James Hineman ELLIS ¹

   General Notes:

He married Margaret Jane Morgan 24 Jul 1879 in Springtown, Benton County, Arkansas. Margaret was born 18 Apr 1861 in Springtown, Benton County, Arkansas. Margaret was the daughter of Perminter Morgan and Margaret Thomas. Margaret died 29 Jun 1908 in Egan, Texas, at 47 years of age. Her body was interred in Bethesda Cemetary. The ELLIS family lived in Arkansas until between November of 1887 and September of 1889 when they moved to Egan, Johnson County, Texas. The family had an extraordinarily hard and unhappy life. James was an alcoholic and he was very unkind to his family. He reportedly wouldn't permit Margaret Jane to attend her mother's funeral which was held in Bethesda, just four mile from the ELLIS' home in Egan . The children wern't allowed to socialize or have fellowship with their kinfolk. He apprently didn't want anything distracting from working. Any money made by the children while they lived at home was given to James for his drinking habit. After Margaret Jane's death, James went to live with first one , then another of his children until he wore out his welcome and got mad at the one he was staying with and moved on to another. No doubt, James lived a very miserable life of drinking, and in so doing, he created a near intolerable life for his wife and children as well. The hostility created between James and his children by his drinking appears to have splintered the bonds between his children as well. They did not keep in touch with one another after they left home to establish their own lives and families, even though some lived within a resonable distance from one another. His grandson, Floyd RAGAN, described James as cantankerous; a loner, a person that generally disliked people. He had to be different from everyone else. For example, if one was discussing politics with him and said they were a Republican or Democrat, he'd claim he was a Libertarian. If one said they were Methodist or Baptist, he'd say he was an aetheist. Some people said he liked horses. One story says that James witnessed a person abusing a horse, and to rescue the horse, he bought it . At that time he was living alone in an old rundown shack of a house and had a part-tiome job working for a nearby farmer turning the irrigation water on and off, opening the gates and keeping the canals cleared out so the water would flow. The horse he acquired was useful for riding around to do this work. There came a time when he could not manage financially to feed or clothe himself. He was still living alone. His children were having a difficult time making ends meet and they suggested he apply for old age assistance. Nothing doing, he bellowed. He'd always been able to take care of himself and he didn't need any government hand-outs . He finally applied for a pension to save himself from starving. After he got a few checks and a little money ahead he wanted to withdraw his request for a pension. The old house he was living in caught fire and burned. A few years after he died, about $3000 in cash was found under his mattress . They money showed sign of having been burned around the edges. It was surmised that he had hidden his money in an old marble-top-wash stand. The heavyweight of the marple top had crashed through the burning washstand and snuffed out the flames and saved his money. He died alone but apparently he had been seen working with the irrigation system just 24 hours before his death. ¹

James married Margaret Jane MORGAN on 24 Jul 1879 in Benton County, Arkansas. (Margaret Jane MORGAN was born on 18 Apr 1861 in Springtown, Benton County, Arkansas ¹, died on 29 Jun 1908 in Egan, Texas ¹ and was buried in Bethesda Cemetery ¹.) The cause of her death was tuberculosis.