My thanks to all of you for the responses regarding Thomas Ellis and for the
info out of the book. I went back and looked at the 1820 census index for
Warrick and Perry counties and found two Rowland Ellis listed in Warrick
County. One is obviously the son of the other because I went to
ancestry.com and found all kinds of information on them and their ancestors.
Unfortunately there was nothing to help me know if they might be related to
my Thomas or not.
The Rowland Ellis family came from Massachusetts, whereas my Thomas was
supposedly born in South Carolina about 1784. I'm working on the theory
that Thomas' family probably went from the Carolinas to Kentucky and then to
Indiana.
Thomas ELLIS married Judah WRIGHT, probably about 1803. Judah was born
about 1786 in North Carolina. They had anywhere between 8 and 13 children -
all girls. I only know the names of four of the daughters and am descended
from two of them. If there were 13 children, then 8 or 9 of them would have
been born in Indiana. The rest were born in Illinois.
The two daughters I'm descended from are Judah (or Judith) A., born 1813 in
Indiana; and Jane, born 1823 in Indiana. Since the family is in Spencer Co.
in 1820 I'm assuming that Jane would have been born there. (I hate to
assume anything, but there we are)
I know there were several WRIGHT families in Spencer Co. But I don't have
enough information on Judah to be able to place her with any of them. And I
have no other male Ellis names - no clue as to if he had brothers, uncles,
etc. The only thing I know for sure is that Jane Ellis had a LOT of Indian
blood in her. I have pictures of both her and her sister, Judah, when they
were older and there is no doubt. Plus, Jane's daughter, Judah Elizabeth,
told her children she was part Indian. My great-grandfather was one of J.
E.'s children and he said his mother claimed to be 1/4 Indian.
One more question - has anybody run across a place called Piney Ridge in any
of these three counties? I don't know if it was a community or a geographic
name or what - it's just a name that has come up in connection with the
Ellis family.
Thanks,
Marsha