a telegraph operator. Mr. Ellis was married January 21, 1891, to Miss Laberta E. Stebbing, of Anderson. a much accomplished lady and a native of Maryland. They have had no children. Mr. Ellis is a valued and popular member of Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 78, Free and Accepted Masons. While well advanced in years, a long life of sobriety and probity has left him strong in body and intellect, and he continues to take a lively and intelligent interest in all matters pertaining to Anderson and its people. Widely known in railroad circles, he hears the reputation of an industrious, honest and conscientious gentleman, and the number of his friends is only limited by the extent of his acquaintance.

Source: History of Madison County, Indiana

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