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Joseph Peter Elliott

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Joseph Peter Elliott

Birth
Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA
Death
21 Jan 1899 (aged 83)
Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, USA
Burial
Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, USA Add to Map
Plot
Section 6 Lot 44 Grave 1 (Please do check with Cemetery to make sure this is correct)
Memorial ID
View Source
THE ELLIOTT FAMILY.

The Elliott family are to-day thoroughly American, as this brief sketch will show you. Back as far as 1740 an emigrant colony, from adjoining counties in England and Wales, settled in the vicinity of Mobsic Bay, Gloucester county, Virginia. In this colony were the first members of the Elliott lineage, and they settled on a new plantation within about four miles of where Yorktown was located, and began life in this magical new country—this Eldorado—upon a farm.

It was upon this farm in Gloucester county, that Peter Elliott, the father of the author, was born in 1774. He was but a small boy when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to General Washington, but he remembered many events of that long siege and of^the final events of the War of the Revolution. He remembered when the red-coats were encamped upon the family plantation, and how the dashing young officers often secured him to carry delicate love notes to the blushing young Tory maidens of that locality. These young English officers, some of them at least, were even quartered in the dwelling of the family. And many a time was he trotted on a red-coat's knee, while his father was in the depleted ranks of the little patriot army under General Washington and his generals.

When the first call for soldiers was made in 1776, the oldest of the three Elliott brothers at once enlisted in the service of the thirteen colonies. Sometime in the course of the war the other two entered the army, and as it happened each brother was in a different division of the troops. They were in many contests in the course of the long struggle for freedom, and it happened that all three were in the struggle at Yorktown, and each was wounded there in a final onslaught upon the works of the entrenched British. Wounded and broken down from long years of exposure, they were taken home. When white-winged peace came at last, they did not survive many years to enjoy it. The names of these three Revolutionary soldiers were James, Thomas and Robert Elliott. They died comparatively young.

During the winter campaign against Yorktown, the patriots groomed their horses in caves dug in the hillsides and arranged with props like rooms in coal mines. The three brothers were in the charge made by Washington and his generals upon the breastworks, and tradition has it that this was a bold and bloody conflict, in which many personal heroic adventures were performed. It is with pleasure that the author recollects that he has walked over the old breastworks at Yorktown, and had depicted to him by the old soldiers the contest that waged there for liberty many years before. These old war ruins are yet vivid and clear in his mind and heart. The fireside history of this glorious victory is deeply imbedded in his very nature, and it seems to him, when he thinks of it, that there is no country on the face of the earth equal to his own beloved land, over which the star-spangled banner waves in beauty and glory.

James and Thomas left many sons and daughters. The descendants of one became sea-faring men, and of the other merchants and traders, near Baltimore. Numerous relationships have been discovered, and some of them have been traced back to their origin by the author. Robert Elliott, the grandfather of the author, married a Dobson, and she bore one son, named Peter. After the death of Robert, the widow married James Hall. Their daughter, Martha, married a man named Ranson; their son, John Hall, Martha's brother, was a prominent figure at one time in commercial affairs, at Richmond, Virginia, and to-day his son, Joseph Hall, has, with even.more success, followed in his father's footsteps.

Peter Elliott was born November 29, 1774, in Gloucester county, Virginia, as heretofore stated. He was brought up, or as they say in Virginia, raised on a farm. When nineteen years old he went to Richmond and bound himself out to a man named Mr. McKin, a carpenter. When the Whisky Rebellion, as it is called, broke out in western Pennsylvania he was drafted to help suppress the revolt. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Pitt. The prompt measures of President Washington quelled the trouble without much difficulty. Afterward young Peter Elliott returned to Richmond and finished his trade apprenticeship. He pursued his occupation with Mr. McKin until he was twenty-four years old, when he married Miss Jane Morton, a sister-in-law of Mr. McKin, and a descendant of English ancestors. Their only child died in infancy, and the mother herself died within a year after her marriage. About a year subsequent to his wife's death, Peter Elliott married Miss Mary Pritchett, of Richmond. To them were born Ann Elizabeth, June 13, 1809. She married Alexander Duval, and is to-day residing in Louisville, Ky., a widow, in feeble health. William Morton Elliott was born January 15,1812. He was a physician and a minister, and a man of exceeding fine qualities. His death occurred December, 1874.

On the death of his second wife, which occurred shortly after the birth of her only son, Peter Elliott married again, and this time a Miss Ann Brown, a daughter of Stephen Brown. She was born September 24, 1790, in London, England. She was a woman of many lovable qualities and a true helpmeet.

When the awful holocaust occurred in the Richmond theatre in 1811 Miss Brown was there. She remembered being pressed towards the door in the wild rush, and of being thrown down in the panic that prevailed and was trampled upon, and when she recovered consciousness she was lying in a ditch somewhere alone. Some one had dragged her unconscious form from there for safety. She was scarred and cut with iron heel-taps, and the scars remained till the day of her death. It will be remembered that the Governor-elect of Virginia was so horribly charred by the fire that his body was only identified by a gold watch chain worn around his neck. The names of all the dead, who are buried in one wide grave, are carved upon a monument that marks Joseph Peter was born April 3, 1815. Sarah A. was born May 12, 1819, and died August 12, 1820.

After the death of Ann Brown Elliott, Peter married a fourth wife, and this time it was a Miss Godfrey, of Lynchburg, Virginia, formerly of Richmond. No issue resulted from this union.

Peter closed his business affairs in Richmond about the time of his marriage to Ann Brown and located in Lynchburg, where most of his children were born. His pursuit as a contractor and builder brought him neat and substantial gains. In time, however, he settled farther west in the pioneer country, and took up his residence in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1824, where he added the wagon-maker's and blacksmith's trades to his other labors. He owned slaves there as he owned them in Virginia, and the refractory ones gave him considerable trouble to manage, and with his business worries he began to decline in general health. He always sympathized with the sentiment that would liberate the slaves, believing freedom to all to be right in a land of the free and a home of the brave. When poor health overtook him he found homes for his slaves in Lexington, quit his business and came to Evansville, where he lived with his son Joseph Peter Elliott. This was about 1849. Joseph Peter, the author, settled up his father's affairs in 1850, disposed of his property in Lexington, and managed his funds thereafter. He died on the 24th of June, 1863. He sleeps to-day in Oak Hill Cemetery.

He was a man of many sterling qualities, faithful in agreements, correct in his moral instincts and true to his friends. He was a member of the Methodist church. He was a patriotic citizen and a lover of his country. He believed in its institutions and its destiny, and he loved and honored the flag, the stars and stripes that led his father to victory and established a country without an equal upon the earth.

Joseph Peter Elliott, as already stated, was born April 3, 1815, at Lynchburg, Virginia. He was named after Joseph of biblical fame. It was his mother's delight to read that story to her young son. Before he could read he could repeat this romantic history by heart, so often had she read it to him. She was a religious woman and was often called from her secret devotion to her meals by the servants.

What little schooling the author got was in Lexington, Kentucky, and from his sister, Elizabeth (Mrs. Duval.)

The family resided about ten years in Lynchburg, and came to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1824, traveling by teams through the wilderness. That was, in fact, the only means of transportation in these pioneer times. His mother, Mrs. Ann Brown Elliott, had died the previous year in 1823. The author set out from there in 1836 to become the architect of his own fortunes, and spent the first winter in Louisville, learning the saddlery business. In February, 1837, he settled in Evansville, where his long life has been spent. His elder brother, William Morton, had come in December, 1826, prospecting for business and had rented a house in which to conduct the saddlery business.

Here the author's life has been open and known of all men. The first twenty-five years of his life in this city were devoted exclusively to saddlery manufacturing. Many learned the trade under his directions. The last he did in that line of industry was filling contracts with the government in 1861-2, during the war. He made six hundred cavalry saddles and equipments for an Indiana cavalry regiment, and the harness for a park of artillery consisting of six pieces and seventy-two horses. He then became a merchant and pork packer, a line of trade he followed up to about 1880. After that, for about five years,he traveled through the south for the Heilman plow works. He was elected as magistrate or justice of the peace in 1889, a position he is still filling. In middle life he dealt largely in real estate and laid out several additions to the town.

During the war he was active in the protection of the city. At that time he was township trustee, and had much to do with the care of the fugitives from the south. He served as a member of the council almost all along through the history of the town, and after it became a city, and was a member of the various boards connected therewith, doing his work with great care and concern for the general welfare. To glance briefly at the author's domestic life is the next step in this condensed family history. He was married to Miss Mary Ann Harrison, daughter of Elisha Harrison, who figured in the early legislature of Indiana, in September, 1838. She was a kind and tender woman. To them one child was born, but both mother and child died in October, 1838.

He married his second wife, Miss Mary Louisa Wheeler, daughter of Rev. Joseph Wheeler, October 6, 1839. She was born in London. She was a woman of many fine and estimable qualities, and trained her family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. This union brought forth the following children all born in this city; Edward Peter Mrs. Early, died April 18, 1853, and Joseph B., died February 11, 1885. The mother of these children died June 5, 1853.

The author married his third wife, Margaret Reilly, July 19, 1854. She became a mother to the bereft children, trained them with careful Christian grace, and was so kind to them that they loved her as dearly as they ever could have loved their real mother. No children were born to them. Mrs. Margaret Reilly Elliott died, full of grace and Christian character, beloved for her temporizing power and great sweetness, on August 16, 1889. She was born in Drummond, county of Armagh, Ireland, May 10, 1810, and came to this country in 1839, and to Evansville in 1843. "Cousin Margaret Reilly," as she was affectionately called, was a willing and capable helper wherever sickness, sorrow or charity made its appeal. She never thought of herself until she had brought comfort and relief to others. She was a shining example of cheerfulness and contentment, and her gentleness radiated out and made others softer and better. The local press, in noting and noticing her death, complimented her highly and paid a beautiful tribute to her sweet memory.

And now, you will permit us to complete this family record. William Morton Elliott, M. D., whom you will remember, married Miss Hannah Ellison, November 9, 1831. To them were born the following children: William W., born January 21, 1833; Mary Elizabeth, November 17, 1836; Thomas M., December 30, 1838; James P., May 26, 1840; Hannah E., December 15, 1845, and John G., June 13, 1851.

His sister, Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Duval, wife of Alexander Duval, was the mother of the following children: Henry, born May, 1836; Virginia, May 20, 1839; Claudeus P., September, 1840; Louis E., November, 1845, and Mary E., May, 1848.

Edward Peter Elliott, son of the author, was married to Miss Annie E. Leonard, who was born in Mt. Vernon, Iud., November 8, 1846, and the date of their marriage was May 9, 1866. The dates of the births of their children are as follows: C. Fred., born February 5, 1867; Mary L, May 12, 1868; Bessie E., September 23, 1869; Nettie C, October 16, 1871; Joseph P., October 15, 1878; James M., April 24,1880; Edward Leonard, June 3, 1885, and William Manning, February 11, 1887. James M. died August 12, 1880.

Mary Louisa Elliott was married to James Allen Oakley, September of friends and the general reader. Much has been left unwritten, much that might be added with profit; but the writer preferred to give only an outline, leaving the reader to supply all omissions.

Source:
A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana:
a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches of the men who have been leaders in commercial and other enterprises, Joseph Peter Elliott, Keller Print. Co, 1897
THE ELLIOTT FAMILY.

The Elliott family are to-day thoroughly American, as this brief sketch will show you. Back as far as 1740 an emigrant colony, from adjoining counties in England and Wales, settled in the vicinity of Mobsic Bay, Gloucester county, Virginia. In this colony were the first members of the Elliott lineage, and they settled on a new plantation within about four miles of where Yorktown was located, and began life in this magical new country—this Eldorado—upon a farm.

It was upon this farm in Gloucester county, that Peter Elliott, the father of the author, was born in 1774. He was but a small boy when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to General Washington, but he remembered many events of that long siege and of^the final events of the War of the Revolution. He remembered when the red-coats were encamped upon the family plantation, and how the dashing young officers often secured him to carry delicate love notes to the blushing young Tory maidens of that locality. These young English officers, some of them at least, were even quartered in the dwelling of the family. And many a time was he trotted on a red-coat's knee, while his father was in the depleted ranks of the little patriot army under General Washington and his generals.

When the first call for soldiers was made in 1776, the oldest of the three Elliott brothers at once enlisted in the service of the thirteen colonies. Sometime in the course of the war the other two entered the army, and as it happened each brother was in a different division of the troops. They were in many contests in the course of the long struggle for freedom, and it happened that all three were in the struggle at Yorktown, and each was wounded there in a final onslaught upon the works of the entrenched British. Wounded and broken down from long years of exposure, they were taken home. When white-winged peace came at last, they did not survive many years to enjoy it. The names of these three Revolutionary soldiers were James, Thomas and Robert Elliott. They died comparatively young.

During the winter campaign against Yorktown, the patriots groomed their horses in caves dug in the hillsides and arranged with props like rooms in coal mines. The three brothers were in the charge made by Washington and his generals upon the breastworks, and tradition has it that this was a bold and bloody conflict, in which many personal heroic adventures were performed. It is with pleasure that the author recollects that he has walked over the old breastworks at Yorktown, and had depicted to him by the old soldiers the contest that waged there for liberty many years before. These old war ruins are yet vivid and clear in his mind and heart. The fireside history of this glorious victory is deeply imbedded in his very nature, and it seems to him, when he thinks of it, that there is no country on the face of the earth equal to his own beloved land, over which the star-spangled banner waves in beauty and glory.

James and Thomas left many sons and daughters. The descendants of one became sea-faring men, and of the other merchants and traders, near Baltimore. Numerous relationships have been discovered, and some of them have been traced back to their origin by the author. Robert Elliott, the grandfather of the author, married a Dobson, and she bore one son, named Peter. After the death of Robert, the widow married James Hall. Their daughter, Martha, married a man named Ranson; their son, John Hall, Martha's brother, was a prominent figure at one time in commercial affairs, at Richmond, Virginia, and to-day his son, Joseph Hall, has, with even.more success, followed in his father's footsteps.

Peter Elliott was born November 29, 1774, in Gloucester county, Virginia, as heretofore stated. He was brought up, or as they say in Virginia, raised on a farm. When nineteen years old he went to Richmond and bound himself out to a man named Mr. McKin, a carpenter. When the Whisky Rebellion, as it is called, broke out in western Pennsylvania he was drafted to help suppress the revolt. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Pitt. The prompt measures of President Washington quelled the trouble without much difficulty. Afterward young Peter Elliott returned to Richmond and finished his trade apprenticeship. He pursued his occupation with Mr. McKin until he was twenty-four years old, when he married Miss Jane Morton, a sister-in-law of Mr. McKin, and a descendant of English ancestors. Their only child died in infancy, and the mother herself died within a year after her marriage. About a year subsequent to his wife's death, Peter Elliott married Miss Mary Pritchett, of Richmond. To them were born Ann Elizabeth, June 13, 1809. She married Alexander Duval, and is to-day residing in Louisville, Ky., a widow, in feeble health. William Morton Elliott was born January 15,1812. He was a physician and a minister, and a man of exceeding fine qualities. His death occurred December, 1874.

On the death of his second wife, which occurred shortly after the birth of her only son, Peter Elliott married again, and this time a Miss Ann Brown, a daughter of Stephen Brown. She was born September 24, 1790, in London, England. She was a woman of many lovable qualities and a true helpmeet.

When the awful holocaust occurred in the Richmond theatre in 1811 Miss Brown was there. She remembered being pressed towards the door in the wild rush, and of being thrown down in the panic that prevailed and was trampled upon, and when she recovered consciousness she was lying in a ditch somewhere alone. Some one had dragged her unconscious form from there for safety. She was scarred and cut with iron heel-taps, and the scars remained till the day of her death. It will be remembered that the Governor-elect of Virginia was so horribly charred by the fire that his body was only identified by a gold watch chain worn around his neck. The names of all the dead, who are buried in one wide grave, are carved upon a monument that marks Joseph Peter was born April 3, 1815. Sarah A. was born May 12, 1819, and died August 12, 1820.

After the death of Ann Brown Elliott, Peter married a fourth wife, and this time it was a Miss Godfrey, of Lynchburg, Virginia, formerly of Richmond. No issue resulted from this union.

Peter closed his business affairs in Richmond about the time of his marriage to Ann Brown and located in Lynchburg, where most of his children were born. His pursuit as a contractor and builder brought him neat and substantial gains. In time, however, he settled farther west in the pioneer country, and took up his residence in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1824, where he added the wagon-maker's and blacksmith's trades to his other labors. He owned slaves there as he owned them in Virginia, and the refractory ones gave him considerable trouble to manage, and with his business worries he began to decline in general health. He always sympathized with the sentiment that would liberate the slaves, believing freedom to all to be right in a land of the free and a home of the brave. When poor health overtook him he found homes for his slaves in Lexington, quit his business and came to Evansville, where he lived with his son Joseph Peter Elliott. This was about 1849. Joseph Peter, the author, settled up his father's affairs in 1850, disposed of his property in Lexington, and managed his funds thereafter. He died on the 24th of June, 1863. He sleeps to-day in Oak Hill Cemetery.

He was a man of many sterling qualities, faithful in agreements, correct in his moral instincts and true to his friends. He was a member of the Methodist church. He was a patriotic citizen and a lover of his country. He believed in its institutions and its destiny, and he loved and honored the flag, the stars and stripes that led his father to victory and established a country without an equal upon the earth.

Joseph Peter Elliott, as already stated, was born April 3, 1815, at Lynchburg, Virginia. He was named after Joseph of biblical fame. It was his mother's delight to read that story to her young son. Before he could read he could repeat this romantic history by heart, so often had she read it to him. She was a religious woman and was often called from her secret devotion to her meals by the servants.

What little schooling the author got was in Lexington, Kentucky, and from his sister, Elizabeth (Mrs. Duval.)

The family resided about ten years in Lynchburg, and came to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1824, traveling by teams through the wilderness. That was, in fact, the only means of transportation in these pioneer times. His mother, Mrs. Ann Brown Elliott, had died the previous year in 1823. The author set out from there in 1836 to become the architect of his own fortunes, and spent the first winter in Louisville, learning the saddlery business. In February, 1837, he settled in Evansville, where his long life has been spent. His elder brother, William Morton, had come in December, 1826, prospecting for business and had rented a house in which to conduct the saddlery business.

Here the author's life has been open and known of all men. The first twenty-five years of his life in this city were devoted exclusively to saddlery manufacturing. Many learned the trade under his directions. The last he did in that line of industry was filling contracts with the government in 1861-2, during the war. He made six hundred cavalry saddles and equipments for an Indiana cavalry regiment, and the harness for a park of artillery consisting of six pieces and seventy-two horses. He then became a merchant and pork packer, a line of trade he followed up to about 1880. After that, for about five years,he traveled through the south for the Heilman plow works. He was elected as magistrate or justice of the peace in 1889, a position he is still filling. In middle life he dealt largely in real estate and laid out several additions to the town.

During the war he was active in the protection of the city. At that time he was township trustee, and had much to do with the care of the fugitives from the south. He served as a member of the council almost all along through the history of the town, and after it became a city, and was a member of the various boards connected therewith, doing his work with great care and concern for the general welfare. To glance briefly at the author's domestic life is the next step in this condensed family history. He was married to Miss Mary Ann Harrison, daughter of Elisha Harrison, who figured in the early legislature of Indiana, in September, 1838. She was a kind and tender woman. To them one child was born, but both mother and child died in October, 1838.

He married his second wife, Miss Mary Louisa Wheeler, daughter of Rev. Joseph Wheeler, October 6, 1839. She was born in London. She was a woman of many fine and estimable qualities, and trained her family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. This union brought forth the following children all born in this city; Edward Peter Mrs. Early, died April 18, 1853, and Joseph B., died February 11, 1885. The mother of these children died June 5, 1853.

The author married his third wife, Margaret Reilly, July 19, 1854. She became a mother to the bereft children, trained them with careful Christian grace, and was so kind to them that they loved her as dearly as they ever could have loved their real mother. No children were born to them. Mrs. Margaret Reilly Elliott died, full of grace and Christian character, beloved for her temporizing power and great sweetness, on August 16, 1889. She was born in Drummond, county of Armagh, Ireland, May 10, 1810, and came to this country in 1839, and to Evansville in 1843. "Cousin Margaret Reilly," as she was affectionately called, was a willing and capable helper wherever sickness, sorrow or charity made its appeal. She never thought of herself until she had brought comfort and relief to others. She was a shining example of cheerfulness and contentment, and her gentleness radiated out and made others softer and better. The local press, in noting and noticing her death, complimented her highly and paid a beautiful tribute to her sweet memory.

And now, you will permit us to complete this family record. William Morton Elliott, M. D., whom you will remember, married Miss Hannah Ellison, November 9, 1831. To them were born the following children: William W., born January 21, 1833; Mary Elizabeth, November 17, 1836; Thomas M., December 30, 1838; James P., May 26, 1840; Hannah E., December 15, 1845, and John G., June 13, 1851.

His sister, Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Duval, wife of Alexander Duval, was the mother of the following children: Henry, born May, 1836; Virginia, May 20, 1839; Claudeus P., September, 1840; Louis E., November, 1845, and Mary E., May, 1848.

Edward Peter Elliott, son of the author, was married to Miss Annie E. Leonard, who was born in Mt. Vernon, Iud., November 8, 1846, and the date of their marriage was May 9, 1866. The dates of the births of their children are as follows: C. Fred., born February 5, 1867; Mary L, May 12, 1868; Bessie E., September 23, 1869; Nettie C, October 16, 1871; Joseph P., October 15, 1878; James M., April 24,1880; Edward Leonard, June 3, 1885, and William Manning, February 11, 1887. James M. died August 12, 1880.

Mary Louisa Elliott was married to James Allen Oakley, September of friends and the general reader. Much has been left unwritten, much that might be added with profit; but the writer preferred to give only an outline, leaving the reader to supply all omissions.

Source:
A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana:
a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches of the men who have been leaders in commercial and other enterprises, Joseph Peter Elliott, Keller Print. Co, 1897


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