VIII. Thomas Ellwood and Hannah Lowery Thomas Ellwood was christened at Alston on Apr. 15, 1753, the son of Thomas and Mary Ellwood. A miner like his father, he came with his brother John to work at the coal mines in the Whitehaven area in the early 1770's. On Aug. 26, 1776, Thomas Ellwood married Hannah Lowery at Moresby Church located just north of Whitehaven. The couple lived at Hensingham for many years, and then moved to the New Houses in Whitehaven. These row house residences had been built for coal miners by the wealthy mine-owning family of Lowther. The New Houses survived in Whitehaven until 1940. Hannah Lowery was born at Hensingham in April of 1754. She was the daughter of John Lowery and Janet Ward. Hannah had two sisters, Peggy and Jane, and one brother named Edward. John Lowery and Janet Ward had married at Arthuret on June 14, 1753. John Lowery was listed as being of Whitehaven, Janet Ward as from Kirk Andrews upon Esk Parish. This parish is on the Scottish border, and had been the site of many border battles in earlier centuries. Janet Ward was the daughter of Edward Ward and Jane White, being born in 1725. Jane White had been born at Kirk Andrews in 1691, and was the daughter of John and Jane White. While visiting the churchyard of Kirk Andrews upon Esk, I found the gravestones of three of these direct ancestors in very readable condition. One is of John White (1653-1708), with a reverse side showing a coat-of-arms. The others being: Edward Ward of Moat (1692-1739); and his wife Jane White (1691-1744). Thomas Ellwood and Hannah Lowery had 13 children born between 1777 and 1798: John 1777; Edward and twin Thomas 1778; Mary 1780; William 1782; Joseph 1784; Hannah 1787; ROBERT 1789; Samuel 1791; Jane 1793; Isaac and twin John II 1795; and last, Henry in 1798. Thomas Ellwood, and his sons Thomas and ROBERT, are listed in the payroll of the Howgill Colliery in 1801. This was a large coal mine operating in Whitehaven during the period. Hannah Lowery, namesake of Ellwood generations to come, died on March 6, 1808. Thomas Ellwood died on Dec. 13, 1826. Both were buried at Holy Trinity Church in Whitehaven.

St. Bridgets Church, Moresby, England

St. Bridgets Church at Moresby stands on a high bluff overlooking the Irish Sea, located just north of Whitehaven. Photo by author, May 21, 2000

IX. Robert Ellwood and Martha Saxton Robert Ellwood was born on Jan. 11, 1789, the 7th child of Thomas and Hannah Ellwood. Robert was working as a coal miner by the age of 12, and remained with this occupation through his lifetime. By 1816, he was working at the mines around Bolton in Lancashire. On April 16, 1816, he married Martha Saxton at Deane Church near Bolton. Within a year, Robert and his wife had moved back to Whitehaven. Church and census records show them living at a number of different residences in Whitehaven over the next decades. These included the New Houses, Hilton Row, Harris, and Ginnes. In the 1840's, Robert and Martha Ellwood moved to the Castle Eden Colliery in County Durham. Martha Saxton died at Castle Eden in 1849. Robert Ellwood returned to Whitehaven by 1851, he died there on Jan. 24, 1862. Robert Ellwood and Martha Saxton had 13 children, all of whom were born in Whitehaven: THOMAS born in 1817, married ELIZABETH BENN in 1837 (came to the U.S.); John born in 1819, married Bridget Anderson (died Whitehaven 1892); William born in 1821, married Elizabeth Howe 1847; Eleanor born in 1822, died young; Hannah born in 1824, married John Young (came to the U.S.); James born in 1826; Samuel born in 1827, died in Whitehaven 1849; Robert born in 1829, wife Louisa (came to the U.S.); Martha born and died in 1831; Sarah born in 1832; Mary born 1833, died 1834; Isaac born in 1834, married a Trotter (came to the U.S.); and Jane born in 1836, died at Durham in 1847. Valuable detailed information on this generation was kindly provided by Adrian Taylor in England. Mr. Taylor is a descendant of the William Ellwood cited above, and has a collection of Ellwood family letters and Bible records from the period.

X. Thomas Saxton Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn Thomas Ellwood was the first born child of Robert Ellwood and his wife Martha. He was born on June 20, 1817 at Ginnes in Whitehaven. He became the 4th consecutive generation in the Ellwood line to become a miner. Thomas Ellwood married Elizabeth Benn on May 10, 1837, at Holy Trinity Church in Whitehaven. The Benn family had been mariners for a number of generations, and thus the marriage represented a union of the two major professions of 18th and 19th century Whitehaven. Elizabeth Benn was born Apr. 19, 1818, and was the daughter of Daniel Benn and his wife Mary Boadle. Daniel Benn was Master and owner of a ship at the port of Whitehaven. He was the son of another mariner named Joseph Benn, and had been born in 1792. Daniel's mother was Elizabeth Benn, (this was an unrelated Benn-Benn marriage). She was born in 1751, the daughter of William Benn and Mary Harrison. This William Benn had also been a mariner, and appears to have been lost at sea in 1753. Joseph Benn was born in 1747, and was the son of William and Mary Benn. Mary Boadle was descended from the very old line of Boadles in Cleator, who trace to the 15th century. I have data on the Boadle family and all their female lines completed to the early 1600's, and would be happy to share this with those interested in the Boadle family history. Returning to Thomas Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn, information from the Whitehaven Records Office and census returns provide a picture of their life in Whitehaven. The couple begin their married years at the New Houses with Thomas listed as a coal miner. By the mid-1840's, Thomas Ellwood begins to get promotions every two or three years to higher supervisory positions at the mines. This economic rise is reflected in changes of residence. By the 1851 census, the family is living in a house at #6 Jonathan Gardens and employing a live-in servant. In 2000, I found this house to be still occupied. Thomas and Elizabeth Ellwood had 6 known children born in Whitehaven, the last of these in 1851. Some time in 1852/53, the family left England and sailed for the United States, settling first in Pennsylvania. Several more children would be born after their arrival in the United States. By the early 1860's the Ellwoods were in Hunnewell Furnace in Greenup Co., Kentucky. Thomas Ellwood was a manager of the mine works and making $1200 a year. The 1870 census lists him as a Mining Engineer, and shows assets that would classify him as wealthy in terms of the time. In the same period, his sister Hannah Young and his brother Robert Ellwood have also come to the United States, and are living in the Pittsburgh area. His brother Isaac would immigrate at a later date. Elizabeth Benn appears to have had a final child in early 1865, and would die soon after in Jackson Co., Ohio while the Ellwood family was on a temporary stay in this coal mining county. Thomas Ellwood married Elizabeth Wooldridge as his second wife in Greenup Co. on June 20, 1866. Thomas Ellwood would have 13 children with Elizabeth Benn, and 7 more with his second wife Elizabeth Wooldridge. After 1870, Thomas Ellwood would purchase land and move to the adjoining area of Carter Co., Ky. From various records, we can place the death of Thomas Ellwood to have been in 1878. Elizabeth Wooldridge would later marry George Hull, and have 12 additional children.

XI. The Children of Thomas Ellwood 1. Children of Thomas Ellwood and his first wife, Elizabeth Benn: In an 1864 letter written from Thomas Ellwood to his brother William in Whitehaven, Thomas mentions all of his six living children by name. He further says that he and Elizabeth had a total of 12 children born to that date. (They would have one more in 1865.) The six unnamed children all would have died at an early age. I discovered three of them in English records at Whitehaven: A daughter Hannah was born in 1845, and died on Jan. 19, 1847. ( A second Hannah would be born in 1848 ). A son named Daniel Benn Ellwood was c. Nov. 20, 1846, and died on Dec. 4, 1846. Another son, Thomas Benn Ellwood, was born in June of 1851 and died the same month. (A second Thomas Benn Ellwood would be born to the couple.) The surviving children of Thomas Ellwood with his first wife Elizabeth Benn will be discussed in seperate items below. This will then be followed by a section on the children of Thomas with his second wife, Elizabeth Wooldridge.

Martha Ellwood was born at Whitehaven on Apr. 17, 1838. She was the first born child of Thomas Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn. Martha would marry James Jones at Wellersburg, Pa. on July 15, 1854. James Jones was a coal miner, and had been born in England in 1831. He had come to the United States in 1845, and would later serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. The Jones family were in Mason City, Virginia by the late 1850's, they then appear in the Greenup Co., Ky. census of 1860. During the Civil War, the family had returned to Virginia. James Jones would later be Mayor of Kanawha, West Va. By the 1870's, the Jones family had located in Streator, Illinois. Two of Martha Ellwood's sisters had also moved to Streator in in the same period. Martha Ellwood Jones died a the age of 87 in Streator on Jan. 22, 1925. James Jones had died in 1919. Children of James and Martha Jones were: Richard 1855; Mary Ann 1856--married William McAllister (one of four inter-marriages between Ellwood descendants and the McAllisters); James Henry 1858--married Mary Jane McAllister; Edwin 1861; Martha 1863--married John McAllister; Elizabeth 1865; Charles 1866; Robert 1868--married Maria Morrell; Hector 1870--married Mary Jardin; Hannah 1872--married Hector Dennison; Thomas 1875; and William Cadet in 1878. Six of the above children were living in 1925.

Mary Ellwood was born in Whitehaven on May 30, 1840. She married William Morrell in 1856 at Schuylkill Co., Pa. William Morrell was a mining blacksmith and was born in 1834 at Belper, Derbyshire, England as the eldest child of Mathew Morrell and his wife Maria Gregory. The family moved from Pennsylvania to Hunnewell Furnace to join the other Ellwoods in the 1860's. In 1866 they were in Ohio, and then returned to Kentucky. In 1875, the family moved to their final home in Streator, Illinois. William Morrell died at Streator on Aug. 29, 1905. Mary Ellwood Morrell would die on Oct. 1, 1909. Children of the Morrells were: Maria 1858-1928--married (1) William Williams and (2)David Hill; Thomas 1861-?; Robert 1863-?; Elizabeth 1866-1921--married Thomas Holmes; Mary 1868-1911--married John Dawson; Jane 1871-1954--married James McDermott; Charles 1874-1939--married Mary Bunker; Hannah 1876-1929--married Orville White; Ida Mae 1879-1945--married Henry Guy; Etta 1883-1929.

Robert Ellwood was c. Aug. 6, 1842 at Holy Trinity Church in Whitehaven. Robert became a coal miner like all the members of the Ellwood family. He married Hannah Leonard on July 29, 1865 in Greenup Co. Ky. Robert Ellwood was living in Hunnewell Furnace in 1870, and moved to Carter Co., Ky. by the 1880's. He had one daughter named Paulina with his wife Hannah. After the death of Hannah, Robert had four children with his second wife Linda. These were: Gertrude 1889; Jessie 1892; Roberta 1896; and Abbey 1905. Robert Ellwood committed suicide and died on Feb. 21, 1918 at Pineville Ky. His wife Linda died in 1942.

Hannah Ellwood McAllister & Family, circa 1900 (back L-R) Eliz., James, William, and Margaret (seated L-R) Hannah, Bertha, Martha, and niece Center: Hector McAllister.

Hannah Ellwood was born in Whitehaven on June 2, 1848, and christened two days later. She married Hector McAllister on July 5, 1867 in Greenup, Ky. Hector had also been born in Whitehaven, and was a third generation coal miner in his line. He was born on Apr. 27, 1846, and was the son of James McAllister and Margaret Hutchinson. Hector McAllister's paternal grandparents were James and Mary McAllister, who had come from Ireland to Whitehaven in 1818. Hector and his brother Thomas came to the United States in 1864, two years after his parents and younger siblings. Hector and Hannah left Kentucky in 1869 and moved to their final home of Streator, Illinois. Hector McAllister would be employed by the Vermillion Coal Co., he later was appointed State Mine Inspector during the terms of three Illinois Govenors. Hannah Ellwood McAllister died in Streator on July 8, 1934. She was buried at Riverview Cemetery with her husband Hector, who had died on May 2, 1917. The surviving adult children of Hector and Hannah McAllister were: Margaret 1868-1937--married Charles Beard; Elizabeth 1870-1939--married Albert S. Morrison; James 1872-1959-- married Katie Zintner; William 1875-1926--married Florence Brooker; Martha 1878-1954--married George Hall; and Bertha 1881-1957--married Lee Ramsey. Elizabeth Morrison was my grandmother, putting me in the 14th generation of the descending line.

John Ellwood was born to Thomas Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn in 1856. Census records state he was born in Pennsylvania, and he was mentioned in his father's letter of 1864. Sarah Ellwood was born in 1865, and was the final child of Thomas Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn. She was named for a sister of Elizabeth. Both John Ellwood and his sister Sarah are found in the 1870 census of Greenup Co. listed in the household of their father. No further record of Sarah has been found, son John Ellwood died in an industrial accident in Birmingham, Alabama in September of 1892. No known descendants of John have been found.

Thomas Benn Ellwood was born in Pottsville, Pa. on July 14, 1858. He also became a coal miner, and was to marry Sarah Matilda Rice on May 16, 1878. In the 1880 census he was employed as a coal miner at Hunnewell Furnace, Kentucky. By the early 1880's, Thomas and his family had moved to Marshall, Texas. Children of Thomas Benn Ellwood and Matilda Rice were: Pearl b. 1879; William Robert b. 1880; Thomas Benn Jr. b. 1887; Henry Rice b. 1888; Howard Taylor b. 1896; John b. 1900; and Nancy Louise b. 1903. Thomas Benn Ellwood remained in Marshall, Texas and died in 1940. His wife Matilda Rice would die in 1952. Thomas Benn Ellwood would be the last living child of Thomas Saxon Ellwood and Elizabeth Benn.

2. Children of Thomas Ellwood with his second wife Elizabeth Wooldridge: In 1866, the 48 year old widower Thomas Ellwood married his second wife Elizabeth Wooldridge. Elizabeth was born in 1844, the daughter of Samuel Wooldridge and Lucy Hannah. The couple would have seven children by the time of Thomas Ellwood's death in 1879. They were: Lucy 1867; Samuel W. 1870-1955; William J. 1873-1928; Isaac 1874-1948; Maggie 1876; James 1877; and David 1878. At the time of the birth of his last son in 1878, Thomas Ellwood had already become a great-grandfather. Elizabeth Wooldridge would later marry George Hull and have 12 more children. Elizabeth would die in 1926 at Rush, Kentucky. The information on the second family of Thomas Ellwood has been kindly provided by Rhonda Warner, a Kentucky descendant of the Ellwood/Wooldridge line. Details on descendants of the line will follow.

Samuel Wooldrige Ellwood was born in Kentucky on Sept. 14, 1870. He married Rebecca Coburn on Apr. 9, 1892 in Campbell Co., Tennessee. In 1899, the family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. Four years later they moved west to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Samuel Ellwood was a Mining Engineer, and began a silver mine company in New Mexico. He worked for Pancho Villa in Juarez, Mexico during the next decade, and then left for Utah in 1917. He returned home in the early 1920's and was divorced from Rebecca Coburn. Samuel Ellwood never remarried, and was to die in Ohio on Oct 3, 1955. The children of Samuel and Rebecca Ellwood were: Andrew T. 1896-1925, married Hazel Green; Arthur C. 1899-1965, married Mary Jane Reed; Clara E. 1902-1991, married William Moore; Robert H. 1905-1977, married Christina Davis; and Howard W. 1909-1910.

Maggie Ellwood was born in 1876, likely in Carter Co. Kentucky. She was to marry Thomas Davis in Boyd Co., Ky. in 1896. Their only known child to date, was a son named McClellan born in 1897. Maggie Ellwood Davis would die in Greenup Co. on March 5, 1940.

William James Ellwood was born on June 27, 1872 in Kilgore, Ky. He married Rachel Marshall in 1897 at Campbell Co., Tennessee. They had one son, Samuel 1897-1973, who married Hattie Robbins. William Ellwood was then divorced from Rachel Marshall, and remarried Rachel Wood in 1901. William Ellwood was a coal miner by profession, and by 1912 had moved to Price, Utah. He was a Superintendent of Mines, and served as a State Representative, elected in 1912. He moved to Long Beach, Ca. in 1925, but returned to Utah in 1927, where he died as a result of a mine accident on Apr. 22, 1927. The children of William Ellwood and Rachel Wood were: Curtis E. 1902-1981, married Phoebe May James; William; Kenneth; James; and Gladys. All were living at the time of William Ellwood's death.

In Conclusion The Descendants: The 12th generation listed in the previous section was the first to be entirely born in the United States, and the last to be mainly born in the 19th century. They began to migrate to other states, and were no longer concentrated principally in Eastern Kentucky and Illinois. The 13th generation would greatly increase the number of descendants, and would see a large expansion of new surnames in the Ellwood line. These would include: Russell, Kief, Jahneke, Tabor, Mattingly, Burnell, Kettman, Barwick, Farrimond, Dixon, Kidd, Peterson, Beckman, White, Jensen, Morgan, Pinney, Songer, Pettigrew, Koeneman, Higgins, Kinkade, Bohanan, Mcdermott; Guy; and Dawson. By the end of the 20th century we have entered into the 16th and 17th generations. Large numbers of the descendants of Thomas Ellwood are now living coast to coast in the United States; and when we consider all the possible descendants of our original ancestor Edward Ellwood, they would now be found living both worldwide and in countless numbers. I have recently begun contact with "cousins" who share Cumbrian ancestry in England, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland. The histories of these branch families have been most enjoyable to discover. I would like to acknowledge the following American Ellwood descendants who have shared photographs, family information, and remembrances over the past 20 years: Hannah Russell; Lois Jean Johnson; Sandra Parcher; Lois Gregory; Hannah Kief; Dorothy Kidd; Marilyn Johnson; Betty Beckman; Cynthia Ali; and Rhonda Warner.

Research and Sources: The search for the Ellwood family ancestry, along with that of many other Cumbrian ancestors, was begun in 1986. A major part of that research was shared by my wife Barbara Morrison. Her expertise at reading early manuscript documents of the 16th and 17th centuries is just one example of her many contributions to the research. Source materials were located at sites visited in both the United States and England. The largest sources of information were found in the Parish records of England (1570-1860), and the Probate records of the Carlisle and Richmond Dioceses. Other sources include: Marriage Bond records; 1641 Protestation Lists; 17th century Tax Lists; Cemetery inscriptions; Census records of England and the United States; Obituaries and Death records; Marriage records; United States Wills and Probate records; Employment records; Family Bible records; Newspaper articles; Parish and Church Histories; and numerous other facts found in miscellaneous local records. When possible, photocopies of all documents have been made. Microfiche and filmed records from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City were used extensively in our research.