Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 

Rev. John C. Ardis

Rev. John C. Ardis, deceased was born in Greene County, Georgia, August 31, 1823.  His parents 
were John and Martha (Stalius) Ardis, the father a native of Beach Island and of German origin, and
 the mother of Scotch-Irish descent.  He moved with his parents to Russell County, Alabama, when 
about sixteen years of age; graduated at Emory College at Oxford, Georgia, in 1846, and was licensed
 to preach by John W. Starr, in 1847.  In 1848 he married Miss Fannie A. Harris, a daughter of Briton 
D. Harris, a native of Georgia and a member of the State Legislature for several years.  Her mother�s 
name was Sarah A. (nee Walton), a native of Alabama.  The subject of this sketch was principal of the 
Female Academy at Salem, Alabama, for ten consecutive years, and was also Grand Lecturer of the 
Masonic fraternity of Alabama, and had charge of the El Dorado Female Academy for eight years, until 
his health failed and he was compelled to give up teaching.  He was ordained deacon by Bishop Andrew, 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1856, and was ordained elder by Bishop Paine, in 1860.  
In the winter of 1867-�68, he set out for the far West, and arrived in Los Angeles County in July 1868, 
where he bought him a home of fifty-five acres of land, and devoted the most of the remaining part of his 
life to farming and beautifying his home.  On December 24, 1877, he quietly fell asleep; his death was a 
triumphant one.  He was a man given to much labor in the ministry until the latter part of his life, when his 
health failed.  He was buried by the Masonic fraternity.  The following are the names of the children of John 
C. and Fannie A. (Harris) Ardis:  John D., Isaac. L., Sallie A., wife of A. S. Gray, a merchant of Downey, 
California; Lida T., wife of W. B. Crawford, deceased; she is now engaged in teaching in the public school 
of Downey; Julius H., who graduated at Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, and is now a law student under 
Haygood & Douglas, of Atlanta, Georgia; Fannie A. wife of James N. Pemberton, Principal of the public 
school of Alameda District, and a member of the board of education of Los Angeles County; Willie M. and 
Julia.  The latter two being minors, are still at home.  John D. Ardis, the eldest , is the administrator of the 
estate, and is now carrying on the interests of the farm.


An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889  
Page 386

Transcribed by Pat Houser, March 17, 2006