Ellis, Abner T.

Born: 1803-07-08 Pomfret, Connecticut

Died: 1864-10-10 Vincennes, Indiana

Flourished:

Abner T. Ellis was an attorney, city government official, probate judge, state senator, and railroad executive. Ellis moved from his native New England to Indiana, settling in Vincennes, where he commenced practicing law. His practice proved lucrative, allowing Ellis to accumulate a large estate. From 1835 to 1838, Ellis was judge of the probate court. From 1837 to 1856, he was a chairman of Board of Trustees of the Borough of Vincennes. In 1837, Ellis married Cora A. E. Greenhow, with whom he would have five children. A strong advocate of internal improvements, Ellis organized the Wabash Navigation Company, which, under Ellis' influence, built a lock and dam at the grand rapids of the Wabash River. Ellis was a strong proponent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, which sought to connect the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by building a railroad between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Saint Louis, Missouri. Ellis convinced the legislatures of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to incorporate a company for the purpose, and in 1848, he became president of the eastern division of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company. He remained president until 1853, and in 1855, he became president pro tempore. From 1848 to 1849, Ellis represented Knox County in the Indiana Senate. In 1850, Ellis was practicing law in Vincennes and owned $14,000 in real property. That same year, he received an honorary A.M. degree from Indiana University. By 1860, Ellis had $32,000 in combined real and personal wealth. In January 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Ellis register of the U.S. General Land Office in Vincennes. He would hold that position until December 1861, when the Land Office in Vincennes closed. Ellis was an Episcopalian, and was among the first vestrymen of St. James Parish Church.

Indiana Senate Journal. 1848. 33rd G. A., 6; Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1740-1850, 16 December 1837, Kanawha County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 1999); History of Knox and Daviess Counties Indiana (Chicago: Goodspeed, 1886), 179, 254; George E. Greene, History of Old Vincennes and Knox County Indiana (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1911), 1:148, 496; Henry S. Cauthorn, A History of the City of Vincennes, Indiana From 1702 to 1901 (Terre Haute, IN: Moore & Langen, 1902), 49, 52, 122, 193; Wm. Prescott Smith, The Book of the Great Railway Celebrations of 1857 (New York: D. Appleton, 1858), 104-5; Lorraine Cook White, ed., The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. (Baltimore: Genealogical, 1994-2002), 146; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Vincennes, Knox County, IN, 256; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Vincennes, Knox County, IN, 67; Fifty-Fifth Annual Report of the Indiana University (Indianapolis: Wm. B. Burford, 1885), 87; Indiana University Bulletin: Register of Graduates, 1830-1910 9 (June 1911), 14; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 78; Gravestone, Greenlawn Cemetery, Vincennes, IN.