Joseph Ellis 3 (1718-1807) and Melatiah Metcalf (1722-1784

{Ellis Ancestors}

(Parents of Esther Ellis. Grandparents of Julia Hills Johnson.)

by Patsy Hendrickson

Joseph Ellis was born 5 January 1717/18 in Medway, Massachusetts, the only child of Joseph Ellis and Elizabeth Partridge. His mother died on 14 January 1718 at the age of 21, less than two weeks after his birth. How Joseph Sr. cared for his child after that is not known; however, there were adult members in both the Ellis and Partridge families living in the same town who probably helped him. 

Two years later, on 16 June 1719, his father, Joseph, married Thamerson Adams and they had 9 more children between the years 1720 and 1741.

Melatiah Metcalf was the sixth of fourteen children of Elder Michael Metcalf and Abial Colburn.

She was born 25 Feb 1721/2, in Wrentham, Suffolk (now Norfolk), Massachusetts

   “Melatiah, d. of Michael and Abial, Feb. 25, 1721-2.” 2

At the age of 23, Joseph married Meletiah Metcalf in Wrentham on 13 January 1740/41. She was from Wrentham, and that’s where she and Joseph settled to have a family. Between 1742 and 1764 the couple had 10 children, 3 sons and 7 daughters, all born in Wrentham.

The three daughters born between 1750 and 1755 all died within the three-year period between 1755 and 1758. The two children who died in 1756 died within four days of each other. This family lived through the Revolutionary War, and at least one of the sons, Amos, was a soldier and became a Captain in the Revolutionary War. Julia's mother, Esther Ellis, was the eighth child of the family, born in 1758, a few months before the third daughter died. When Elizabeth died in 1858, it created a 10-year gap between Esther and her next youngest brother, Henry.

Melatiah died in 1784 in Franklin, Massachusetts. She was about 62 years old.

Picture 44.

All but the youngest child, Lucretia, were married by then. Lucritia didn’t marry for another nine years. Joseph Ellis was 66 years old when his wife died.  He did not remarry, though he lived 23 more years. He died on 13 November 1897 in Franklin at the age of 89. He was buried in the Union St. Cemetery.

Lois and her husband James Woodward appear to be the only family living in Franklin at the time. Others had scattered, including some in New Hampshire.

Children of Joseph Ellis and Melatiah Metcalf: 1, 2

  1. Timothy Ellis born 10 April 1742 in Wrentham, died 16 Dec. 1804, in Franklin. He married Sarah Richardson.

  2. Captain Amos Ellis born 2 March 1743/44, died 30 May 1817 in Bellingham, Massachusetts. He married Hannah Hill.

  3. Melatiah Ellis born 31 January 1745/46. She died 19 March 1823 in Westford, Chittenden, Vermont. She married Lieut. Amos Partridge. Ezekiel and Julia Hills Johnson named children for this beloved aunt and uncle and their family.

  4. Henry Ellis born 15 February 1747/48. He died 3 August 1838 in Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire. He married Meletiah Thayer.

  5. Bathsheba Ellis born 7 March 1749/50. She died at age 6 on 10 October 1756 in Wrentham.

  6. Abial Ellis born 26 June 1753, died 14 Oct 1756 in Wrentham. She was 3-years-old.

  7. Elizabeth Ellis was born 7 September 1755 and died 18 September 1758 in Wrentham at 3-years-old.

  8. Esther Ellis (the mother of Julia Hills Johnson) was born 8 April 1758 in Wrentham, and died sometime between 1815 and 1818, probably in Grafton, Massachusetts.

  9. Lois Ellis was born 19 August 1762 and died 9 December 1843 in Franklin, Massachusetts. She married James Woodward of Wrentham.

  10. Lucretiah Ellis was born 23 November 1764 and died by 20 February 1796 in Boston. She married Nathaniel Doak.

Sources:

  1. Vital Records of Medway, Massachusetts

  2. Vital Records of Wrentham, Massachusetts

  3. The Record of Birth, Marriages and Deaths, in the Town of Franklin (Massachusetts) from 1776-1872, Edited by Orestes T. Doe, Town Clerk, 1898, Franklin Sentinel. Accessed through Ancestry.com

  4. United States Federal Censuses

  5. Cemetery Records