Contra Costa County
Biographies
GEORGE E. ELLIS
Ellis Landing, on the San Francisco bay, in Contra Costa county, was established in 1858-59 by a seasoned seaman and captain named George Ellis, who was born in Kent, England, and after various stages of promotion on the seas, arrived off the coast of San Francisco in the spring of 1849. Weary of visiting many ports, the sea captain turned his attention to mining along the American river, but eventually drifted back to the occupation of his youth, and secured the command of a coasting boat on the Pacific. He was energetic and resourceful, and had an eye for the main chance, and while running his boat interested himself also in pearl and abalone fishing in Lower California. Settling at the landing now bearing his name in either 1858 or 1859, he ran a schooner to San Francisco, and finally owned and operated three schooners, one of which, the Mystery, is now owned and operated by his eldest son, George E. In the early days he handled large amounts of grain and produce, and at the same time operating his two hundred and thirty acres at the landing, which, however, was mostly marsh. He had a long and creditable nautical career, and died at the home place August 3, 1893, at the age of sixty-five years. He was a bachelor when he rounded Cape Horn and turned the prow of his boat toward the Golden Gate, but in California took on the responsibilities of a home maker, marrying Elizabeth Egan, who was born in Ireland, and who bore him the following children: Selina Emma and George E. occupy the old home at the landing; and Charles T. is deceased.
George E. Ellis, the eldest of his father's three sons, was born at Ellis Landing June 18, 1870, and from childhood became accustomed to the ways of seafaring men. For years he sailed with his father on the bay, and at the age of twenty-one became captain of a boat, in time succeeding to the ownership of the Mystery, and conducting the business formerly managed by his father. He is well known in freighting circles, does a steady business the whole year round, and is known as a reliable and conscientious business man. Mr. Ellis is unmarried, making his home with his only sister in the old homestead. He is a Republican in politics; and is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Transcribed
9-4-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1295-1296. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Contra Costa County Biographies