THE FAMILY OF JOHN WESLEY ELLINGWOOD PT2

John Wesley Ellingwood was born in May 1824, four years before my
2xgreat grandfather Asa Freeman Ellingwood. This means he was about
eight years old when their mother Rachel Barrows Ellingwood died in
1832 and not quite twelve when their father John Ellingwood Jr died
five years later. The five living Ellingwood children were taken in by
various relatives, but I don't know in whose home John Wesley
lived for the rest of his childhood.

The first record I found of Wesley(as he was known in the family)
is on the 1850 Census as a 26 year old miller with his wife Mariah
(Flint) and two sons. The oldest, also name John W. was five years
old so the couple was married at least by 1845. The family is still
in NH for the 1860 census, and Wesley is on the 1863 Civil War Draft
Registration in Dunner NH in 1863. But by 1870 Wesley's family had
moved to Mooers, NY. By now, there were seven children in the family.
It was the place of birth for the  two youngest children is given as Canada.
The older, Electa Maria was four years old, and the younger, Benjamin
was two. So between 1863 and 1870 the family had lived in Canada, and
they would be back there by 1871 when they are enumerated on the 1871
Canadian Census as residents of Hereford, Compton, Quebec.

The travels of Wesley and his family don't end there, though. Wesley,
Mariah and their three youngest children were back in New Hampshire by
the 1880 Census but in 1888 Wesley is registered as a voter in Ferndale,
California!

Now all of what I've posted so far I found in Florence O'Connor's book
and on Ancestry.com. I know what happened to Wesley in his family in
California, and the story is sad in some cases.But I found the information
here on Find A Grave and I don't want to use it on my blog without the
permission of the owner of the memorial. So if you want to know the end
of the story for John Weley Ellingwood and some of his children, visit
the site and remember to click on the links for his wife and children. It
also will tell you the probable reason for all the moves made by the
family.

Not all of his children moved to California. Some of them either remained
in or returned to Hereford< Quebec, and I'll discuss those next.