Background
Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth was born at Malta, New York, the son of Ephraim D. and Phoebe (Denton) Ellsworth.
Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth was born at Malta, New York, the son of Ephraim D. and Phoebe (Denton) Ellsworth.
He attended the public schools at Mechanicsville, New York, hoping to enter West Point and follow a military career, but Mechanicsville was a small town and offered no educational advantages by which he could be prepared for the West Point examination, and the family could not afford to send him to a private academy.
After leaving school he was employed as a dry-goods clerk. Later he went to New York and from there to Chicago where he was employed as a lawyer’s clerk, studied law, and soon became a partner in a patent-soliciting business. Deeply interested in military matters, he secured command of a volunteer military company of cadets which was about to disband through lack of interest, and neglect, introduced the Zouave drill, and through his enthusiasm and energy brought the company to a high state of discipline and efficiency. The company was known as the "National Guard Cadets” of Chicago, later the “U. S. Zouave Cadets, ” and the members were bound to abstain from liquor, tobacco, profanity, and all excesses. The picturesque uniforms and excellent performances of the company soon attracted attention in Chicago, and immense crowds came to their drills. Ellsworth made a tour of the East with his company, giving exhibition drills which were largely attended, and the Zouaves and their commander became well known. He was appointed a major on the staff of General Swift of the Illinois National Guard, and later colonel and assistant-general, and his company was appointed the governor's guards. He was chairman of the executive committee, holding this position from 1879to 1888, from 1892 to 1896, and from 1900 to the time of his death in 1904. He was chaplain of the national grange for four years and member of the executive committee of the national organization for two years. Besides his activity in the granger movement he was a trustee of Ohio State University from 1879 to 1887, when he was transferred to the board of control of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station at Wooster. Ellis was also the candidate of the Union Reform party for governor of Ohio in 1899. The platform made the initiative and referendum the only plank. Samuel M. Jones was elected mayor of Toledo on the Republican ticket in 1897, but was rejected by his own party in the spring of 1899. He then ran as an independent candidate and received an overwhelming vote. It was understood that he would be a candidate for governor and it was planned for the Union Reform convention to leave the head of that ticket blank that members of the party might vote for Jones. When Ellis was nominated for governor, Jones published a manifesto announcing himself a candidate on a platform declaring for the right of self-government by means of direct nomination of candidates and direct making of laws by the people. Jones received 106, 721 votes and Ellis 7, 799 out of a total of 908, 159. In January 1900, the national committee of the Union Reform party sent out ballots to members of the party for votes for candidates for president and vice-president. The balloting continued through February and March. In April it was announced that Ellis and Samuel T. Richardson of Pennsylvania had been nominated. The platform favored “direct legislation under the system known as the initiative and referendum. ” It declared that there was “no need or benefit from party except to secure direct legislation. Soon after his marriage he settled on a farm near Springboro, living here until 1899 when he moved into Waynesville, where he died five years later as the result of a fall.
He was a Quaker, an active church worker, and a leader in the prohibition movement.
It was understood that he would be a candidate for governor and it was planned for the Union Reform convention to leave the head of that ticket blank that members of the party might vote for Jones.
Returning to Illinois from a tour of the East in Iarly as “granges. ” Ellis became interested in the movement in September 1872, when with fifty of his acquaintances he organized the first grange in the state. He has himself described the early history of the grange in the Ohio Farmer, published at Cleveland. His articles, printed from 1900 to 1904, made use of the published proceedings and of other documentary material. He was master of the state grange from its organization, on April 9, 1873, to 1879, again from 1888 to 1892, and from 1896 to 1900.
Deeply interested in military matters, he secured command of a volunteer military company of cadets which was about to disband through lack of interest, and neglect, introduced the Zouave drill, and through his enthusiasm and energy brought the company to a high state of discipline and efficiency. The company was known as the "National Guard Cadets” of Chicago, later the “U. S. Zouave Cadets, ” and the members were bound to abstain from liquor, tobacco, profanity, and all excesses. The picturesque uniforms and excellent performances of the company soon attracted attention in Chicago, and immense crowds came to their drills. Ellsworth made a tour of the East with his company, giving exhibition drills which were largely attended, and the Zouaves and their commander became well known.
He was chaplain of the national grange for four years and member of the executive committee of the national organization for two years. Besides his activity in the granger movement he was a trustee of Ohio State University from 1879 to 1887, when he was transferred to the board of control of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station at Wooster.
In January 1900, the national committee of the Union Reform party sent out ballots to members of the party for votes for candidates for president and vice-president. The balloting continued through February and March. In April it was announced that Ellis and Samuel T. Richardson of Pennsylvania had been nominated.
He was a ready and effective public speaker and had a remarkable memory for names, faces, and the personal interests of others. His large farm was well kept up, with a commodious brick house and good out-buildings. While not a wealthy man, he gave freely of his time, and often of his means, to the improvement of agriculture.
