A son of John and Mary Ann Ellis, William Ellis was born in Ireland in 1829 in the town of Mayfield, which is now part of the north side of Cork city in the province of Munster in Ireland’s South-West Region.
According to a description of the area’s history from the Cork City Council’s present day website, "The opening decades of the nineteenth century saw a marked decline in the economic fortunes of Cork city. The ending of the Napoleonic Wars after 1815 was a major factor in the economic slump that affected the city." he European cholera pandemic of 1832 also negatively impacted the area as did The Great Famine of 1845-1850. By “Black ’47,” poor and starving residents of smaller towns headed for Cork city, hoping to survive. So, it comes as no surprise that, at some point during the mid-1800s, William Ellis headed for America in search of a better future.
Sometime after arriving in the United States, William Ellis made his way to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, became a miner, and settled in the Borough of Allentown. It was here that he met and married Pennsylvania native Paulina E. (“Pauline”) Halbach, a daughter of Justice of the Peace John F. Halbach (1794-1868), who was a native of Germany, and Pennsylvania native Susan (Reese) Halbach (1800-1859). Alternate spellings of the family’s surname were: “Halbeck”, “Hallbach” and “Hallback.”
Their wedding was held at the German Reformed Church in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County on 15 November 1853.
On 2 September 1855, William and Paulina Ellis welcomed daughter Sarah Matilda to their Lehigh County home. A second daughter, Susanna Isabella, was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County on 15 February 1857, and son Peter arrived sometime around 1859.
By 1860, William Ellis was employed a day laborer, and documented in the federal census as residing in Allentown’s First Ward with his wife and their three children. Ultimately, their little boy did not survive, a fact confirmed by legal paperwork filed by Pauline Ellis which stated that she was the mother of only two children in 1864 – daughters Sarah Matilda and Susanna Isabella Ellis.
U.S. Civil War Military Service
Following the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in mid-April 1861, William Ellis enrolled for Civil War military service at Allentown on 5 August 1861, and then officially mustered in for duty on 30 August at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Military records at this time described him as being a 32-year-old laborer and resident of Allentown who was 5 feet, 8-1/2 inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion. According to historian Lewis Schmidt, he was employed with the Allentown Iron Works prior to his enlistment.
Assigned with his regiment to help defend the nation's capital through early January 1862, Private William Ellis spent much of his time during this phase of duty stationed at Camp Griffin in Virginia - roughly 10 miles from Washington, D.C. Ordered to move from Virginia back to Maryland, he and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1862. Following their arrival at the Naval Barracks at Annapolis, they loaded the steamer Oriental with supplies, and sailed away for the Deep South on 27 January 1862. Assigned to garrison duty at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida, they remained there until June 1862 when they were ordered to occupy Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina.
Sometime around 26 July 1862, Private William Ellis fell ill with fever. Allowed to convalesce initially in I Company’s quarters, he was transferred to the U.S. Army’s General Hospital No. 3 at Beaufort the next day when it became clear that his condition was not improving.
By midnight of 1 August 1862, he was gone, succumbing to “Febris Congestion” (congestive fever) at General Hospital No. 3 in Beaufort, South Carolina. G. P. Greely, Surgeon with the 9th U.S. Veteran Volunteers, certified his death.
U.S. Army military records confirm that Private Ellis was initially buried in Beaufort, South Carolina; however, according to regimental historian, Lewis Schmidt, "After a short burial in South Carolina, his body was returned from Beaufort by Allentown undertaker Paul Balliet and the transport Delaware on November 29. His family was one of the few who spent the government’s $100 as intended, to bring home the body of the deceased soldier, whose remains in this case are now buried in the Fairview Cemetery at West Catasauqua."
The index card for Private William Ellis by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Military Affairs in the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Card file system also confirms that his remains were indeed exhumed and brought home for reinterment at the Fairview Cemetery.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg: 1869.
2. Ellis, William, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1865. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Ellis, William and Paulina Halbeck, in Record and Indexes of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Microfilm Rolls 668-673), in Records of the Department of State (Record Group 26, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Series 26.28). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
4. Ellis, William, Paulina Ellis Rummeler, Sarah Matilda Ellis, and Susanna Isabella Ellis, in U.S. Civil War Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Files. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1862-1912.
5. Baptismal, Marriage and Death Records of the Ellis and Drum/Rummeler Families (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Allentown, etc.), in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
6. Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Index Cards. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
7. Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, in Records of the U.S. Adjutant General’s Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1861-1865.
8. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
9. Snyder, Laurie. Private William Ellis - The First Member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to Die in South Carolina, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online 1 March 2018.
10. U.S. Census. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: 1860.
According to a description of the area’s history from the Cork City Council’s present day website, "The opening decades of the nineteenth century saw a marked decline in the economic fortunes of Cork city. The ending of the Napoleonic Wars after 1815 was a major factor in the economic slump that affected the city." he European cholera pandemic of 1832 also negatively impacted the area as did The Great Famine of 1845-1850. By “Black ’47,” poor and starving residents of smaller towns headed for Cork city, hoping to survive. So, it comes as no surprise that, at some point during the mid-1800s, William Ellis headed for America in search of a better future.
Sometime after arriving in the United States, William Ellis made his way to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, became a miner, and settled in the Borough of Allentown. It was here that he met and married Pennsylvania native Paulina E. (“Pauline”) Halbach, a daughter of Justice of the Peace John F. Halbach (1794-1868), who was a native of Germany, and Pennsylvania native Susan (Reese) Halbach (1800-1859). Alternate spellings of the family’s surname were: “Halbeck”, “Hallbach” and “Hallback.”
Their wedding was held at the German Reformed Church in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County on 15 November 1853.
On 2 September 1855, William and Paulina Ellis welcomed daughter Sarah Matilda to their Lehigh County home. A second daughter, Susanna Isabella, was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County on 15 February 1857, and son Peter arrived sometime around 1859.
By 1860, William Ellis was employed a day laborer, and documented in the federal census as residing in Allentown’s First Ward with his wife and their three children. Ultimately, their little boy did not survive, a fact confirmed by legal paperwork filed by Pauline Ellis which stated that she was the mother of only two children in 1864 – daughters Sarah Matilda and Susanna Isabella Ellis.
U.S. Civil War Military Service
Following the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in mid-April 1861, William Ellis enrolled for Civil War military service at Allentown on 5 August 1861, and then officially mustered in for duty on 30 August at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Military records at this time described him as being a 32-year-old laborer and resident of Allentown who was 5 feet, 8-1/2 inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion. According to historian Lewis Schmidt, he was employed with the Allentown Iron Works prior to his enlistment.
Assigned with his regiment to help defend the nation's capital through early January 1862, Private William Ellis spent much of his time during this phase of duty stationed at Camp Griffin in Virginia - roughly 10 miles from Washington, D.C. Ordered to move from Virginia back to Maryland, he and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1862. Following their arrival at the Naval Barracks at Annapolis, they loaded the steamer Oriental with supplies, and sailed away for the Deep South on 27 January 1862. Assigned to garrison duty at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida, they remained there until June 1862 when they were ordered to occupy Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina.
Sometime around 26 July 1862, Private William Ellis fell ill with fever. Allowed to convalesce initially in I Company’s quarters, he was transferred to the U.S. Army’s General Hospital No. 3 at Beaufort the next day when it became clear that his condition was not improving.
By midnight of 1 August 1862, he was gone, succumbing to “Febris Congestion” (congestive fever) at General Hospital No. 3 in Beaufort, South Carolina. G. P. Greely, Surgeon with the 9th U.S. Veteran Volunteers, certified his death.
U.S. Army military records confirm that Private Ellis was initially buried in Beaufort, South Carolina; however, according to regimental historian, Lewis Schmidt, "After a short burial in South Carolina, his body was returned from Beaufort by Allentown undertaker Paul Balliet and the transport Delaware on November 29. His family was one of the few who spent the government’s $100 as intended, to bring home the body of the deceased soldier, whose remains in this case are now buried in the Fairview Cemetery at West Catasauqua."
The index card for Private William Ellis by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Military Affairs in the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Card file system also confirms that his remains were indeed exhumed and brought home for reinterment at the Fairview Cemetery.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg: 1869.
2. Ellis, William, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1865. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Ellis, William and Paulina Halbeck, in Record and Indexes of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Microfilm Rolls 668-673), in Records of the Department of State (Record Group 26, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Series 26.28). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
4. Ellis, William, Paulina Ellis Rummeler, Sarah Matilda Ellis, and Susanna Isabella Ellis, in U.S. Civil War Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Files. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1862-1912.
5. Baptismal, Marriage and Death Records of the Ellis and Drum/Rummeler Families (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Allentown, etc.), in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
6. Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Index Cards. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
7. Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, in Records of the U.S. Adjutant General’s Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1861-1865.
8. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
9. Snyder, Laurie. Private William Ellis - The First Member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to Die in South Carolina, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online 1 March 2018.
10. U.S. Census. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: 1860.
A son of John and Mary Ann Ellis, William Ellis was born in Ireland in 1829 in the town of Mayfield, which is now part of the north side of Cork city in the province of Munster in Ireland’s South-West Region.
According to a description of the area’s history from the Cork City Council’s present day website, "The opening decades of the nineteenth century saw a marked decline in the economic fortunes of Cork city. The ending of the Napoleonic Wars after 1815 was a major factor in the economic slump that affected the city." he European cholera pandemic of 1832 also negatively impacted the area as did The Great Famine of 1845-1850. By “Black ’47,” poor and starving residents of smaller towns headed for Cork city, hoping to survive. So, it comes as no surprise that, at some point during the mid-1800s, William Ellis headed for America in search of a better future.
Sometime after arriving in the United States, William Ellis made his way to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, became a miner, and settled in the Borough of Allentown. It was here that he met and married Pennsylvania native Paulina E. (“Pauline”) Halbach, a daughter of Justice of the Peace John F. Halbach (1794-1868), who was a native of Germany, and Pennsylvania native Susan (Reese) Halbach (1800-1859). Alternate spellings of the family’s surname were: “Halbeck”, “Hallbach” and “Hallback.”
Their wedding was held at the German Reformed Church in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County on 15 November 1853.
On 2 September 1855, William and Paulina Ellis welcomed daughter Sarah Matilda to their Lehigh County home. A second daughter, Susanna Isabella, was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County on 15 February 1857, and son Peter arrived sometime around 1859.
By 1860, William Ellis was employed a day laborer, and documented in the federal census as residing in Allentown’s First Ward with his wife and their three children. Ultimately, their little boy did not survive, a fact confirmed by legal paperwork filed by Pauline Ellis which stated that she was the mother of only two children in 1864 – daughters Sarah Matilda and Susanna Isabella Ellis.
U.S. Civil War Military Service
Following the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in mid-April 1861, William Ellis enrolled for Civil War military service at Allentown on 5 August 1861, and then officially mustered in for duty on 30 August at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Military records at this time described him as being a 32-year-old laborer and resident of Allentown who was 5 feet, 8-1/2 inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion. According to historian Lewis Schmidt, he was employed with the Allentown Iron Works prior to his enlistment.
Assigned with his regiment to help defend the nation's capital through early January 1862, Private William Ellis spent much of his time during this phase of duty stationed at Camp Griffin in Virginia - roughly 10 miles from Washington, D.C. Ordered to move from Virginia back to Maryland, he and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1862. Following their arrival at the Naval Barracks at Annapolis, they loaded the steamer Oriental with supplies, and sailed away for the Deep South on 27 January 1862. Assigned to garrison duty at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida, they remained there until June 1862 when they were ordered to occupy Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina.
Sometime around 26 July 1862, Private William Ellis fell ill with fever. Allowed to convalesce initially in I Company’s quarters, he was transferred to the U.S. Army’s General Hospital No. 3 at Beaufort the next day when it became clear that his condition was not improving.
By midnight of 1 August 1862, he was gone, succumbing to “Febris Congestion” (congestive fever) at General Hospital No. 3 in Beaufort, South Carolina. G. P. Greely, Surgeon with the 9th U.S. Veteran Volunteers, certified his death.
U.S. Army military records confirm that Private Ellis was initially buried in Beaufort, South Carolina; however, according to regimental historian, Lewis Schmidt, "After a short burial in South Carolina, his body was returned from Beaufort by Allentown undertaker Paul Balliet and the transport Delaware on November 29. His family was one of the few who spent the government’s $100 as intended, to bring home the body of the deceased soldier, whose remains in this case are now buried in the Fairview Cemetery at West Catasauqua."
The index card for Private William Ellis by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Military Affairs in the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Card file system also confirms that his remains were indeed exhumed and brought home for reinterment at the Fairview Cemetery.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg: 1869.
2. Ellis, William, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1865. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Ellis, William and Paulina Halbeck, in Record and Indexes of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Microfilm Rolls 668-673), in Records of the Department of State (Record Group 26, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Series 26.28). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
4. Ellis, William, Paulina Ellis Rummeler, Sarah Matilda Ellis, and Susanna Isabella Ellis, in U.S. Civil War Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Files. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1862-1912.
5. Baptismal, Marriage and Death Records of the Ellis and Drum/Rummeler Families (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Allentown, etc.), in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
6. Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Index Cards. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
7. Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, in Records of the U.S. Adjutant General’s Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1861-1865.
8. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
9. Snyder, Laurie. Private William Ellis - The First Member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to Die in South Carolina, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online 1 March 2018.
10. U.S. Census. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: 1860.
According to a description of the area’s history from the Cork City Council’s present day website, "The opening decades of the nineteenth century saw a marked decline in the economic fortunes of Cork city. The ending of the Napoleonic Wars after 1815 was a major factor in the economic slump that affected the city." he European cholera pandemic of 1832 also negatively impacted the area as did The Great Famine of 1845-1850. By “Black ’47,” poor and starving residents of smaller towns headed for Cork city, hoping to survive. So, it comes as no surprise that, at some point during the mid-1800s, William Ellis headed for America in search of a better future.
Sometime after arriving in the United States, William Ellis made his way to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, became a miner, and settled in the Borough of Allentown. It was here that he met and married Pennsylvania native Paulina E. (“Pauline”) Halbach, a daughter of Justice of the Peace John F. Halbach (1794-1868), who was a native of Germany, and Pennsylvania native Susan (Reese) Halbach (1800-1859). Alternate spellings of the family’s surname were: “Halbeck”, “Hallbach” and “Hallback.”
Their wedding was held at the German Reformed Church in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County on 15 November 1853.
On 2 September 1855, William and Paulina Ellis welcomed daughter Sarah Matilda to their Lehigh County home. A second daughter, Susanna Isabella, was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County on 15 February 1857, and son Peter arrived sometime around 1859.
By 1860, William Ellis was employed a day laborer, and documented in the federal census as residing in Allentown’s First Ward with his wife and their three children. Ultimately, their little boy did not survive, a fact confirmed by legal paperwork filed by Pauline Ellis which stated that she was the mother of only two children in 1864 – daughters Sarah Matilda and Susanna Isabella Ellis.
U.S. Civil War Military Service
Following the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in mid-April 1861, William Ellis enrolled for Civil War military service at Allentown on 5 August 1861, and then officially mustered in for duty on 30 August at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a Private with Company I of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Military records at this time described him as being a 32-year-old laborer and resident of Allentown who was 5 feet, 8-1/2 inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion. According to historian Lewis Schmidt, he was employed with the Allentown Iron Works prior to his enlistment.
Assigned with his regiment to help defend the nation's capital through early January 1862, Private William Ellis spent much of his time during this phase of duty stationed at Camp Griffin in Virginia - roughly 10 miles from Washington, D.C. Ordered to move from Virginia back to Maryland, he and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1862. Following their arrival at the Naval Barracks at Annapolis, they loaded the steamer Oriental with supplies, and sailed away for the Deep South on 27 January 1862. Assigned to garrison duty at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida, they remained there until June 1862 when they were ordered to occupy Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina.
Sometime around 26 July 1862, Private William Ellis fell ill with fever. Allowed to convalesce initially in I Company’s quarters, he was transferred to the U.S. Army’s General Hospital No. 3 at Beaufort the next day when it became clear that his condition was not improving.
By midnight of 1 August 1862, he was gone, succumbing to “Febris Congestion” (congestive fever) at General Hospital No. 3 in Beaufort, South Carolina. G. P. Greely, Surgeon with the 9th U.S. Veteran Volunteers, certified his death.
U.S. Army military records confirm that Private Ellis was initially buried in Beaufort, South Carolina; however, according to regimental historian, Lewis Schmidt, "After a short burial in South Carolina, his body was returned from Beaufort by Allentown undertaker Paul Balliet and the transport Delaware on November 29. His family was one of the few who spent the government’s $100 as intended, to bring home the body of the deceased soldier, whose remains in this case are now buried in the Fairview Cemetery at West Catasauqua."
The index card for Private William Ellis by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Military Affairs in the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Card file system also confirms that his remains were indeed exhumed and brought home for reinterment at the Fairview Cemetery.
Sources:
1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg: 1869.
2. Ellis, William, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1865. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Ellis, William and Paulina Halbeck, in Record and Indexes of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Microfilm Rolls 668-673), in Records of the Department of State (Record Group 26, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Series 26.28). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
4. Ellis, William, Paulina Ellis Rummeler, Sarah Matilda Ellis, and Susanna Isabella Ellis, in U.S. Civil War Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Files. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1862-1912.
5. Baptismal, Marriage and Death Records of the Ellis and Drum/Rummeler Families (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Allentown, etc.), in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
6. Pennsylvania Veterans’ Burial Index Cards. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
7. Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, in Records of the U.S. Adjutant General’s Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1861-1865.
8. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
9. Snyder, Laurie. Private William Ellis - The First Member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to Die in South Carolina, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online 1 March 2018.
10. U.S. Census. Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania: 1860.
Family Members
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