Contra Costa County Biography

HARRY ELLS

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

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

 
              Harry Ells, one of the progressive and representative citizens of 
Contra Costa County, was born in Canning, Nova Scotia, November 9, 1854, and is 
the fourth of the six sons and two daughters of William and Sarah (Newcomb) 
Ells, farmers in Nova Scotia. As a boy Mr. Ells found the Nova Scotia farm 
altogether too small to supply the needs of the large family, and accordingly he 
located on a farm near Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1871, this slight 
progression opening up yet broader fields of activity, and placing him in touch 
with the Far West, to which he came during the summer of 1874. Locating in Dutch 
Flat, he engaged in mining for himself and others, and after the incorporation 
of the Cedar Creek Mining Company, he became foreman under Colonel Ludman. 
Coming to Stege as assistant superintendent of the California Cap Company, he 
was advanced to the position of superintendent in 1889, which position he held 
for several years. Mr. Ells branched out in various activities in the county. He 
became interested in the real estate and insurance business, and is a director 
of the Bank of Richmond. An active and influential Republican, he has been 
postmaster at Stege for several years, and served for some years as president of 
the board of school directors of the Stege District. In 1902 he was elected to 
the State Assembly by a large majority from the twenty-second district, serving 
on the committee of roads and highways, fish and game, and as chairman of the 
committees on manufacturing and internal improvements. He was unanimously chosen 
as a candidate to succeed himself for the term of 1904, and his Democratic 
opponent, seeing nothing but defeat before him, withdrew from the contest, and 
Mr. Ells' election was assured. Mr. Ells was twice married, the first union 
being to Katie Seltzer in 1880. He was married in Sacramento, and his wife died 
in Dutch Flat one year after. The second marriage occurred on December 23, 1912, 
to Maybelle Perry Seavey, of Richmond. Mr. Ells is a member of McKinley Lodge 
No. 347, F. & A. M., of which he is past master. He is also a member of Siloam 
Chapter No. 37, R. A. M., the Commandery of Oakland, and the Eastern Star.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co.., 1917, 
p. 567.