Volume 1, Number 2 - Winter 1961


IN MEMORIAM

James H. (Jim) Ellison, a charter member of the White River Valley Historical Society, passed away at his home in Springfield, Missouri on November 25, 1961.

He is survived by his wife, Nattie of the home; three sons, Alvis T., of the State of Califor nia; Lyle M., North Hollywood; and W. Russell, Phoenix; two daughters, Mrs. Jessie Willard, Santa Monica, and Mrs. Wilma Iackson, Bengazi, Libya; and three sisters, Mrs. Florence Rozell, Route 3, Springfield; Mrs. Sally Hensley, Mincy; and Mrs. Elizabeth Heyford, of Branson.

James Ellison, was the youngest son of a family of eight. He was a native son of the White River country having been born at Mincy, Mis souri on January 31, 1887. He was a descendant of William R. Ellison who settled on Beaver Creek about 1848 and soon after moved to a large acreage of White River land near Cedar Creek, Missouri.

The elder Ellisons were slave holders and engaged in cotton farming for a number of years. At the close of the Civil War the Ellison slaves, when freed, chose their masters last name for their own. In time most of the slaves drifted away but one negro maid, named Amy, of the elder Mrs. Ellison begged to stay with her master and mistress. After they passed away in the early 1880's, Amy chose to live with another Ellison family where in later years she became affectionately known as "Aunt Aim." She lived to an old age and was buried in the Coble Cemetery with a headstone bearing the name of Amy Ellison.

James Ellison taught school for a number of years in Taney, Christian, and Green counties and at Hollis and Prague, Oklahoma. His hobby was books, especiallly history. He loved the great out-of-doors and spent considerable time fishing in the land of his boyhood. Mr. Ellison was always proud of his heritage and preserved many antiques of the Ellison family. He willed his library to the School of the Ozarks and the Ellison Antiques to the White River Valley His torical Society.

In addition to Mr. Ellison's membership in the White River Volley Historical Society, he was an active member of the Greene County Historical Society. After his retirement from the Postal Service in 1957 he traveled some and pursued his hobbies which included a water collection. In this collection he had bottles of water from many state capitols, foreign countries and histori cal sites. Perhaps it was Jim's love of mountains and streams that inspired his water collection. One of Mr. Ellison's admirers said, that, "Jim loved the rolling hills - the mist- - the sun and the shadows - and the rippling streams."

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