Georgia Hindman Ellis (1853 - aft. 1921)

Born 3 Jun 1853 in Tyler, Smith County, TX

Ancestors

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Biography

Georgia was baptized in Texas by the Rev. Dr. Orceneth Fisher. When she was four, her family came by wagon train to Southern California.^[1]

In 1860, Georgia was a schoolgirl in Tulare County, CA.^[2] In October 1866, her father wrote that she hasn’t been well.^[3] She achieved her third grade teaching certificate on December 7th, 1872 and her second grade certificate by March of 1873. It was renewed in March of 1875.^[4]

She and William Creed married in 1876 and moved to Oakland in 1883. She was active in the Ebell Club, the Colonial Dames of America and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.^[5]  According to directories of the Ebell Club, from 1900-1901 she lived at 575 Hobart Street, from 1901-1902 at 328 Boulevard Terrace, from 1902-1904 at 15 Mc Clure Street, at 463 Chetwood street from 1904-1912, and at 468 Vernon Street from 1912-1922. ^[6]

The Ebell Society of Oakland was organized in December 1876, taking its name from Dr. Aarain Ebell who believed that women should participate in successful organized work. The organization is divided into sections for intellectual pursuits, such as Economics, 19th Century Literature, Art and foreign languages. The Ebell Society was active in the Equal Rights Movement and hosted Julia Ward Howe and Susan B. Anthony around the turn of the century. The society helped to build Oakland’s first public library. The Society built a Tudor Style clubhouse in 1906 at 14th and Harrison. When women were given the right to vote in California, the Ebell Club mounted one of the most successful campaigns in California election history. The club members successfully defeated a proposal to incorporate the East Bay communities into San Francisco. Georgia joined the Ebell Society in 1885 and was still a member in 1921. This puts her in the membership roles at the same time as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, noted feminist author (The Yellow Room and Herland, considered a feminist science fiction work)^[7] and Emily Hilton Timerman whose great-niece Mary Sophia Hilton married into the Ellis family via Georgia’s great nephew, Walter Hale Davis in 1900.

Sources

1. ↑ "A Genealogical Record of the Ellis Family, a portion of which is from a memorandum of the family prepared by Col. Thomas Harding Ellis of Richmond, VA in 1849, with additional notes pertaining to the Ellis-Gilliam and Ellis-Long families" 34 pages, 1912, photocopy held in 1996 by Davis-50681.
2. ↑ “Thomas Ellis household, 1860 U.S. census,” Tulare County, CA, Township No. 2, pages 6 & 7, Visalia Post Office, enumerated 27 Jun 1860, microfilm M653 roll 71
3. ↑ "The Country is Healthy, and Religion Desirable: The Letters of Rev. Thomas Oliver Ellis, MD, 1863-1867" transcribed and annotated by Connie LaVon Davis, Dec, 1999. Available from Davis-50681.
4. ↑ “Common School Reports,” 1872-1875, Fresno Co., CA, MF 2:10 (14), roll 4, photocopy of microfilm, held at California State Archives, 1020 O St., Sacramento, CA.
5. ↑ “Widow of WH Creed Passes On" and "Funeral Services For Mrs Creed to Be Held Sunday,” unknown newspapers, California, after 1921.
6. ↑ Ebell Club Yearbooks, 1900-1905, 1911-1913, 1915-1917, 1920-1922, 1927-1930, viewed March 1999 at the Oakland Public Library, vertical file.
7. ↑ “Victorian-era Oakland sparked women’s political organizing,” Steven LaVoie, Oakland Tribune, Oakland, Alameda Co., CA, 8 Nov 1992, p. 14.

Additional Sources

• “Tho. O. Ellis household, 1870 U.S. census,” Kings River P.O., Township No. 3, Fresno Co., CA, 1870, microfilm M593, roll 72, p. 19, line 33. (note: She is recorded as Georgie, a male.)
• “Georgie S. Creed household #51, 1920 US census,” Oakland, Alameda Co., CA SD5, ED77, sheet 3A, 2 Jan 1920.