St. Tammany Parish Biographies

St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana

Thomas Cargill Warner Ellis, jurist, was born at Covington, St. Tammany parish, La., Nov. 26, 1836, son of Ezekiel Parke and Tabitha Emily (Warner) Ellis, and brother of Ezekiel John Ellis. He began his education in his native place, and completed his preparation for college at the T. F. Jones Academy at Clinton, La., whither his father had removed in 1845. he was graduated at Centenary College, Louisiana, with class honors in 1855, and after reading law in his father's office and at the law department of the Louisiana University, was admitted to the bar in 1858. He began practice at Amite City, La., where in November, 1859, he was also elected district attorney, holding the office until after the out break of the civil war. During the period of hostilities he served in the Confederate army, having attained the rank of captain at the final surrender. He then returned home to resume his profession, forming a later partnership with his brother, E. John Ellis, and speedily became a leader at the bar. He figured in many notable cases during the next few years. In November, 1865, he was elected to the state senate, and although the youngest member of that body, was appointed on several important committees. The passage of the reconstruction measures in 1867 placed the control of public affairs in the hands of negroes and adventurers, who outnumbered the intelligent voters of the state. In the ten years' struggle against these intolerable conditions, Mr. Ellis took an active part both as a member of important committees and as a writer in the public press. He was the author of a petition to congress and of an appeal to the people of the Union, which was adopted by the Louisiana state convention in 1876. Meantime he was a director of the New Orleans "Democrat" and became its associate editor with Col. Robert Tyler. In 1874 he was tendered and declined the Democratic nomination for congress from the 6th district. In 1877 he removed to New Orleans, where he continued in active practice until his appointment to the bench of the civil district court in July, 1888; he is now (1901) serving on his second term in this position. During his first term he was active in the campaign against the Louisiana state lottery, and was a member of the state anti-lottery executive committee. In 1894 he was a member-at-large of the state constitutional commission. On the death of Prof. Henry E. Miller, Judge Ellis was elected, in March 1899, to succeed him as professor of constitutional law, admiralty, and of jurisdiction and practice of the U. S. courts in the law department of Tulane University, New Orleans, La. In addition to numerous able articles on public questions, Judge Ellis is preparing a memoir of his brother, E. J. Ellis, to be published with his works and speeches. He was married, Oct. 15, 1857, to Martina Virginia, daughter of Judge William R. Hamilton, of Clarke county, Ala., who died in 1891, leaving three sons and three daughters. His sons are: Dr. John H. Ellis, of Kentwood; Dr. T. C. W. Ellis, of Newellton, and R. S. Ellis, attorney, of Amite City. submitted by: Vicki Hartman

Ezekiel John Ellis, congressman, was born at Covington, La., Oct. 15, 1840, son of Ezekiel Parker and Tabitha Emily (Warner) Ellis. His father, who was a distinguished lawyer and judge, was a descendant of an old Virginia family, though a native of Georgia and long a resident of Louisiana. The mother of our subject was a descendant of several prominent colonial and revolutionary families, her father, Thomas C. Warner, being colonel of militia under Gen. Jackson at New Orleans, and for many years a probate judge in South Carolina. Ezekiel was educated in the public schools, at an academy in Clinton, La., and at Centenary College, Jackson, La. He studied law in his father's office and at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane), receiving the degree of B. L. in 1861. Becoming a lieutenant in the 16th Louisiana infantry, he served in the battle of Shiloh, was promoted captain, later took part in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Missionary ridge; was captured in the last named engagement; he was held and remained a prisoner until the close of the war. On his return home he began law practice with his father; later formed a partnership with his brother, T. C. W. Ellis, and in 1869 removed to New Orleans. In 1868 he was an alternate elector on the ticket headed by Seymour and Blair. In November, 1874, he was elected to the 44th congress, serving, by re-election, until March, 1885, when he resigned, taking up the practice of his profession in Washington, D. C. He was chairman on the committee of the Mississippi levees, and was a member of those on appropriations, Indian affairs, elections and privileges. He made notable speeches on the levee system, Indian affairs, the negro question, the national quarantine and health bill, and on various subjects relating to fortifications, torpedoes and heavy ordinance. In 1880 he was chairman of the committee conducting the nomination of Gen. W. S. Hancock, and in the succeeding campaign addressed many audiences in northern and western cities. Although an active Democrat, he was in no sense a partisan. On June 29, 1869, he was married to Josephine, daughter of Henry Chamberlain, of Natchez, Miss., and a great-granddaughter of Thomas McKean, of Delaware, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They had one daughter, Lilian, wife of John L. Emerson, of Titusville, Pa., and two sons, Thomas Stephen and Harry Eugene, both lawyers of New Orleans, the former a captain of infantry in the war with Spain. Mr. Ellis died in Washington, D. C., April 25, 1889. submitted by : Vicki Hartman

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