Charles M Ellis 1841-1933

Charles Ellis was a partner (with John Hussey) in a wholesale grocery business (Ellis & Hussey) in Jacksonville, Florida[1] from about 1870 to at least 1900.[2] He was born in Maine in 1841,[3] probably in Portland where his father was working as a ships carpenter.[4] His parents were Hiram and Eunice (Sawyer) Ellis both born in Maine, most likely Gorham, also in Cumberland County. We also know that Charles was living with his family in Standish, Maine, again in Cumberland County, in 1860, although his father Hiram had apparently died by then.[5]

Charles married Amanda Jameson in 1869, most likely in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was living with her parents Isaac and Jane (Howell) Jameson and her uncle, Joseph Jameson and his wife Cecelia, who were owners and proprietors of the Rochester House Hotel in the Brooklyn section of that city. Isaac Jameson died in 1869 shortly after Charles and Amanda were married. Isaac's widow Jane and brother Joseph Jameson all remained in Jacksonville and continued to run the hotel for at least two more years.[6] In 1871 Jane and Joseph Jameson signed over Power of Attorney to Charles Ellis, empowering him to control and dispose of Isaac's estate in Florida. They then presumably returned to Rochester around that time. The hotel was finally sold in 1873. Charles and his family remained in Jacksonville for several decades more.

Charles, Amanda and their son DeWitt were still all living together in Jacksonville, Florida, at least as late as April of 1910.[7] Amanda died in November of 1910 in Rochester.[8] It appears that son Charles DeWitt married soon after and moved with his wife to Rochester about 1913.[9] Charles apparently remained in Jacksonville at least until after 1920,[10] when he too moved to Rochester where he can be found there by 1930,[11] living with his son Charles DeWitt Ellis and his family. Charles died in Rochester in 1933.[3] Both Charles and Amanda Ellis are buried in Churchville Cemetery, just outside Rochester, as is their son Charles DeWitt.

It may be interesting to note that the original owner and probably the builder of the Hotel in Jacksonville which came to be known as the Rochester House, was a man named Samuel Ellis. The relationship between Charles Ellis and this Samuel Ellis is not known. Charles Ellis father, Hiram Ellis, had a brother Samuel who would have been the right age and may have been Charles Ellis' uncle.

It may also be of some interest that there appears there may have been another Charles Ellis living in the Jacksonville area at that same time, or at least before 1870. Furthermore, this other Charles Ellis was also born in Maine, perhaps Kennebunkport. This 'other' Charles Ellis married a Mary Barnes, perhaps Laura Rosemary Barnes, of either North Carolina or South Carolina. They had a son named Joseph B. (probably Benjamin) Ellis, born in 1866 in Dunns Creek, Crescent City, Florida. This Joseph B. Ellis was living in Jacksonville in the early 1900's, until his death there in 1938. Apparently the identity of this 'other' Charles Ellis originated as a listing on this Joseph Ellis' Death Certificate and very little if anything is known about him.

Some genealogies have this 'other' Charles Ellis as a son of Hiram and Eunice Ellis and use their 1850 and 1860 Maine Federal Census to support that. Because the Charles Ellis (married Amanda Jameson) specifically identifies Hiram and Eunice as his parents on his death certificate[3] we know this census information belongs with him. Although there are several appearances (mostly census) for Joseph B. Ellis', in the Jacksonville, Florida area at that time, none by themselves adds any insights or identity to this 'other' Charles Ellis, or any Charles Ellis for that matter. It is quite possible these 'other' genealogies adopted the Charles Ellis (d. Rochester, NY in 1933) who lived in the Jacksonville area most of his adult life and at the same time as Joseph B. Ellis, as an convenient connection, even where several facts don't seem to support that.[12][13][14][15] In fact we can find no credible evidence, apart from Joseph B. Ellis' death certificate, that any attachable Charles Ellis existed after to 1870.

It could be speculated that this "other' Charles Ellis was the son of Samuel Ellis and therefore possibly a cousin of the Charles Ellis who married Amanda Jameson and became associated with the Jameson's ownership of the Rochester Hotel. There can however be no doubt that the Charles Ellis who married Amanda Jameson, was living with Joseph Jameson in 1870 in Jacksonville, remained in Jacksonville until about 1920 and died in Rochester, NY in 1933, is the Charles Ellis son of Hiram and Eunice Ellis of Cumberland County, Maine and the Charles Ellis associated with the Rochester House Hotel in the very late 1860's and early 1870's.

Charles was a Civil War veteran. He was in the Union Navy, enlisting in Boston in 1862. He served on the U.S.S. Canandaigua and was discharged in September 1864.[16] Charles remained active in post war organizations both in Jacksonville and later in Rochester.[1]

We do not know how Charles Ellis' found his way to Florida, or if was related in any way to any of the Ellis' in that area at that time. The first we know harles Ellis (d.1933 in Rochester) in Florida, is the 1870 federal census living in Jacksonville with his wife Amanda at the Rochester Hotel.[17]