JAMES H. ELLIS
Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: LINNTON, ZUCK, VETTERLINE, DUNLAP, HOLLAWAY
Throughout Central California no man was better known or more highly
esteemed than James H. Ellis, a successful dairy farmer, who became
prominent as a substantial and well-to-do resident of Gilroy. He was
the descendant of a prominent Virginia family and a native of the Old
Dominion, born November 25, 1828. His parents moved to Illinois when he
was but six years old; then re-moved to Montrose, Iowa, on the
Mississippi River, and it was there he grew to manhood and acquired an
education in the public schools. He was a member of a family of seven
children, and after leaving school learned the bricklayer's trade and
was thus engaged until he reached twenty-one, when he decided to remove
to Califomia.
In 1849 he came across the plains with ox team and, locating in Colusa
County, Cal., he engaged in mining for several years, and was quite
successful at times, but he amassed no great wealth in this venture.
About 1854 he spent a short time in Sacramento. Later, coming to the
Santa Clara Valley, he located near Santa Clara, where he engaged in
farming.
Mr. Ellis was married to Miss Harriet Zuck on November 25, 1855, his
twenty-seventh birthday. Mrs. Ellis was the daughter of
David and Maria Louisa (Linnton) Zuck, the
former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio, and she was
born in Marion County, Ohio, May 10, 1838. When a young man her father
accompanied his parents to Ohio, locating first in Ross County and
afterward in Marion County. In 1849 he came to California and engaged
in mining, but in 1851 returned to Ohio. The following spring he again
started west with his family, and after ajoumey of six months behind ox
teams they reached their destination. The family first located in
Marysville and Mr. Zuck followed mining until 1853, when he removed to
Santa Clara County and purchased land near Gilroy, and it was upon this
farm that both he and his wife passed their closing years.
Soon after marriage the young couple moved to the vicinity of Gilroy
and it was there that Mr. Ellis rose to prominence as a dairy farmer,
continuing for forty-six years. He had energy, was capable of hard
work, and was ambitious, and these qualifications secured his
advancement in the financial world.
Retiring from active pursuits in 1891, he spent his remaining
years in Gilroy, where his death occurred November 25, 1900. In
national politics he was a supporter of the Republican party. He was
one of the original stockholders of the old Bank of Gilroy and a
director at the time of his death. With Jesse D. Carr he organized the
Salinas City Bank of Salinas; also with Mr. Hawkins organized the first
bank in Hollister and was a stockholder in the Commercial & Savings
Bank of San Jose. Ater her husband's death, Mrs. Ellis continued to
reside on the home place until she passed away in October, 1907. They
were the parents of six children: Alvin L. died in May, 1919; Milton,
deceased; Laura is Mrs. Frank Vetterline; Emma married George T. Dunlap
and resides in Oakland; Dora married Edgar Hollaway and both are
deceased; and
Marion E. is deceased.