John Ellis (1683 - 1717)

Born 17 Aug 1683 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Died 12 Dec 1717 at age 34 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

This profile is part of the Ellis Name Study.

John was born in 1683. He was the son of Mathias Ellis. He passed away in 1717.

Parents

Mathias Ellis and Mercy _______.^[1][2][3] The identity of his mother Mercy is disputed; see Research Notes.

Birth

17 Aug 1683 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony.^[2][4]

Places of Residence

1. Sandwich, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony^[2]
2. Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony^[5]

Marriage

John died unmarried.^[6]

Children

None.

Death

12 Dec 1717 in Sandwich.^[5]

Burial

Unknown.

Probate

John's father, Mathias Ellis, Sr. of Sandwich, was appointed administrator of John's estate on 8 Apr 1718.^[6][7]

The probate states John died unmarried and proves he survived to adulthood and owned property.^[2] The will of his father alludes to two half-lots in the woods that were formerly owned by John. These lots were inherited by John's brother, Joel.^[1]

Research Notes

Disputed mother: In 1971, McLean published research that proved Mercy Nye was unmarried as of 1704 and 1713. He cited a 9 Jun 1704 conveyance from her father, Banjamin Nye, in which the grantor gives all of his lands, mills and appurtenances in Sandwich to his son Jonathan. This bequest was was given with the restriction that Jonathan was to continue to care for, relieve and support Mercy Nye. The conveyance stated that Mercy was unable to support herself "by reason of weakness and other infirmities." Later in 1713, Jonathan Nye gave his son Jonathan substantial land provided that the son care "for my sister Mercy who is feeble in body and mind."^[8] This history does not match the wife of Mathias Ellis, who was the mother of all of his children from 1679 - 1699 and was was appointed co-executor of his will on 13 Nov 1744.^[1]

Some sources show Mary Burgess as the wife of Mathias Ellis,^[9][10] but these sources are at odds with the work Burgess Genealogy^[11] and multiple records that identify his wife by the name Mercy.^[1][4] As of 1970, McLean concluded that the wife of Mathias was yet to be found.^[8]

Torrey listed Mary Burgess as a possible wife of Mathias,^[10] but the 3rd supplement to this work rejected this theory and placed Mary Burgess as a possible wife of Manoah Ellis based on a court record that identified Manoah and Mary Ellis of Sandwich as a married couple.^[12][13] The 3rd supplement identified the wife of Mathias as Mercy (Unknown).^[3]

Date of Birth: Published research shows the offspring of Mathias and Mercy Ellis, who was born on 17 Aug 1683,^[4] was misidentified in the transcribed vital record and was in fact John, the son of Mathias Ellis, Sr.. In 1965, the following research about the identification of sister Mehitable was published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register:

This son [John] was misidentified as a daughter Mehitable, in spite of the fact that Mr. Bowman states that the original entry shows that the clerk wrote "son" after the missing name [attributed to Mehitable]. A study of the family group proves conclusively that the son born on this date could only have been the son named John, subject to the following probate entry: To Matthias Ellis Senr., of the town of Sandwich, gentleman.... whereas John Ellis your son late of Sandwich, singleman, deceased, etc. The father [Matthias Sr.] was appointed administrator 8 Apr 1718. That John lived to maturity and owned land is also proved by the reference to him [John] in his father's will.^[2]

As shown in an image of the transcribed birth records for this family, the person born on 05 Nov 1681 was recorded as a son.^[4] Brownson and McLean reported Mehitable's baptism date as 30 May 1695, which also suggests she was born significantly later than 1683. Brownson and McLean assigned Mehitable's birth date as 31 Dec 1693, which was formerly assigned to a daughter named "Isabel". However, no other records of a daughter named "Isabel" has been found and this name was most likely the result of a transcription error from the partially illegible source record.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Mathias Ellis in the Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991. Probate and Guardianship Records, 1674-1950 (Barnstable County, Massachusetts); Author: Barnstable County (Massachusetts). Register of Probate; Probate Place: Barnstable, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Brownson, Lydia B. (Phinney); McLean, Maclean W., Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass., The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 120 (April 1966), Pp. 262 - 266. Available on AmericanAncestors.org.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Sanborn, Melinde Lutz. Third Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700. 2003, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD. p. 89, entry for Mathias Ellis. Available on Ancestry.com.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch : 3 November 2017, Mehitable Ellis, 05 Nov 1681; citing Birth, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 775,836.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} John Ellis in the Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988. Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Barnstable, MA: Probate Records, 1685-1789. Records of Barnstable, Massachusetts. CD-ROM. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.
7. ↑ "Probate records v. 1-3 1686-1747" database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-N8T  : 1 May 2024), Film# 007705400, Barnstable, Massachusetts, image 460, Vol 3, Page 466.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} McLean, Maclean W. Notes and Corrections, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018. Source citation: Vol. 125, page 140-141.
9. ↑ Martin, Sophia Smith. Mack Genealogy : the Descendants of John Mack of Lyme, Conn., Rutland, Vermont: The Tuttle Company, 1904. Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 1419. Available on Archive.org, see image 81.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Torry, Clarence A.. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. p. 248, available on Ancestry.com.
11. ↑ Burgess, Ebenezer. Burgess Genealogy, Memorial of the Family of Thomas and Dorothy Burgess. Boston, Press of T.R. Marvin & Son, 1865. Page 12, image 27, available on Archive.org. "Mary, daughter of John Burgess married ______ Ellis."
12. ↑ Sanborn, Melinde Lutz. Third Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700. 2003, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD. p. 89, entry for Manoah Ellis. Available on Ancestry.com.
13. ↑ Brownson, Lydia B. (Phinney); McLean, Maclean W., Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass., The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 119 (Oct 1965), p. 267. Available on AmericanAncestors.org.

See also:

• Roberts, Gary Boyd. Genealogies of the Mayflower Families. 1985, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD. Vol. II, Pp. 757 - 758, Mercy Nye and Mercy, Wife of Lt. Matthias Ellis, available on Ancestry.com.