John Ellis

John Ellis was at Sandwich by 1643, on the list of its men able to bear arms. At the General Court of 20 Aug 1644 a warrant went out "to bring in the bodies of Jonathan Fish and Mary, his wyfe, Nathaniell Fish, Jane, the wyfe of Mr Wilim Wood, Rose, the wyfe of Joseph Holly," the wives of Richard Kerby and Michael Turner, "& Joane Swyft, widdow, to giue euedence in John Ellis & his wifes case" (PCR 2:76-77). On 4 June 1645: "John Ellis, of Sandwich, for abuseing himself wth his now wyfe by committing vncleanesse wth her before marryage, is censured to be whipt at publike post, and Elizabeth, his wyfe, to stand by whilst execucon of the sentence is pformed; wch was accordingly donn." He was also fined £5 "for his long and tedious delayes, occasioning much trouble & charge to the countrey, for that he would not confesse the truth vntill this present" (PCR 2:85-86). Her father was then serving his last term as an Assistant (PCR 2:81).

In 1653 the Court made him lieutenant of the town's company: "John Ellis approued by the Court to bee leiftenant off the millitary companie att Sandwidge" (PCR 3:38). On 13 Sept 1653 the town gave Richard Chadwell, Thomas Dexter and John Ellis "all the whales that come up within the limits and bounds of Sandwich," at £16 a whale, paid a third in oil, a third in corn and a third in cattle; a finder who "placed an oar by the whale" could give notice (Freeman, History of Cape Cod 2). Later they had "the right of all such fish" for three years. He sat on the committee for the Sandwich-Plymouth highway (1654), was one of the four men engaged to build the town mill (c. 1655-57) and subscribed £1 toward it, and the town paid "the account of Lt. Ellis for drum, muskets &c. purchased," £10 6s 7d (HCC 2).

In 1659 he was licensed to keep an ordinary "for the entertainment of strangers and trauellers," with leave to sell strong waters and wine, "but is prohibited to pmitt towne dwellers to stay drinkeing vnessesaryly att his house" (PCR 3:161). On 7 Mar 1659/60 oil of his, attached "by the marshall Barlow, for the countrey," was given back after "some controuersy": "the Court doth remitt the said oyle vnto the said Ellice" (PCR 3:182). In June 1660 "Leiftenant Ellis hath engaged to trayne the milletary company of Sandwich for a season" (PCR 3:189). In 1665 he was ordered to pay 20 shillings "for a whale hee had" (PCR 4:99).

About December 1665, in a slander case, Ann Hoskins said that Hester Rickard was "as drunke as a bitch, and found in private companie in an ordinary with John Ellis, of Sandwich"; Ann acknowledged her fault in court (PCR 4:111-112). On 7 July 1668 Matthew Mayhew sued him "for detaining a cow sundry yeares," and the jury gave Mayhew "a sufficient good cow, of a reasonable stature, and not exceeding eight yeares old, and three pound damage" (PCR 7:146-147). On 29 Oct 1669 he sued John Ewen "for non pformance of worke about a barne, according to agreement" (PCR 7:156-157).

His homestead was at the Plymouth end of Sandwich, near Scusset and Sagamore: about 1670 the Plymouth-Sandwich bound was set "three quarters of a mile from any pte of the fence of John Ellis his feild, between his house and the sea" (PCR 5:41). On 5 July 1670 an Indian named William, son-in-law of Cawsetan, complained that "the oxen of Leiftenant Ellis had broken in to his corne att Breake Hart Hill"; the damage was about six bushels, and the fence was judged good (PCR 5:47). Corn spoiled by English cattle and horses was one of the grievances Philip's council laid before the Rhode Island magistrates in June 1675 (John Easton's relation, in Narratives of the Indian Wars, p. 11).

King Philip's War. On 2 Sept 1675 Plymouth's council of war condemned 57 Indians "lately come in to Sandwich in a submissiue way" to "ppetuall servitude" and ordered them sold (Records of the Colony of New Plymouth 5:174). That winter the danger came close. A town meeting of 28 Feb 1675/6, "called ... by Lt. John Ellis and Benj. Hammond the constable," allowed families "to repair to the town garrison for safety," and the town kept "a watch between Wayquonscott and the sea beyond Lt. John Ellis' land" (Freeman, History of Cape Cod 2:68). The next day the colony named Sandwich's council of war, "Mr Richard Bourne, Mr Edmond Freeman, Junir, Thomas Tobey, Senir" (PCR 5:186), his wife's brother Edmund Freeman Jr. among them. Among the debts due to the colony about 1675/6 the treasurer entered "By Leift Ellice, three guns, & ten pound of powder, and 12 pound of bulletts, 03:15:00," next to "By Capt Freeman, for a gun, 01:00:00" (PCR 8:145), very probably his. Five Sandwich men were killed with Capt. Michael Pierce on 26 Mar 1676, among them Benjamin Nye, perhaps the brother of his future daughter-in-law Mercy (see Benjamin Nye). Later in 1676 the town, "judging ... that the object will not be sufficiently answered unless men be hired to keep constantly out upon service," voted "that Lt. John Ellis, Thos. Tobey Sr., and Stephen Skiff be empowered as agents to hire for the town as many men as shall be necessary" (HCC 2:70, quoting the town record).

He did not long outlive the war. On 7 June 1677 "Mistris Elizabeth Ellis and Mordica Ellis," his widow and their son Mordecai, were bound as administrators of "the estate of John Ellis, Junir, of Sandwich, late deceased" (PCR 5:235).

The story that he was a son of John Ellis and Blandina Masterson of Sandwich, Kent, and Leiden began as a guess printed in 1875 and has been disproven (WikiTree, after Paulick).

Open questions

• His parents and origin: Brownson and McLean (NEHGR 119, 1965) to read.
• Why the 1677 administration calls him "John Ellis, Junir" (the 1658 Sandwich list has a John Ellis Sr. and Jr.).
• His inventory (23 May 1677), in Plymouth Colony Wills vol. 3.