The Eller Chronicles

Vol. VII NO 2.	THE ELLER FAMILY ASSOCIATION	MAY 1993

Page - 147

March 29, 1993
1209 Fernwood Court
Coeur d' Alene, ID 83814

Dear Gerald,

I read with interest the article by Ruth Goodman in the February Chronicles.

Will you please publish the enclosed abstracts of the wills of John Getchey and his wife, Christina Getchen and maybe we can put to rest the parentage of at least Christian, Christina, Elisabeth and Frederick Eller, children of Jacob Eller and his first wife, Maria Eva Getchey Eller. Christian, Christina and Elisabeth are named in Christina Getchen's will of 8 March, 1790 as her grandchildren and children of Jacob Eller.

We know Frederick Eller was 18 1/2 and Elisabeth was 12 as of 9 February, 1785 when they were bound out to Abram Eary. Since Frederick was older than Elisabeth, he would also have to be a son of Jacob and his first wife, Eve.

From the combination of John Getchey's, Christina Getchen's and Jacob Eller's wills we can narrow Eve Getchey Eller's death to between 1773 (Elisabeth's birth) and 1775 (Eve's birth, daughter of Jacob and his second wife, Barbary).

We know from John Getchey's will of 3 September, 1772 that Eve Getchey Eller was still living.

Jacob Eller and Maria Eva Goettge were married 11 December, 1753, not 1773 as written on page 1 of the February Chronicles.

WILL OF JOHN GETCHEY In the name of God, Amen, I John Getchey of Rowan County, and Province of North Carolina, Cordwainer being very ancient and infirm, but of perfect sound mind and disposing memory thanks be to Almighty God.
Mentions: My beloved wife, All my children:	Christina Getchey John Getchey Frederick Getchey Jacob Getchey Mary Eve Ellor Chatherina Legal Elizabeth Eller
My trusted friend:	Daniel Little
Signed third day of September, 1772
Dan Little Peter Little John Dunn	John Getchey (in Dutch)
Will Book A, page 172, Rowan County, North Carolina original at Raleigh

WILL OF CHRISTINA GETCHEN In the name of God Amen, I Christina Getchen, being weak in body but of sound mind and memory (blessed be God) do make and publish this my last will and testament following:
Mentions:	My sons, John Frederick My daughter, Elisabeth My grandson, Christian My granddaughters, Christina and Elisabeth, children of Jacob Eller My granddaughter, Elisabeth, daughter of Jacob Getchen My granddaughter, Christina, daughter of John Getchen
In witness whereof I the said Christina Getchen have to this my last will and testament set my hand and seal, the eighth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety.
Signed, sealed in the presence of us Michael Brown John Stranger	her Christina Getchen + mark
Will Book G, page 48, Rowan County, North Carolina original at Raleigh

Thank you, Gerald.

Sincerely,

Janine
signature

Janine Eller Porter

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Eller Chronicles Vol. VII (2) May, 1993

Civil War Letters

Submitted by Janine Eller Porter

(For introduction, see page 1285)

by Betty L. Krimminger

Jemuel Eller Letter

State of NC County Rowan	August 28 Day 1864
my dier friende I Recivde a leter from you my friend the 24 Day Augus and was glad to heare that you was well and duing well at that time and do truly hope when thes few lines Comes to hand tha may finde you Engoying the best of helthe youre famly is well at the pressent time your folks farme is looking vearry well at the pressent time we have nearry much Rane where yoare new wife mack 26 bushels of wheat this yeare and she will make at fine crope of corne and oates as for the nabers tha are doing as well as the can at [page 2] now I will tell you about meary She lefte your wife because She hs had it too good ther She wouled do nuthing but pout Abou and wouldent do no wearke that youre wife woulde tell her to do enny thing She woulde Goyer her She is doing beter withe out her the wither her and as for my Self I am doing fustrate only my leg is Sore yet my famly is well at the present time and doing fustrate your father is well and doing well and your Sister Avaline departede here life the 13 of July 1864 your brother Bengemon is at Realeaugh at the Horsepitle Pettegrue wonde [illeg.] and David is in Yankedom a prisner [page 3] the 17 yearse olde Boyes is Cauld ou[t] but the magestrates and malitia offesers is at home yet and the Plecemen is Caulde out from forty five to fifty yearse the times is harde where none nuthing more at present Only Remain yours Affectionate freind untill Deth
Jemuel Eller to Mr. James Eller

Jemuel Eller, the writer of this letter, is likely the same as Samuel Eller in Co. H, Twenty-third Regiment. A resident of Rowan, Samuel was "struck in the left leg by 3 minnie balls" and captured at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. His left leg was amputated before he was exchanged some time before March 1, 1864. (Louis H. Manarin and Weymouth T. Jordan Jr., eds., North

Rowan-County Register

1527

Vol 7, No. 2 – May 1992
Jo White Linn, editor

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Eller Chronicles Vol. VII (2) May, 1993

Civil War Letters: Jemuel Eller Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A-Roster (Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, Department of Cultural Resources [projected multivolume series, 1966-], VII, 220, hereinafter cited as Manarin and Jordan, North Carolina Troops.)

The recipient of this letter, whom Jemuel addressed as "friende," probably was James Eller of Rowan, also a soldier in Company H, Twenty-third Regiment. He enlisted about September 3, 1862, and was paroled at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. (Manarin and Jordan, North Carolina Troops, Vol. I, p. 80.) The Rowan County census of 1850 shows James Eller, age 15, the son of Charles and Sophia (Brown) Eller, enumerated among eleven other siblings. Eller's letter mentioned several by name:

Benjamin, a younger brother, was recovering from wounds in a Raleigh hospital. He probably was the Benjamin Eller in Company G, Sixth Regiment, N.C. State Troops. He was a resident of Rowan, enlisted on April 1, 1864, and took the oath of allegiance at Salisbury on June 24, 1865. (Manarin and Jordan, North Carolina Troops, Vol. IV, p. 347.)

Another brother, David Eller, a prisoner in "Yankeedom," may be the David Eller of Rowan County who served in Company D, Forty-second Regiment. He enlisted at age 28 in 1862 and was present and accounted for until captured at Cold Harbor, Va., on June 2 or 3, 1864. Initially held at Point Lookout, Md., he was later transferred to Elmira, N.Y., where he died of "variola" on March 10, 1865. (Manarin and Jordan, North Carolina Troops, Vol. X, p. 231.)

Jemuel wrote James the sad news of the death of his sister, Avaline (listed as Eveline, age 10, in the 1850 Rowan County census). James's new wife was mentioned, but not by name. She was likely Leah Earnheart, who married James Eller on August 13, 1857, according to Rowan County marriage bonds. (Samuel Eller married Polly Earnheart on November 25, 1861; James Eller was his bondsman.)

Rowan-County Register

1528

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THE ELLA/ELLER SURNAMES IN ENGLAND

Raymond E.O. Ella

Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Raymond E. O. Ella, ***** Address deleted, no longer valid. ******, 25 Jan. 1993 to J. G. Eller:

Thank you for your most interesting letter from the 21st of Dec. -92 (sent 15 Jan. -93). My wife and I, with our three sons, are all Yorkshire born, having settled to live in Norfolk, England, nine years ago.

Our middle son Brian and his wife Teresa gave us our first grandchild, born in July -92, a little girl named Elyissa Rohanna Ella, just wait until she has to spell her name at school!.

A few years ago I was a genealogist for people with Norfolk and Suffolk roots, these counties meaning: "northern folk and southern folk of East Anglia", although I no longer do any research for people.

However, please feel free to use any information I've sent you in my letters, i.e. in the May 1993 issue of the Eller Chronicles, indeed you have my permission ... I will try and answer any letters I may possibly get. It would be very kind of you to send me a free copy of said publication.

The origin of my country's name is Anglo-Saxon, it,. meaning being: "Angle's, or rather Engle's Land", named after one of the Germanic tribes that settled here, so therefor, there are quite a few words and names in England today with a Germanic Saxon origin. If the surname of Ella is a phonetic or variant scribe-form of ELLER, then indeed this in England was from the Ellertree, or the maker of wooden clogs from the Ellertree, the maker being known as an "Eller", the Ellerwood in modern times now being the Alderwood. However, if ELLER is a variant from the name ELLA, then this was a singular name for men in saxon times, in England, long before fixed names (surnames) became fashionable in England.

Surnames in England came-about and were handed-down in a family sometime in the 1400s, yet it must be noted, that members of the Gentry were surnamed much earlier, one again, in England, Many surnames came from place-names; e.g. Lincoln and Washington!, birds, nicknames and trade-names, e.g. Wainwright, this is a common surname in England today, yet one the name of a wooden wagon-maker, "wain" being Old-English for a wagon. Another middle-english form would be "Cartwright", this old trade-name now being a personal surname.

However, getting back to Ella, this and Anna, Ida, Mildred being common girl fornames today in England, yet once all being singular names amongst men in Saxon England, yet the name Ella in modern printed books on Anglo-Saxon England, would now be found in the form of Aelle or Aella, rather than in the old form of Ælle and Ælla.

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Once again, the forms of Eller and Ella are found in the north of England at a very early stage in history, i.e. has surnames in the counties of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, and Leicestershire.

At a very early stage, I think the form Ella would have had an East-Riding of Yorkshire origin, this also going for the variants Eller, Ellar, and Ellay etc., this East-Riding area of Yorkshire now being in North Humberside County, since the boundry changes in England, this being in 1974. Indeed, Yorkshire had a big chunk taken away from it. I know people who live in Hull, North Humberside, yet they still call themselves "Yorkshire folk".. . Mr. and Mrs. R.E.O. Ella.

Letter from Mr. Raymond E.O. Ella, (Same address) to Charlotte Marshall, 28 Jan. 1993:

Greetings from the land of our most gracious Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. Thank you for your interesting letter dated the 19th of Jan.- 93, indeed also the copy of THE ELLER CHRONICLES (Nov. 89).

1 have just written another letter to James Gerald Eller of NC, giving him some more information on the ELLER name in England, possibly he will send-on to you some of this information to be printed in your May Eller Chronicles.

However, it must be noted, that the development of the name ELLER in England, would have been quite apart from that of Germany, although we English are Anglo-Saxon in origin, having settled in what we call England now, after the 5th century A.D., some of the Anglo-Saxon tribes having come from Old-Saxony, indeed what is now Germany. So, there are quite a few surnames in England today that have a Germanic origin. The English language has its origin in the Old-English or Anglo-Saxon language, this having come from the motherland, indeed it was a variant-dialect from old- German dialects. My brother, Dr. George Melvyn Ella who now lives in Germany, although a Yorkshireman like myself, tells me if you know modern German, then it is much easier to learn Old-English or Anglo-Saxon language, but this has almost died-out, and only a handfull of people today can write/speak it.

I forgot to tell J.G.Eller the following:

Near the village of Harswell in North Humberside, one in Yorkshire before the boundry changes of 1974, there are place-names of: "Castle Eller Draon", and "Eller Ings Dike". These place-names came-about because the Ellertree, now Aldertree in modem English, grew there before the marshes were dryed-out. There are other areas of northern England where there are place-names starting with Eller, e.g. Ellerton, Ellerbeck etc.

I think I told J.G. Eller about the trade-name of an "Eller", he having made wooden clogs from the Ellertree, because there is more sap in this wood, so more waterproof

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This old trade-name is now redundant, and only historians would know about it. So there could be Ellers in the USA today, that may have their family roots in England rather than the other development in Germany

. But if Eller is a phonetic variant scribe-form from Ella, then this also had an Anglo-Saxon origin, scribed in the Old-English forms of Ælle and Ælla, found in modern printed printed books on Anglo-Saxon England, in the form of Aelle or Aella. There were no such thing as a standard form of spelling before lets say c. 1800 in England, and indeed long after, so one must know something about phonetics and local dialects when researching old documents in England's various areas.. .

You may order a microfilmed copy of my family tree at your local Morman church (LDS branch library. I once sent the Mormon's HQ a copy in Salt Lake City, this taking me back to a James Ella of Thornton le Street in North Yorkshire during the 1670s, yet his name was found in variant scribe-forms in old documents, i.e. Eller, Ellar, Elly and Ellay... signed Mr. and Mrs. R.E.0 Ella

(Eds. Mr. Ella has also kindly provided eighteen pages from the International Genealogical Index of listings for Ellor, Ellow, Elly, Ella, and other variant phonetic spellings. Space in this issue does not permit their inclusion. We will be glad to send photocopies to interested parties. In The Eller Chronicles, Vol. V, No. 3, August, 1991, p. 201 and 202 are listed two heads of families, both named Henry Eller, who were born in England (Henry Eller of DeKalb Co., MO, b. Apr. 1844; wife named Caroline, b. May l828) (Henry Eller of Yankton Co., SD, b. Feb. 1866). Mr. Ella is quite correct that some Ellers in the USA were natives of England. We do indeed thank Mr. Ella for so much new information on the Ella/Eller families of England and his discourse on the history of the names in England).

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