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John Ellis (Mississippi politician)

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John Ellis
Detail of land holdings in Adams County Mississippi Territory United States 1810 02.jpg
John Ellis plantations along the Homochitto River, 1810
Died(1808-11-12)November 12, 1808
Mississippi Territory, United States

John Ellis (d. November 12, 1808) was a planter and public official in British and Spanish colonial Mississippi and in Mississippi Territory, United States. He was appointed by U.S. president John Adams to the Mississippi legislative council, upper house of the first territorial general assembly, and was elected council president. He later served as speaker of the lower house of the Mississippi territorial assembly.

Contents

Biography

John Ellis was a son of early settler Richard Ellis. [1]

According to historian Ethan A. Grant: [2]

A subdued but permanent rivalry existed between the Ellis brothers, [a] particularly John, and Anthony Hutchins. John and Richard Ellis, began on a large scale and grew from there. John arrived at Natchez in June 1773, and in November 1776 received a grant of 1,000 acres. Richard arrived in July 1773, and acquired 3,550 acres on the basis of his family, which included himself, his wife, seven children, and 71 slaves. Richard received further grants of 1,850 and 1,000 acres on June 16, 1779. The Ellis brothers[ sic ] controlled approximately 20,000 acres at the time of the Spanish conquest. [2]

In February 1785, John Ellis was named a justice of the peace for the ultimately short-lived jurisdiction of Bourbon County, Georgia, along with Nicholas Long, William Davenport, Nathaniel Christmas, Tacitus Gaillard, Sutton Banks, William McIntosh, Benjamin Farar, Cato West, Thomas Marston Green, William Anderson, and Adam Bingaman. [3] In 1787 Ellis and his enslaved farm laborers grew 37,500 lb (17,000 kg) of tobacco, the top yield in the region. [4]

When the Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798, John Ellis was named a captain of foot in the first territorial militia organized by Winthrop Sargent, and later was commissioned a major. [5] In 1800 deed records show that Ellis bought an 800-acre (320 ha) plantation on the Homochitto River from Jesse Carter for US$1,200(equivalent to $22,233 in 2024). [6] The same year he paid Joseph Panill US$3,000(equivalent to $55,582 in 2024) for 1,000 acres (400 ha) at Bayou Sara near Baton Rouge. [7]

Ellis was appointed to the territorial legislative council on December 23, 1800 by President Adams. [8] [9] According to a public letter written by former Army officer James Sterrett, around 1800 or 1801 General Wilkinson embezzled public money to buy slaves from a Mr. Jones in Maryland; the slaves were bought on credit by John Ellis, Richard Butler, and other, while "the notes" were held by Abijah Hunt. [10]

He served on the Mississippi territorial legislative council from 1800 to 1803. [11] William Dunbar of Forest plantation wrote to him in his capacity as president of the council in 1802 to advise that "there is no law to authorize that slaves, running away from Spanish territory and taking refuge in free United States Northwest territory, be returned to their owners; fears that the Spanish could retaliate by adopting the same policy to the great harm of the Mississippi Territory and Louisiana; suggests remedy by law." [12] In 1806, Mississippi militia officer John F. Carmichael was court-martialed for disobedience and contemptuous treatment of orders for failing to deliver rifles to John Ellis as dictated by a commanding officer. [13]

He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of Mississippi Territory from 1806 to 1808. [14] In 1808, Ellis and Joshua Baker, President of the Mississippi Territory Legislative Council signed off a resolution passed by the legislature requesting that territorial representative George Poindexter seek the impeachment of territorial judge Peter Bryan Bruin due to his alleged habitual drunkenness. [15]

Ellis died in Mississippi in November 1808. [16]

Personal life

On December 31, 1799, John Ellis married Sarah Piercy at Natchez. [17] Sarah was the daughter of Charles Percy, a retired British naval officer and Bayou Sara planter. [18]

Ellis was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Farar Jr. who married his sister Mary and Stephen Minor who married his sister Martha. [19] Stephen Duncan was his nephew-in-law by way of marriage to his brother Abram Ellis' daughter Margaret Ellis. [19]

Notes

  1. ↑ This seems to be erroneous; Richard Ellis was likely father to John Ellis.

References

  1. ↑ La Roche v. Jones, 50 U.S. 155 (1850)
  2. 1 2 Grant (1995), p. 407.
  3. ↑ Din (1981), p. 52.
  4. ↑ Grant (1995), p. 414.
  5. ↑ Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Encyclopedia of Mississippi History: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons. S. A. Brant. p. 240.
  6. ↑ David (2018), p. 201.
  7. ↑ David (2018), p. 204.
  8. ↑ ""Resolution of the Mississippi Territory General Assembly, 21 December 1801," Founders Online, National Archives [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 36, 1 December 1801–3 March 1802, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 183–185.]". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  9. ↑ "The MHS Online Adams Catalog: record 103383". www.masshist.org. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  10. ↑ "Letter from James Sterrett part one". Louisiana State Gazette. March 25, 1811. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-02-01. & "Letter from James Sterrett part two". Louisiana State Gazette. March 25, 1811. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  11. ↑ ""Mississippi Territory Legislative Council to Thomas Jefferson, 19 November 1803," Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 42, 16 November 1803–10 March 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016, pp. 17–18.]". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  12. ↑ "488-0096-01.tif - Mississippi Territory Administration Papers, 1769, 1788-1817; n.d."
  13. ↑ "Court-Martial of Mississippi Militia Major John F. Carmichael". The Mississippi Messenger. November 25, 1806. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-01-20.
  14. ↑ History, Mississippi Department of Archives and (1924). The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Department of Archives and History.
  15. ↑ Bloom, John Porter; Carter, Clarence Edwin; United States (1934). The Territorial papers of the United States. Publication (United States. National Archives and Records Service). Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. p. 615.
  16. ↑ "Died". The Weekly Chronicle. November 16, 1808. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  17. ↑ "John Ellis, 1799". Mississippi, Marriages, 1800–1911. FamilySearch.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Scraps of Natchez History". Natchez Democrat. February 17, 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-01-31.
  19. 1 2 3 Rothstein (1979), p. 71.

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