Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 7th ed., 1887, Kenton Co. JOHN ELLIS, son of Elijah and Phoebe (Payton) Ellis, were born in Mason County, Ky., October 17, 1815. Elijah Ellis was born December 6, 1783, Fauquier County, Va., was a farmer in moderate circumstances, never owning land in his native State. He was a man of limited education, and was married about 1800 to Miss Phoebe Payton, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Owel) Payton, Virginians, of English extraction. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom, James, John, Mary A. (Shockey), James H. and Daniel, are now living. Elijah Ellis was first a member of the Baptist Church, and afterward of the Christian Church, dying in his eighty-third year, in 1866. Mrs. Ellis, also a member of the Christian Church, died in 1870, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Robert Ellis, father of Elijah, was also born in Virginia, and was a farmer in moderate circumstances. He married Miss Elizabeth Whitecotten, by whom he had eight children, four of whom were sons. He died in his fiftieth year, in Virginia, and his family immigrated to Mason County, Ky., in 1804. Elijah began life in Mason County, purchasing a farm there, but had previously married in Virginia. Thomas Payton was a school teacher and portrait painter, and was once a large property owner in Virginia. He married three times, the last time a Miss Nancy Whitecotten, sister of Elizabeth Whitecotten, above mentioned. The Whitecottens were English. The Ellis family originally came from the Highlands of Scotland, but emigrated from Wales to Virginia. John Ellis lived in Mason County, Ky., until twenty-one years of age, when he immigrated to Kenton County in 1836, and taught school three years. He began life with nothing, save a horse, saddle and bridle. He was married, August 15, 1839, to Miss Mary H. Carlisle, a daughter of John Carlisle and Margaret (McClure) Carlisle. To this marriage were born three children: John F., James D., and Elijah P., all living. Mrs. Ellis was in life a member of the Christian Church; was born April 2, 1822, and after an illness of a month, departed this life March 10, 1885. John Ellis purchased, in 1843, 109 acres of land about half way between Key West and Fiskburg. This was increased by industry and economy to 300 acres, worth $15,000, but having given farms to his children, he now owns and cultivates 107 acres. In 1857 Mr. Ellis represented Kenton County in the Kentucky Legislature, as a Democrat, and was returned again in 1859, being a member of that body during the stormy sessions of 1861. In 1875 he was again elected, on the Democratic ticket, to represent Kenton County, besides which he has served six terms as magistrate, being now in his seventh. He never was defeated in a race but one time, in 1855, for the Legislature, and by only eight votes, but was elected at the next election for the same office by 800 majority. He has also been commissioner of the common schools of Kenton County fifteen years, and has been a member of the Christian Church since 1845, of which church he has been an elder twenty-five years. He has also taken eleven degrees in Masonry, and has been an unwavering life-long Democrat. Ellis Payton Owel Shockey Whitecotten Carlisle McClure = Mason-KY Fauquier-VA VA Scotland Wales http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/kenton/ellis.j.txt